I'm uncomfortable lumping the smorgasbord of people, projects, and licenses together and slapping the OSS label on them. And as everyone has a different one, I'm unsure of the merit of discussing value systems.

That said, OSS from the legal perspective seems to be about legal frameworks competing to preserve the equivalent of free-range intellectual property. A Commons of the mind that is shored up by a functioning system of community standards and social practices. Where the only coercion is the coercion to share and share alike.

All of that provides an incredible opportunity to anyone with a mind and the desire to use it to:

o create o scratch an itch o learn from others o avoid ideological ax grinding o avoid reinventing the wheel

IMHO, the best projects are the ones that foster a self-supporting community that is welcoming and friendly, but moreover is a meritocracy focused on actually doing the task at hand. Smart people clump together. When a bunch of smart and productive people clump together under an OSS license amazing things can happen.

There is a feeling of awe that I get, when following the creative efforts of extremely capable people. It makes you feel like a child. I can hear myself saying: I want to do that. I want to be that good at something. I want to make a difference.

-- Garrett Goebel IS Development Specialist

ScriptPro Direct: 913.403.5261 5828 Reeds Road Main: 913.384.1008 Mission, KS 66202 Fax: 913.384.2180 www.scriptpro.com garrett at scriptpro dot com