Editor's Column
9 February 2001
組織するing Open Source
As a system of ソフトウェア 生産／産物, Open Source usually says little to nothing about the how of its organization and 実施. But, in fact, 単に 解放（する）ing ソフトウェア under GPL (or some other such license) does not やむを得ず get you "there." Even if your 解放（する） is Slashdotted, it still may not 飛行機で行く. What's 欠如（する）ing is the 組織／基盤／下部構造 構成するd both of machines and persons, for 確実にするing that 利益／興味d developers can securely download the open-sourced code and upload their patches without 全く 難破させるing not just the ソフトウェア but also the whole 企業. And what's also 行方不明の from this fanciful picture is any system for the 創造 and 管理／経営 of a developer community. Open Source, that is, is more than a number of individuals downloading source code and working on it alone; when it 作品, it is 暗黙に a communal and collaborative 企業.
Of course, one could 簡単に place the code on a server send a notice to a probably indifferent Slashdot, and then wait. If the code were 利益／興味ing enough or somehow 申し込む／申し出d compellingly attractive 利益s, it might very 井戸／弁護士席 attract developers who could form working groups, might 設立する a 見解／翻訳／版 system like CVS (Concurrent 見解／翻訳／版s System), and--maybe--articulate directions and goals for the community. And it might happen: Linux, for instance, was and remains pretty much a grassroots 企業 (what Eric Raymond calls the "bazaar"), with a 普及した and disparate community of developers--and Linus Torvalds--持続するing and 与える／捧げるing to the code as they will, in implicit 共同. And Linux, with its globally 分散させるd and active community is, as we all know, the defining model of Open Source.
But, does the Linux model still 得る, or at least with the same 軍隊 as 以前? I'd like to 示唆する that, for a variety of 推論する／理由s, Linux is いっそう少なく the model for the 未来 of Open Source than an exceptional paragon.. The community--or, communities--that have formed around the kernel have been more 熱烈な than 商業の. This is to say--heretically, to be sure--that the model of Open Source Linux exemplifies (a community of 熱烈な 使用者s and developers) is probably not the model of open-source 投機・賭けるs to come-- and, によれば 最近の 報告（する）／憶測s, they will come.
Instead of a Linux-like model, however, the more likely シナリオ is that a company will wish to open source proprietary ソフトウェア because the company leaders have come to realize that it's not only cheaper in the long run to develop ソフトウェア using the open-source model, but that one also gets in better ソフトウェア faster. A company, that is, might open source its ソフトウェア to save money and get ahead of its 競争相手s. The loss of proprietary 支配（する）／統制する is, in this シナリオ, comparatively slight in 交流 for what it 伸び（る）s.
And what do the developers 伸び（る）? If the company has arranged its Open Source 投機・賭ける 適切に, developers 利益 in at least two, obvious, ways: from the 知識人 資本／首都 具体的に表現するd in the code and from the communities 組織するd around that 資本／首都. The 利益／興味d developer can, at her will, （軍隊を）展開する，配備する the 利用できる code for her own 目的s; and learning from the construction of the code その上の 高めるs her own career. What is more, the collaborative community that develops in working on the code 供給するs her with invaluable help both in the 現在の and in the 未来.
But for this economy to work, the company open sourcing its 所有物／資産／財産 must not only make the source code it has opened in some way 望ましい and 価値のある to developers, but also 供給する an 組織／基盤／下部構造, technical and 管理の, that enables developers to work efficiently on the 知識人 資本／首都 it has 解放（する）d. Without such an 組織／基盤／下部構造, by which the code is made securely 利用できる and communities enabled, little might ever take place that will 証明する profitable for the 起こる／始まるing company. In fact, one could 明言する／公表する it even more 堅固に: Open Source, as a 商売／仕事 and not as a hobby, 需要・要求するs sophisticated 管理の support that will make sure the servers work, the pages 負担, and--importantly!--help 形態／調整 the community of developers into 生産力のある groups, either through roadmaps, 基準s, or goals.
All this is 公正に／かなり obvious to anyone who 作品 in Open Source--such as the OpenOffice.org community. But it 長所s 明言する／公表するing, for the myth of Open Source is still the myth of the West mapped to cyberspace: of individuals 切り開く／タクシー／不正アクセスing at their favorite programs for by and large mysterious 推論する／理由s, of which personal satisfaction 階級s high. In the "real world" there is, of course, still that 控訴，上告 to much of open-source work. But Open Source is more than a culture: it is a dialectical 戦略 by which developers are given enormous 力／強力にする and 適切な時期 that 要求するs a novel 管理の approach.
Previous columns
1 February 2001 Open Source and Its Culture
23 January 2001 Community 活動／戦闘
16 January 2001 Quo Vadis OpenOffice.org?
9 January 2001 The 613 build: problems and 適切な時期s
3 January 2001 Sun's open door
E-mail: Louis at collab.逮捕する
