Simon Phipps gets it right (finally)

At EclipseCon 2004, Sun's Simon Phipps gave a keynote address before a tense audience on the virtues of open source. This was before NetBeans was re-invigorated, when there was talk of Sun joining Eclipse and teaming up on IDE development.

The message was basically that there is strength in diversity. The presentation was positive and well received, but didn't address the questions that were on everybody's mind. So as I reported later:

Since nobody else was going to do it, I got up and asked him when Sun was going to take this advice by open sourcing Java and Swing to allow outside contributors ( he said Java was already open source and besides IBM didn't open source their implementation), opening up the JCP ( he said the Sun veto was necessary to prevent other unspecified big companies from taking over , presumably he meant either Microsoft or IBM), and joining Eclipse ( he said Eclipse should join the JTC [Java Tool Community] , and that Eclipse was still too controlled or dominated by one company (IBM) but that if Sun's conditions were met they would consider it again). 

What a difference a couple years and a new boss can make. Simon is now Sun's chief Open Source officer,"This is not volunteerism. It is directed self-interest." and since open sourcing Sun's implementation of Java is "not a question of if, but a question of how", it's certain he'll play a big role in that effort. JCP has opened up a bit by making their processes more transparent, though Sun still has a veto. Eclipse created an independent Foundation (where IBM doesn't have a veto), and now more than half the committers are not IBM employees.

Simon gave another keynote recently at the Open Source Business Conference Europe. There were many different takes on this keynote, but one member of the audience wrote something that resonated with me:

Phipps said open source had been focused for too long on sharing code instead of what he called "the enrichment of the commons." ... The future is in co-operation and in organizations preserving what is ultimately of value to them, he said. "This is not volunteerism," Phipps said. "It is directed self-interest, synchronized self-interest, and there is nothing wrong with self-interest."

Many societal structures, human and non-human, are based on "selfish agents" or "synchronized self-interest". Often the synchronization is automatic and not the result of a higher mind (think bee colonies, bird flocking), but the effects are the same anyway. Organizations like the JCP and the Eclipse Foundation try to impose some "enlightenment" on the structure, with mixed results. Governments try to interfere in free markets, imposing tariffs here, giving incentives there, and often just making things worse.

As open source continues its march beyond the 3 A's (academia, altruism, and activism) into commerce and large enterprises, organizations that in the past had to compete at all levels (sometimes bitterly) will need to learn to cooperate at some for "the enrichment of the commons". The increased efficiency this brings will benefit both the vendors and the consumers.

BTW, if you're into digital photography, I highly recommend Simon's webmink site. He has a gift with a camera.