I attended Ruth Suehle of Red Hat’s lecture at the Flourish! Conference not knowing quite what to expect. While I’m familiar with the concept of “Open Source”, her lecture expanded this definition and topic to areas outside of pure sofware/code sharing. Her perspective on Open Source as a philosophy was refreshing, optimistic and interesting. While I am not as true of a believer as she is in the efficacy of everything going “Open”, I agree that in today’s rapidly moving, fast paced world of technology and computing that Open Source is the best way for society to achieve innovation and improvement. While I have a difficult time imagining a world without IP rights and all the tricky legalities when the capitalist side clashes with the “Open” practices, she has a point about all the companies she listed that have made successful profits off of open source products. I believe that this can’t really work though if everyone embraced open source. I believe that people, groups, companies and projects can succeed off of an open source product if they already have the name, reputation, and significant corner on their market.  However, I might just be cynical.

In regard to the philosophy of open sharing and development, I very much support this idea and think it does lead to some of the best innovations in society as of yet. I think progress is impeded when information is cloistered. Whether it’s cultural motifs, music, code, hardware, art, or education – we are seeing the open source model becoming an option that is more and more relevant and successful.

– Kimi Oyama