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'Open source must co-operate with capitalism'
Sun exec gets on his soapbox...

By Colin Barker

Published: Wednesday 28 June 2006

For open source to prosper, people need to stop thinking of it as "free" and instead think of it as "connected capitalism", delegates at an open source conference in London were told on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Open Source Business Conference, Sun Microsystems' chief open source officer, Simon Phipps, said open source had been focused for too long on sharing code instead of what he called "the enrichment of the commons".

The open source community needed to look to the lessons of capitalism and capitalists, said Phipps. And referring to the recent announcement that billionaire Warren Buffett was donating much of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Phipps pointed out that "Warren Buffet is driving gold - he is creating wealth".

Expanding on his message, Phipps said the message of open source was that "creating and maintaining a completely independent code base was ultimately self-defeating".

Instead, the future was in co-operation and in organisations preserving what was ultimately of value to them.

He said: "This is not volunteerism. It is directed self-interest, synchronised self-interest and there is nothing wrong with self-interest."

And Phipps took time out to take a swipe at some of the exhibitors at the conference who were selling professional advice on negotiating the open source "legal minefield".

He said: "I disagree with those who say who say open source is a legal minefield," as he threw from the stage a brochure from one firm of lawyers. "If you think open source is a minefield you're doing it wrong."

But while Phipps was happy to be outspoken in his presentation, he was moved to silence in at least one area. In introducing Phipps, the conference chairman and vice president of the ECM company Alfresco, Matt Asay, said he hoped he was "going to hear today that Sun has decided to open source Java". Phipps remained silent on the subject.

Asay made his presentation a call to arms, arguing it is time for "Europe to reassert itself in open source". There is no doubt that open source is "very, very big" in Europe, Asay said, quoting Gartner research which says 81 per cent of companies in Europe have deployed open source. However, he also warned that some of the initiative in business use was moving elsewhere.

The Open Source Business Conference has previously been held in the US. This week's two-day conference in London marked the first time it has been held in the UK.

Colin Barker writes for ZDNet UK