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What if and What is possibleWhat if we recognized that OSS
projects exist to fill a niche in our technological ecosystem?
Sometimes software “mates” with other software to produce offspring which
solves different problems than the projects they grew out of. Some
species of software can viably mix with others because they share certain core
(genetic) patterns such as running on the same operating system, or speaking to
the same databases, or complying with certain APIs.
What if we tracked and managed software in service to the niches it fills
instead of serving our egos? What if projects could fork to meet new
needs, but still remain a part of a family of software with the ability to
share modules in common which comply with their backbone API? Projects
departing from the core standards start new families with new standards. We
can track genealogies of code. We can even reference prior projects which
served only as an inspiration for new ones, but whose code was not appropriate
toinclude.include. We can implement collaborative decision-making tools, ratings, feedback and
reputation let the projects be self-governing. We can use standards for
sharing and hosting these systems to build a distributed network which is
itself an evolving project serving the needs of developer communities.
We can include human dynamics and build more integral software development
processes with the tools to support leadership, acknowledgment, conflict
resolution, collaboration, task management and so on.
What if and What is possibleWhat if we recognized that OSS
projects exist to fill a niche in our technological ecosystem?
Sometimes software “mates” with other software to produce offspring which
solves different problems than the projects they grew out of. Some
species of software can viably mix with others because they share certain core
(genetic) patterns such as running on the same operating system, or speaking to
the same databases, or complying with certain APIs.
What if we tracked and managed software in service to the niches it fills
instead of serving our egos? What if projects could fork to meet new
needs, but still remain a part of a family of software with the ability to
share modules in common which comply with their backbone API? Projects
departing from the core standards start new families with new standards. We
can track genealogies of code. We can even reference prior projects which
served only as an inspiration for new ones, but whose code was not appropriate
to
reputation let the projects be self-governing. We can use standards for
sharing and hosting these systems to build a distributed network which is
itself an evolving project serving the needs of developer communities.
We can include human dynamics and build more integral software development
processes with the tools to support leadership, acknowledgment, conflict
resolution, collaboration, task management and so on.