I have been contemplating about the conflict between conservative and liberal values… related to many different arenas of thought… including politics. For the last 10 years or so, the world of open source software has been in conflict with profit producing companies in the areas such as software, internet content, internet searches, and telecommunications. Many things affect the future of this conflict, including laws, judicial rulings and governmental agency policies.
I recommend you watch the TED talk from Yochai Benkler on Open Source Economics for an introduction.
Then checkout:
- The recent developments between Apache web server vs. Microsoft web server.
- Yahoo vs. the open directory project.
- skype vs. the telecoms
- wikipedia vs. encarta
Imagine how open source might explode if the $200 laptop project became a reality and every child in the world was connected to the internet. I hope that fear is not the thing that keeps us from embracing new economic ideas. I think fear is the motivation that makes many people embrace conservative values.
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