Keya's Blog

Ma.tt

This is an essay about development within the open source community, how I have come to value it and why I have a crush on Matt Mullenweg. (Written after WordCamp NYC 2009)

I have recently been spending time working on websites and digging into code. I’ve also been diving into and relying upon the open source community for solutions and for tools that have been developed with, or have a GPL (General Public License) designation. I am awestruck and amazed with the inherent capabilities and efficiencies of open source development.

Here’s some background: I have been working out in my mind the contradictions from being born within, and being surrounded by an overall prosperous, yet largely closed development type of economic system, while synthesizing it with my personal experience and ideals. For the sake of this discussion, there will be two sides. On one side is open source development and open innovation under the GPL, and on the other side there is closed development and closed innovation within corporations and other research institutions that strive to create proprietary ideas and products. Both sides create, but have different R&D (Research and Development) models. While society has and will continue to benefit from closed innovation, and while I greatly admire and use many conventions and products that have developed and produced from within a closed-type of system, it is inherently inefficient because it does not harness the intelligence, and the willing capabilities of the community that surrounds them.

I experience and benefit from the beauty of the open source community by downloading and using various types of programming and software. The first ones that come to mind as I write this are Firefox, Open Office and WordPress, all of which, I use almost every day. (There are many, many, many more, but for the sake of simplicity, I will focus on WordPress.) I began using WordPress about two years ago for a blog within a website that I set up in GoLive. Only the blog section was powered by WordPress 2.0 and it was set up to help with the promotion of a film. Because that aspect of the project took a lot of time and energy, the website was set up and I promptly focused on other things.

After the elapsed time, I returned to the digital world of the internet to find out that Adobe had purchased MacroMedia and because they then had two competing types of web design software: DreamWeaver and GoLive, they decided to stop the continuation of, and drop all support for GoLive. As a result, I, along with many other previous GoLive users grudgingly moved along that path that was offered and purchased DreamWeaver. This experience highlighted an inefficient way of doing things because the interface and conventions that I had grown accustomed to had become out of date, and I ‘needed’ the software to update and change the website. (I could go into the files on the server, and/or pull the files into different software, but that’s beside the point.) The point being that the software was developed, created and released from within a closed system, often stays within a closed system.   This isn’t efficient because people outside of the system do not have the right to change the programming, even if it would have been really beneficial, like modifying the programming to create cleaner code, because the rights to modify, change or improve upon the software were not and are not often granted within a closed type of system.

At that time, by chance, I downloaded the latest version of WordPress and was astounded as to how quickly the open source software had become more useful, intuitive and powerful. Around the same time, I had gotten another computer and also needed a word processing program. Not wanting to contribute toward a corporation that had recently released a fairly undesirable operating system, I looked for alternatives and downloaded Open Office. I also wanted features of a more secure browser and downloaded Firefox. Overall, I was astounded at how much better the open source software was at handling all tasks.

Thus was my reintroduction to programs developed by an open source type of community. (I had met and run into these types previously, actually many times, but they have been so unassuming and blend so well with its surroundings that they had slipped past my active awareness.) Yet being aware of the contributions of the open source community can boggle a person’s mind. My first reaction had been a subtle but loud statement from my Immediate Social Consensus Training within my mind that said, “Ridiculous! What?!? Why would people do anything for free? There should be a monetary reward for everything.” Is that not what we are taught and surrounded by? Yet, while that type of thinking exists, it is not and should not be the guiding mantra behind all motives. Open source development makes a lot of sense when thought is put into the reasoning and inherent benefits when licensing under the GPL. The end result can be brilliant and beautiful. Because the development involves the mental strength of many, the most experienced people can lend their expertise to the appropriate area. This type of system has inherently has more strength and ingenuity than say, a relatively small collective of people encapsulated within the closed-system within a typical corporation.

Let’s take a break and look at some pictures, shall we? They were taken at WordCamp NYC 2009.

