The Simple Economics of Open Source

[Jp Calderone]

Robin Becker wrote:
> 
> In article <FtDG4z.774 at world.std.com>, Will Ware <wware at world.std.com>
> writes
> >Ed (elb at cfdrc.com) wrote:
> >> ... I didn't think much of the article...
> >> ...they gave the impression that programmers behave
> >> somewhat like monkeys, motivated primarily by concerns
> >> about group status and dominance...
> >
> >They also mentioned, but immediately belittled, the possibility
> >that altruism might be a real motivation. They may have been
> >projecting their own thinking upon programmers in doing so. I'm
> >not an open source purist, but I can easily see that a future world
> >with a lot of free software will be a lot more pleasant for me to
> >live in than one from which free software is absent. Benefits to
> >the rest of society and to myself are not in conflict here. Maybe
> >that's not really altruism, maybe it's just long-term thinking, a
> >motivation they didn't mention at all.
> 
> I'm afraid your desire for a better world reduces your altruism
> quotient.
> Doing it because it helps others is altruism, doing it to help your self
> and or relatives isn't really. The indian otters which help injured
> friends were thought to be altruists until it was shown that by doing so
> they reduced their own risk of predation (the slow one attracted the
> predators most). Real altruism is rare.
> 

 Of course; for the reason you allude to, it isn't evolutionarily
advantagious to be altruistic.  

The phrase "enlightened self-interest" comes to mind :)

 Jp

> [snip]

> --
> Robin Becker

-- 
 3:01pm up 23 days, 20:08, 2 users, load average: 1.29, 0.90, 0.47