Hey all. Ran across this site today. Open Source is an amazing movement, mostly among programmers (hence the mostly geeky tech and programmer books within), that combines the best of the American spirit of innovation and free expression with the interconnection and sharing possible via the internet.
These guys write code under a Free Documenation License, and then whenever anyone downloads their program, if you want to look at how the program was written, go right ahead. Want to change something to make it better, or faster, or sillier? Go right ahead. The source code is open to all.
What implications does this have for our notions of copyright--and our impressions of those who archaically wish to maintain copyright--and what we mean by freedom of expression? For me, this is exciting, but I'm worried that all the joe domers out there raised to believe that making a buck is the best thing a man can do with his life will be too afraid of the consequences to let it go very far. Let the geeks share their toys for free, but when it comes to my stuff, you'll have to pay. We'll see.
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