Robert Kaye blogged the same OSCON session I wrote about on Friday, What Happens When the Money Comes, and captured a few good anecdotes that I left out of my account. (Robert also did an interesting post on OSCON’s focus this year on “meta” topics like open data and on the art of community, something that is dear to his heart as the founder of MusicBrainz. Both entries are well worth a read.)
However, I wanted to expand on Robert’s retelling of my story about a signature open source moment I experienced at an X Consortium meeting sometime in the late 80s or early 90s. It was a moment that made clear, as Robert notes, that open source is about individual responsibility, not corporate responsibility, even in a setting where corporations formally hold the power. As many may remember, the only voting members of the Consortium were the corporate sponsors, even though it was what we now call an open source project.
In the meetings, there would be great developer debate, but from time to time, one of the representatives would (apologies to Roger Zelazny’s Lord of Light) put on his “corporate aspect.” His posture would change, the timbre of his voice would deepen, and he would shift to the third person. Rather than “I think,” he would say “Apollo believes” or “Digital believes.”
One time, the representative from Digital, I think it was, said “Digital believes…” and then caught himself, and said, “I don’t care what Digital believes. This is the wrong technical decision. I support…” and switched his vote. I don’t remember the issue, and I don’t remember who that brave soul was, but it always struck in my mind as a very special story.
Even when the money comes, individuals still stand up for what is right. And that individual act of commitment is very close to the heart of open source, and a great deal of what else is right in the world.