Consiglio la lettura di questo interessante articolo di Tim O’Reilly sulle potenzialità dell’open source nel cloud computing:
In essays like The Open Source Paradigm Shift and What is Web 2.0?, I argued that the success of the internet as a non-proprietary platform built largely on commodity open source software could lead to a new kind of proprietary lock-in in the cloud. What good are free and open source licenses, all based on the act of software distribution, when software is no longer distributed but merely performed on the global network stage? How can we preserve freedom to innovate when the competitive advantage of online players comes from massive databases created via user contribution, which literally get better the more people use them, raising seemingly insuperable barriers to new competition?
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But just “paying attention” to cloud computing isn’t the point. The point is to rediscover what makes open source tick, but in the new context. It’s important to recognize that open source has several key dimensions that contribute to its success:
- Licenses that permit and encourage redistribution, modification, and even forking;
- An architecture that enables programs to be used as components where-ever possible, and extended rather than replaced to provide new functionality;
- Low barriers for new users to try the software;
- Low barriers for developers to build new applications and share them with the world.