Monday, March 20, 2006

New Word: BitHugger

[The following is an Open Letter to the Open Source Believers out there...]

There was a time when many people thought we could all just live together in Harmony with the world, like Thee Olden Dayse of Yore. Someone would farm, someone would bake the bread, someone would herd the sheep (Since there would be no need for a King, I would be the Hangman...) and we would All Just Get Along Together. I do believe this theory (Communist, Socialist, Whateverist-you-wantist-to-call-it-ist) would work, just as long as everyone actually puts in, and everyone gets what they give. Of couse, we have never seen this work in government, because no government has ever done it. (Although some small, isolated communities in Micronesia might be doing this. And I would even bet *they* use the Metric system, unlike SOME COUNTRIES WE MIGHT NAME...but I digress...)

I have heard people who agree with this philosophy called TreeHuggers.

I see this same paradigm in software today. There are those who think we can just All Program Along Together, Also known as The Open Source Movement. If everyone applies their collective brainpower and coding ability to a problem, it will easily get solved. Even those who are merely end users can contribute by providing constructive feedback, thinking up features, and beta testing. Bam, we all win.

I suggest the word BitHugger be used for individuals who believe that software can be developed this way. I don't mean for this to be a derogatory term, it just seems to fit nicely, and makes some intuitive sense.

I surprised myself to discover that I don't really think that software can be maintained this way for long. Projects like Linux and OpenOffice are phenomenal, and prove that it Can be done, but right now, there is the pervasive "Microsoft Is Evil" philosophy that fuels the online community to work hard at "Sticking it to the Man!" Dude! It's the new Revolution! Make a program just like Windows, and give it away for FREE! HA HA HA! BLOW ME BILL GATES!!! HAHAHAHAHAH....

But what happens once The Man is gone? What happens when Microsoft is bought out and disbanded by Google, and Bill Gates has to fall back on his mad skillz (whatever those are?) What happens once some new bug is discovered in OpenOffice, and now there is NO ALTERNATIVE? Some 13-year-old Hacker in Seattle figures out the fix, and sits there with her finger on the [Submit to CVS] button...and realizes...

"Why should I send this to the world for free?"

Of course, she quickly offers the patch (for a reasonable price) and becomes "THE MAN".

Here in The United States of A-more-ica, we work for a purpose. Always. Coding may be entertainment for some sick individuals, but at some point, you need a continued motivation to continue working. Once the "stick it to the man" fuel runs out, and you aren't getting paid to fix bugs, what are you working for? Prestige? The Golden Code Award?

The only thing for certain is that Americans will not work for free, which is why I believe that the BitHugger philosophy will be short lived.

Blog on,
-CZ

Labels: New Word, Open Letter, Philosophy, Programming, Technology