[Show as slideshow]

All societies need systems that work.  Rigid hierarchies within businesses are often slower to react, causing them to miss opportunities and innovation.   In general, the GPL and open source development harness the brilliance of the community to contribute toward the betterment of the product. Thus the more rigid, closed hierarchies, whether corporate, nonprofit, or governmental, when competing against the open source community are failing and falling behind, simply because they are inefficient. There are many potential inefficiencies within closed systems, too many to mention here, but here’s one example. People within a closed systems may have been promoted because of family connections, history or because the manager simply likes a certain person, and often, once in the position, there is not a driving need to perform better. Perhaps the person assigned to the job simply is not capable of it, so tasks can remain undone. This is in stark contrast to the inherent efficiencies within the open source community, wherein if some aspect needs improvement, someone, anyone can do it. Are there inefficiencies within software and programs that have a GPL designation? Yes, definitely, and they tend not to be developed upon.

The beauty and wisdom within the open source community stems from the inherent efficiency to harness and give freedom to all participants within the past, our current times and in the future, the freedom to actively create, enhance, and build upon all previous innovation. Having become a participant by using these open source products, I feel tremendously thankful for all the people who have come together to make a broad range of software AND that this innovation will continue to occur. I have used WordPress to set up websites. I have used themes that were created by individuals that I have never met. I have always tweaked code (since I did start with GoLive, no offense intended) but currently do not know enough code to create server-side programming and all the plugins that I currently use. Yet I do have the wonderful freedom to use, go into the core and theme php as well as the css. I am very thankful for this ability.

Scott Kingsley Clark singing a song about WordPress

I think that open source is a thing of beauty that needs to be protected and understand as well as admire Matt’s stance to do so. This is part of why I have the crush. Let me further explain:  When something is created and released into the open source, it does make the most sense if efficiency and ease of use are product goals, and it is a process that should be guarded. Individuals in the world can be greedy, taking that which does not belong to them. There are some that feel attacked, lonely or criticize various aspects of the community, while others jump to conclusions to find fault (sometimes erroneously) but this happens within any system, and people are ultimately free to express themselves. It is, however, a very small, interconnected world. Currently many types of software and programming languages are being built with a GPL designation and open source code that allows innovation to be freely built upon.

I saw this inherent systemic efficiency at WordCamp: One person giving a presentation created a plugin. Someone else in the audience commented and said, “Thanks for the plugin, I’ve been using it for a while, until you discontinued support.” The speaker nicely said, “Yes, you’re welcome. I changed jobs, so I couldn’t continue it like I had.” To which, the other replied something to the effect of, “Yeah, no worries, others have continued to improve upon it and offer support and now I use that version. Thank you for starting it.” To which was replied, “Good, yes, I’m really glad that it is being carried on.”

There's a lot of really smart people in the room

There is a humble beauty that seems to permeate open source type gatherings because one really is surrounded by ingenuity. Many different people have contributed to various aspects of the platform to create an interchangeable, customizable, rebuildable system – and will continue to build upon it. The platform continues to build every day as it becomes better, faster, stronger and offers more features. Many, many, many people have helped to build this, care about it and will work to protect it. I feel a little bit bad about not being able to write code better (having been a history major and sociology minor, with a certification in education) but am learning and try to contribute when I can. When volunteers were needed for WordCamp lunch, I raised my hand, then helped to serve sandwiches and salad. Of which, was what I could easily do. This is a ridiculously small, really insignificant way of contributing, but nonetheless, I was glad to help. The community helps each other out. I realized that I had to leave a session early and asked other people sitting around me if they were taking notes, and the gentleman who initially said no, when seeing me at lunch, said that he had taken notes and gave me his card. I emailed him that evening and he sent me his notes, along with link to Google Wave. It’s really nice to work together, as dorky as that may sound, it is nice and it reflects a strong community that has a common language, similar goals and is global. Being surrounded by this community in a physical location such as WordCamp NYC was invigorating. I learned a lot from the experience. At one point I thought, “Holy shit I’m surrounded by geniuses. I’m very glad to have been able to serve lunch.

So, my crush on Matt. He and Mike Little modified an earlier version of b2/cafelog created WordPress (and Akismet, a really good antispam plugin). Because it came from the GPL,it was re-released under the GPL. He shared a brilliance that he built upon and is actively protecting it. This can be tough, because in taking a stand, it creates a situation where others will inevitably oppose the stance and this will create division. Yet by guarding and protecting this and taking a stand, the freedoms and future of building upon ingenuity remains open, modifiable and build-able.   That’s why I have my little crush on Matt Mullenweg. It’s admirable to take a stand, and that, frankly, is attractive. Thanks Matt. Thank you’s also to WordPress and the GPL / Open Source Community.