Take your open source and put it, well you know where

I love open source software and people who contribute to the open source community. I also love closed software. I love that people can find ways to make money from unique software solutions. Plain and simply I love software development in any form. What I hate when the two paradigms collide. I hate it when someone makes a case for open source over or versus closed / proprietary. (I really rarely hear the opposite argument.)

There are so many things to love about technology and collaboration (and making money from unique and differentiated product solutions and well thought out software development models) that it kills me when it boils down to an “us versus them” discussion.

One of the most pervasive arguements against the iPad this weekend was an extension of exactly this argument. Apple is closed and proprietary. Yes, it is. You don’t like it then don’t buy it. However it often comes back to closed source / proprietary is bad... and bad for everyone. I just don’t get it.

I wasn’t going to write this blog but I ran into the best response to the Open Source bigots on this topic:

http://daringfawnyball.wordpress.com/2010/04/05/expertise/

“...open source has nothing to teach literature or indeed any artistic creation, since talent doesn’t scale as you give more and more developers check-in access to the version-control system set up for your novel!”
“This was the weekend those of us with high standards lost their remaining residue of patience for ideologues who hyperbolize about open systems without actually creating something people want to use.”

In just four clear and concise paragraphs this is the best rebuttal to the arrogance that comes from the Open Source holier than thou attitude against closed and proprietary.