The Magic Spell

When open source happens, dead things come to life — and it's not zombies.

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This episode is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Created by: Mathias Bolt Lesniak
Creative advisor: Jeffrey A. “jam” McGuire

Transcript

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Hi! This is Episode 2 of the Open Source Utopia Podcast. Few have ever become rich …… from making open source software. Developers are essentially giving away their product …… for free without expecting anything in return. It's also a really poor platform for vanity. Developing open source software …… is a lot of work. And I think most projects actually start out …… with someone scratching their own itch. And building something for themselves. However … Open sourcing a project is like …… casting a magic spell. Dead things come alive! No, it's not zombie software …… or Frankenstein's monster. It's more like a fairy tale. Think about Pinocchio or the Gingerbread Boy.

The story goes like this: 1:04

There are some parents who wish they had a child. Magically, their ersatz …… a wooden puppet or cookie boy, becomes alive. The child doesn't only have a life …… but also a mind of its own. The same thing happens with a …… a successful open source project. It gets a life of its own. Suddenly, there are other people around …… with thoughts about how the software should be. That might be hard to get accustomed to. But, unlike the fairy tale …… software doesn't run away.

That's because everyone is sharing a common goal: 1:48

Making the piece of software better. That is a job best done together.

Enter: 1:56

the Open Source Community …… where the roles of buyer and seller no longer apply. What kind of a marketplace is that? Hang in there for the next chapter …… and “Ultimate Freedom”.