Where Would We Be Without Open Source?

Date: October 20th, 2008
Author: Jack Wallen

Yesterday I was thinking about Linux and a
thought crossed my mind: “Where would I be without Linux?” Then an even
scarier thought flitted across my brain: “Where would WE be without
Open Source?” This question buzzed through my head and I started
ticking 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 open
source hardware projects, open vehicles, open politics. Open Source has
influenced so many people on so many levels. But Let’s just look at it
from the geekier perspective. Imagine your day to day life without open
source.

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

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

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 source
software and the very ideology behind it. But how strong would the
moans of the nay sayers be when the only technology they had to focus
on was a proprietary model that didn’t have open source challenging it
from every angle?

I am confident that open source is the most powerful driving force
behind technology. And without open source we would be living in
software and hardware dark ages.