Where Would We Be Without Open Source?

• Date: October 20th, 2008
• Author: Jack Wallen

Yesterday I was thinking about Linux and athought crossed my mind: “Where would I be without Linux?” Then an evenscarier thought flitted across my brain: “Where would WE be withoutOpen Source?” This question buzzed through my head and I startedticking off all of the projects we would not have in the IT space:

• Linux
• OS X
• iPod
• Apache
• PHP
• Perl
• Python
• Ruby
• Ruby On Rails
• Google Code
• SSH
• Wikipedia
• Buzilla
• Firefox
• OpenOffice

The list goes on. But it doesn’t end at software. There are opensource hardware projects, open vehicles, open politics. Open Source hasinfluenced so many people on so many levels. But Let’s just look at itfrom the geekier perspective. Imagine your day to day life without opensource.

Imagine all of your servers were either Microsoft or Netscapeservers. Imagine you were having to code all of your sites with aproprietary language or, worse yet, using a closed-source applicationlike Dreamweaver. Imagine Web 2.0 never came to be. Imagine having topay out for every single web service and/or application you created foryour company. Imagine the cost of security and the sum total of yourbusinesses network. Imagine the Google Cloud never came to be. Imaginethe Beowulf clusters never existed. Imagine no technology everthreatened the Microsoft monopoly. One Laptop Per Child????

It’s a pretty daunting short list of possibilities. But ultimatewhat it realizes is that open source technology has, more so thanMicrosoft, helped technology become what it has become today. I do notnegate the fact that Microsoft brought the PC to the home. But Ipersonally can not imagine how that PC would be today without thecommunity-driven push of open source. And what about my PC life withoutopen source? And this goes beyond having to actually pay for software.This very idea quickly takes a dive into the “Would technology A evenexists?” I use Wiki all of the time. I use XOOPS and Joomla on a dailybasis. I can’t imagine what would have come into existence to serve thesame purpose as those three technologies (and how much they wouldcost.) Would there be an equivalent technology had they never beendeveloped?

As yourself these questions:

Would proprietary, closed software have any reason to evolve without the threat of open source?
Would technology have grown as quickly without open source pushing it along?
Would your job be as easy without open source?
Would your network be as safe without open source?
Would your business be able to expand as easily without open source?
Would your developers work as quickly without open source?

What is the biggest driving force behind open source?

• 
  Linux
• 
  Apache
• 
  Perl
• 
  Richard Stallman
• 
  Open Office
• 
  Community
• 
  PHP
• 
  Other

I know there are a lot of pundits out there who bemoan open sourcesoftware and the very ideology behind it. But how strong would themoans of the nay sayers be when the only technology they had to focuson was a proprietary model that didn’t have open source challenging itfrom every angle?

I am confident that open source is the most powerful driving forcebehind technology. And without open source we would be living insoftware and hardware dark ages.