Source Code is Always Valuable
May 21st, 2006 • General
Source code is a fundamental part of the free software movement. The GPL, as well as most open source licenses, put so much emphasis on the availability of source code, they think it’s a valuable asset. You’d think the reason is that most free software supporters are developers, but that’s only part of the truth. Me, you and our neighbor’s dog are the real reason.
Every other industry has been building on top off previous work, standing on the shoulders of the giants. Every theory, every formula, every stubborn scientist have contributed to build the world we’re living in today. Imagine if those didn’t make the “source code” available, where would we be?
Free software is trying to do the same thing. Disclose what’s behind closed doors. If it wasn’t for free software we would’ve been paying for each search query, buying books from regular stores downtown, putting up with the ever-growing prices of Windows, and wishing there was something like OSX. The availability of source code isn’t a luxury, and it has a great effect on end-users. Not direct effects, but great ones nonetheless.
Granted, most people don’t care, and they shouldn’t. They’re never going to tinker with the internals, they’re never going to sweat it if something doesn’t work, they’ll just get annoyed. They won’t be fixing their own software, but if that software is free, I can almost guarantee that somebody will. On the other hand, proprietary software works on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. If you don’t like something you don’t stand a chance in changing that, even if it breaks on you and costs you time and money. It’s like not being able to change the rooftop because Ford doesn’t allow it (I’m sick of that car analogy already).
All I’m trying to say is: Many free software projects are crappy, many are great, just like proprietary ones. But free software exists because we don’t have to put up with software limitations, company bureaucracies and whatnot. It’s because we have a chance to change that.