Proprietary Linux?

Are we reaching the end of the free open-source era? Oracle has announced plans to move away from Red Hat Enterprise based Linux to a version that is optimized to run other Oracle application. This would allow Oracle to charge for this particular Linux system, signaling a direction toward the end of an era of creative enterprises unhindered by the demands of commerce.

If time does progress in cycles, perhaps this is the natural end to an incredibly fruitful time of development and intellectual prosperity. But why does it have to end now? Are we ready to accept Nicholas G. Carr’s assessment of IT as essentially a utility that has no intrinsic value aside from providing a kind of platform on which other enterprises occur? Or would we be willing to continue to explore the possibilities of what technology can do, in terms of harnessing global intellectual potential?

Open source has helped to engineer entirely new models of interaction that have created billions of dollars worth of commerce across the globe. It is not surprising that at some point companies would attempt to harness the power of open source to increase their own profits.

What’s striking is that open source happened at all. When we collectively stepped away from the idea of business as primarily a money generating tool and treated it instead as an opportunity for connectivity and greater intellectual development, it blossomed. To lose this outlook is a shame, and should be avoided at all costs.

There is still a great deal of unmapped territory in what we can do with technology. If we harness inspiration too quickly to the old infrastructure model, we risk losing the ability to explore that territory, instead consigning ourselves to pace the same circular rut of ruthless competition until our civilization finally grinds to a halt.

While we must always balance practical concerns with our creative endeavors, we must be willing to continue to push ourselves and our concept of what business can be. By emphasizing a more collaborative model, we can avoid the same old pitfalls that have plagued us for centuries—or at the very least, we can try.