Re: [ox-en] Re: Free Software is not a gift
- From: "George N. Dafermos" <georgedafermos yahoo.com>
- Date: Mon, 21 May 2007 07:33:37 -0700 (PDT)
Hello Stefan,
I agree with you that diffuse practices of code reuse
do not constitute an instance of a gift, and that
gifts of code are rarely ever exchanged, at least not
in a manner that lends itself to demarcating the
boundaries of the gift-giving or gift-receiving group,
except perhaps in cases where a for-profit company
gives a gift to a community of developers in order to
create some sort of long-lasting relationship. Either
way, the gift metaphor is problematic; there is no
doubt about this.
However, insofar as participation in a community is in
itself a motive compelling enough for an individual
(or group) to write code and contribute it to an
existing project,[1] the concept of the gift - in the
absence of a more appropriate term - could perhaps
still be employed to emphasise the communal character
of free software production, or, for it comes down to
the same thing, the motivation and pleasure inherent
in participating in such a mode of production.
In a nutshell, I do not doubt the fact that many
developers do NOT want any personal relationship with
other participating developers; but neither am I
unaware of the fact that there is an intrinsic
motivation in joining and participating in a
*community* for many developers. And from what I see,
these two facets need not be mutually exclusive, as
different developers may well have different reasons
for joining the same project-centric community.
george
[1] The research literature is support of this
argument is massive. Indicatively, see: E.S. Raymond,
1999. The Cathedral and the Bazzar, O'Reilly; Moon and
Sproull, 2000. Essense of distributed work: the case
of the linux kernel, First Monday, 5, 11; P. Wayner,
2000. Free for All, Harper Business; O'Mahoney, 2003.
Guarding the Commons: how open source contributors
protect their work, Research Policy, 32, 7, 1179-1198;
von Krogh et al. 2003. Community, joining and
specialization in open source software innovation: a
case study, Research Policy, 32, 7, 1217-1241.
--- Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de> wrote:
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Hi George!
3 weeks (26 days) ago George N Dafermos wrote:
According to Gregers's presentation, the
developers of
free software do NOT want to establish a personal
relationship through their free exchanges of
source
code.
Which is also my impression.
Thus, since the gift (according to M. Mauss) is
a form of exchange which seeks to etablish and
establishes a social bond, Gregers concludes that
practices of free software are NOT having to do
with
the gift. My comment: Mauss is explicit that one
of
the primary functions of the gift is that it
establishes a social bond, but he adds that the
social
relationship established through the exchange of
the
gift is NEVER between *individuals* (as in the
seller-buyer dialectic), but it always encompasses
and
unites groups of people.
Which introduces "groups of people" to the debate...
Cast in this light, I'd say
that the gift is present in practices of free
software
insofar as a "gift" of source code by one group of
people in given to a project which involves
(heavily
or not) other groups of developers too, and thus
seeks
to establish a bond between the two (or more)
distinct
groups of developers.
In practice AFAICS this happens rarely. Usually Free
Software projects
are separated pretty much from each other. Some
projects - namely
libraries - are used by other projects but I can not
see that this
creates the type of relationship you mention.
If at all you can talk of an anonymous group of Free
Software users
for which some Free Software is a gift. But this is
more like being
part of a general culture than anything I'd label
gift. In particular
there are no specific individuals or groups
involved.
Mit Freien Grüßen
Stefan
- --
Please note this message is written on an offline
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