NASA scientists are planning to announce CosmosCode - an open source project to tap talent in the community.
“CosmosCode is … allowing NASA scientists to begin a software project in the public domain, leveraging the true value of open-source software by creating an active community of volunteers,” said Cowan-Sharp, a NASA contractor.
This is important because unlike in most of the cases, the benefit being perceived is that of the opening up the project to a wider talent. I consider this to be the biggest reason why any one should open source their project. The other important reason is open source works as a direct channel of feedback from the users, which an possibly identify problems which the developer has not been able to. The third reason is growth in usage by lowering the restrictions.
The most cited benefit of open source, from a user’s perspective, has been the low cost. It definitely is a benefit, but not because of any one attribute, but because of the freedom from vendor lock-in, the availability of a direct channel for feedback and the community.
There have been some very interesting thoughts too. Richard Monson-Haefel says that open source is anarchy, not chaos.
In reality, successful open source projects implement a strict system of self-governance in which participation is voluntary but managed, and new code contributions are closely scrutinised. In this sense open source is anarchy.
One thing I can say for sure is that open source focuses on leveraging the users and their knowledge rather than exploiting them through restrictions and force. JP gives an excellent explanation of how the gift economy can work for open source, with the because effect at its root. I believe that open source and communities encourage knowledge sharing, which is beneficial not only to the user’s productivity but even to the product itself.
