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Technology: Towards An ‘Open' World

Ever since computer programmers began collaborating online to build software applications, the "open source" movement has been developing into a serious rival to the multinational software companies. Since the term was coined in the late 90s, open source has rapidly matured from an egalitarian approach to software design into a movement whose practices underpin the internet. More recently, it has begun to represent the seed of an ideology, whose approach to openness and sharing is spilling over into the wider world.

The term open source is used to describe software that is "open" for modification. It does this by making the "source" code — the stuff programmers need to read before a computer program is converted into binary — available for other programmers to develop. This form of software development was the norm until the late 60s.

Conversely, the proprietary software produced by big corporations rarely does this. Its owners prefer to ship "closed" binary-only versions, which are much more difficult for programmers to read, redevelop and redistribute without the permission of the owners.

Even if you are unaware of Linux, the groundbreaking open source operating system, it is likely you daily use open source software. Most email is now routed through Sendmail, while most websites are hosted on Apache servers, both open source projects. So open source has led to a revolution in the way we think about the production of software — who owns and controls the mortar that binds the modern world — and now its ideas are spreading beyond the confines of computer programming.

Open source ideas are breaching the boundary between software and electronics. At IBM, the next generation of computer chips is being designed using the same open methods that have revolutionized software. Claims are even being made that anything from marketing techniques to drugs, beer to washing-up liquid, can in some ways be described as open source....