Learning from Linux
Ilkka Tuomi · Oxford University Press eBooks · 2006
This chapter describes both the social and technological evolution of Linux and its development community. By analysing in detail the evolution of the structure of Linux source code over a period of years, it shows how social control and coordination become embedded in a technological artefact. It also shows how social interaction can be ‘translated’ into resources by ‘black-boxing’ some of the underlying complexity behind technological interfaces. The chapter argues that one reason why the open source development model has been successful is that the social translation mechanisms it uses allow several communities to interface simultaneously to a common technological artefact. Moreover, the open source model guarantees that when software fails, it fails gracefully, at least in the social sense. In open source, black boxes have transparent and penetrable walls. The chapter also discusses the bug removal process in Linux and highlights some trade-offs that are needed to make distributed innovation and technology development effective.