{"id":49401,"date":"2016-05-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-05-16T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/open-source-and-the-spirit-of-unrestrained-participation\/"},"modified":"2017-06-12T16:42:41","modified_gmt":"2017-06-12T16:42:41","slug":"open-source-and-the-spirit-of-unrestrained-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.techopedia.com\/open-source-and-the-spirit-of-unrestrained-participation\/2\/31654","title":{"rendered":"Open Source and the Spirit of Unrestrained Participation"},"content":{"rendered":"

“We reject kings, presidents, and voting. We believe in rough consensus and running code.” Those are the words of Dave Clark, who was involved in the early days of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)<\/a>. Not every digital innovator is interested in making billions. Technical pioneers like Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds and Tim Berners-Lee distributed their ideas freely. Behind this generosity is a mindset and spirit of community that has fueled innovation for decades. (To learn more about different types of open-source licensing, see Open-Source Licensing – What You Need to Know<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

Open Source and Open Ideas<\/span><\/h2>\n

I have used the term “open source<\/a>” in the title because it is a commonly used term. But the gist of the article is somewhat broader. From the earliest days there have been those in the computer industry who have been willing to share freely their knowledge and ideas to the broadest of audiences. We cannot presume to know their motivations, nor should we try to psychoanalyze them here, but it is clear that in these cases some inclination other than the desire for monetary gain comes into play.\n<\/p>\n

Some may find it easy to be judgmental of those who have sought to capitalize on claimed intellectual property rights. Of course, market forces drive innovation. But when nineteen-year-old Bill Gates<\/a> distributed his \u201cOpen Letter to Hobbyists\u201d claiming that they were stealing his BASIC<\/a> software, he managed to ruffle a few feathers. In the free software and open-source community, another dynamic is at play. It may be difficult to put a finger on, but we can take a look at how things have transpired. (For more on the open-source movement, see Open Source: Is It Too Good to Be True?<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n

RFC 1: The Beginning of a Dialog<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the early days of ARPANET<\/a>, a small group of graduate students was formed to determine the next steps. Steve Crocker<\/a> from UCLA was their leader, and he created a communication and documentation system that would innovate and standardize the protocols of the internet. It started with Network Working Group Request for Comments<\/a> 1 (RFC 1): \u201cHost Software\u201d on April 7, 1969.\n<\/p>\n

Crocker would later call the document \u201cforgettable,\u201d but thirty years later his contributions were praised in RFC 2555: \u201c30 Years of RFCs.\u201d Vint Cerf<\/a> wrote that \u201cthe act of writing RFC 1 was indicative of the brave and ultimately clear-visioned leadership that he brought to a journey into the unknown.\u201d Crocker himself wrote of \u201cthe spirit of unrestrained participation in working group meetings.\u201d Today the organization formed from the working group is called the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and it is comprised of thousands of technical professionals worldwide.\n<\/p>\n

In the commemorative RFC, Jake Feinler described how the RFC system was to be established:\n<\/p>\n