Keynote speaker: Tim O'Reilly---Open Source
Tim O’Reilly · 2000
Linux and other open source projects such as Perl and Apache are not just of interest to computer programmers or Wall Street bankers hoping to profit from their efforts. These projects give us key insights into the nature of collaboration in the age of the Internet.The Internet itself started out as a way for computer scientists and other researchers to work together over large distances. In the 1990's, the Internet was discovered as a consumer phenomenon, and is in the process of transforming everything from business processes to entertainment to how people learn and communicate. But in the mad rush to commercialize the Internet, we may be losing sight of the technical and social processes that created this tremendous innovation.The Internet is at bottom an experiment in group collaboration, a self-extending evolutionary technology driven by the needs of its participants to share information. Traditionally, the Internet, and the open source projects associated with it, have governed themselves, set their own standards, and invented new tools from the bottom up. They provide essential lessons for anyone wanting to exploit the power of the internet to coordinate the efforts of widely distributed groups.