Jonathan Oxer
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Blog > FOSS economics / innovation talk at LUV
>> FOSS economics / innovation talk at LUV
Tue, Nov 21st 3:42pm 2006: Linux
A few hours after my little flying excursion I did a talk at the monthly Linux Users Victoria meeting titled "Software Freedom: Pragmatic Idealism?" where I examined the role of Open Source software in fostering an innovative local ICT industry and the macro-economic impact on metrics such as the national balance-of-trade.
Following on from my comments about aviation and DIY, there's no group with a stronger DIY culture than the Open Source community. The entire Open Source software development paradigm is about looking inside the magic box to understand why and how it works, and being allowed to modify it until it does exactly what you want it to do rather than being forced to just accept software "as it comes" with no choice in the matter. The premise of my talk was that by encouraging a return to the "looking under the hood" roots of computer-related training at school level we could build a much more innovative and stronger local ICT industry by turning out not just technology consumers but also more people with intimate knowledge of how modern technology works internally. I believe that the high level of technical literacy we associate with younger generations is largely an illusion: younglings today may be very gifted when it comes to using technology such as mobile phones and instant messaging but they have remarkably little understanding of how technology actually works internally. They tend to treat gadgets as handy but inexplicable magic black boxes.
I'm sure there'll be objections to that statement and of course there are always people who are exceptions to such broad generalisations, but on the whole I don't think younger generations are as technically gifted as they're made out to be. Being a good driver doesn't mean you have any idea how to go about designing, building or modifying a car.
The cool thing is that FOSS gives people the *opportunity* to learn how software works. Proprietary software locks it away and doesn't let you look and develop your skills even if you want to. It forces everyone to start "from scratch" rather than collaborating and learning by example.
A few hours after my little flying excursion I did a talk at the monthly Linux Users Victoria meeting titled "Software Freedom: Pragmatic Idealism?" where I examined the role of Open Source software in fostering an innovative local ICT industry and the macro-economic impact on metrics such as the national balance-of-trade.
Following on from my comments about aviation and DIY, there's no group with a stronger DIY culture than the Open Source community. The entire Open Source software development paradigm is about looking inside the magic box to understand why and how it works, and being allowed to modify it until it does exactly what you want it to do rather than being forced to just accept software "as it comes" with no choice in the matter. The premise of my talk was that by encouraging a return to the "looking under the hood" roots of computer-related training at school level we could build a much more innovative and stronger local ICT industry by turning out not just technology consumers but also more people with intimate knowledge of how modern technology works internally. I believe that the high level of technical literacy we associate with younger generations is largely an illusion: younglings today may be very gifted when it comes to using technology such as mobile phones and instant messaging but they have remarkably little understanding of how technology actually works internally. They tend to treat gadgets as handy but inexplicable magic black boxes.
I'm sure there'll be objections to that statement and of course there are always people who are exceptions to such broad generalisations, but on the whole I don't think younger generations are as technically gifted as they're made out to be. Being a good driver doesn't mean you have any idea how to go about designing, building or modifying a car.
The cool thing is that FOSS gives people the *opportunity* to learn how software works. Proprietary software locks it away and doesn't let you look and develop your skills even if you want to. It forces everyone to start "from scratch" rather than collaborating and learning by example.
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