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Re: [ox-en] Obstacles for Free Products?



Hi Franz and all!

Funny that so little people here see obstacles for Free Products.

2 weeks (20 days) ago Franz Nahrada wrote:
list-en oekonux.org on Montag, 24. Oktober 2005 at 21:47 Uhr [PHONE NUMBER REMOVED] wrote:
Little time has been mentioned. (Though this is rather not a obstacle
but only slowing down the development.) Other ideas?

first let me say that in my eyes the "slowing down" because of lack of
time is not just slowing down the development but a real killer.

Hmm... Free Software took nearly 10 years to take off and it has not
been killed by this perceived slowness. Wikipedia has also needed some
time to grow and Free Science is still in its childhood.

It
becomes more and more urgent when Free Modes are tackling with very
complex questions.

Handling complex situations where people are concerned is a typical
OHA question. In Free Software this complexity is handled in a certain
way and - AFAICS - with rather little effort. Once more I conclude we
need to understand better how this OHA process works in Free Software.

The might start very easily with discussions, but when
we are really at the point of "sorting things out", we come to a breakdown
point where complexity cannot be handled.

I don't think complexity could be handled better if activity (aka
work) can be contributed faster. In the contrary I'd say particularly
for the OHA / social systems seen in Free Software quick OHA processes
are more damaging than furthering a project. Anyway complexity is best
handled when you have enough time to think about it which may also
mean to sleep a night or two over it or give processes the time to
evolve in their own pace.

IMHO you seem to confuse generating ideas with implementing them.
Generating ideas is rather simple and I know a lot of people in
virtual and in less virtual life who are great at generating ideas.
But still implementation is another thing. And more often than not
those having ideas quickly disappear when it comes to implementing
their own ideas.

The bad things is that Free
Modes become discredited in the long run if we choose to allow this as the
natural condition of our being.

If you are right and complexity can only be handled by speed then yes.
Otherwise no.

Of course there are more obstacles to Free Products/Free Activity.

1)  The corporate world floods the world with gadgets and destroy peoples
sense of quality.

In other words: People need to change to understand what they really
want (which we already know better than they). This is exactly the
approach which has been followed by the leftist avantgardes for about
a century. The practical attempt ended 1989.

Also if this could be an obstacle than Free Software would never had a
chance. Remember that Free Software entered the scene when there
aleady was a full-fledged market.

No, I think as Free Software any Free Product is only worthwhile when
people want it because *they for themselves* see a need for it in
their life - without being brain-washed before.

2) The costs of research and development include testing and prototyping;
this might be prohibitive.

Indeed I think in many areas this is the main obstacle. It is
certainly true for those areas where you need expensive / special
machinery to reach the level of productivity already common in
capitalist production. In general these will be most areas of material
production.

This is probably the most important reason why I think that the sector
of material production is less important if compared to the sector of
information production where in many cases you need only a computer,
Internet access and a bright brain.

3) The "culture" around Free Modes depends on external factors.

In other words: The germ form is embedded in the old form. Yes, that's
true and it is good this way. In particular this applies to your
example:

For
example, there is currently a very interesting discussion going on in the
Wikipedia Meta Group about the Wikiversity. It might not reach the point
of positive decision, because a very qualified minority is pointing out
that producing a university would require much more than just courseware
and learning material. There is certification, assurance and other things
that Wikiversity by itself could not reach.

Absolutely true. The ancien regime set standards here and unless Free
Products have better standards Free Products need to oblige to these
standards. Or: The quality in all important respects needs to be
topped by Free Products - without brain-washing.

IMHO being embedded in real life is the most useful corrective for any
emancipative project. Autonomy on the other hand means basically
leaving real life.


						Mit Freien Grüßen

						Stefan

--
Please note this message is written on an offline laptop
and send out in the evening of the day it is written. It
does not take any information into account which may have
reached my mailbox since yesterday evening.

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Web-Site: http://www.oekonux.org/
Organization: http://www.oekonux.de/projekt/
Contact: projekt oekonux.de



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