This week I offer a change of pace in my blog by presenting some foundational people and ideas that the open source movement is based on. I include plenty of links to enhance your understanding as well as provide some scavenger hunt questions in hopes that you will explore the beginnings of open source.

"Hello, finally. This is an unusual talk in which I'm going to start by explaining the ideas of free software, and then go on to talk about how they extend to some things other than software.

"Every generation has its philosopher — a writer or an artist who captures the imagination of a time. Sometimes these philosophers are recognized as such; often it takes generations before the connection is made real. But recognized or not, a time gets marked by the people who speak its ideals, whether in the whisper of a poem, or the blast of a political movement.

"Jakarta, Indonesia [...] Richard Stallman, founder of the free software movement (gerakan perangkat lunak bebas) and leader of development of the GNU operating system (with which the kernel Linux is typically used) will give a speech to explain the ethical and political ideas of free software, which differ from the ideas of open source, and explain how GNU was developed to realize these ethical g

Children are taught as early as preschool that sharing is an essential part of learning to get along with others. Yet some people still can't grasp the concept of sharing code or they reject open source because of the monetary value of ideas, said Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat, at the recent Red Hat Summit in Boston.

Children are taught as early as preschool that sharing is an essential part of learning to get along with others. Yet some people still can't grasp the concept of sharing code or they reject open source because of the monetary value of ideas, said Jim Whitehurst, president and CEO of Red Hat, at the recent Red Hat Summit in Boston.

A call for feedback and ideas. The free software community has been around for quite some time now. For some reason, though that time seems to have been spent on good works that benefit humanity, and advocacy that teaches people how to be free, the movement is sometimes the object of some hostility. Why?

"...For the Open Source movement, the issue of whether software should be open source is a practical question, not an ethical one. As one person put it, “Open source is a development methodology; free software is a social movement.” For the Open Source movement, non-free software is a suboptimal solution.

The facts are The Open Source software movement has gone wild. Because no one owns it, because it works great, becasue it is secure...it has taken on a life of it's own through the millions of people who use it. It has been growing this way for the last ten years, slowly and without any significant marketing help or understanding.