Explosive Changes in Open Source

Sourceforge.net has just launched a global marketplace  for buying and selling services for open source software.  Sourceforge.net is the biggest platform for managing open source projects, with over 100,000 projects, and 1,000,000 subscribers.  This is a big deal.

Say, for instance, you find a piece of software, but identify a piece of functionality it's lacking.  You can write up your requirements and get it added - that's nothing new.  But until now, you either had to code it yourself, or put it out to tender - usuallyon another web site, hoping and praying that someone out there has experience with the code base and the other necessary technologies to be able to fill your needs affordably.

What has changed?   Alignment.  You can now search for projects with services, and for services for projects.  As I write, the Marketplace is in beta testing.  Only one project has services, and no services are offered, but I can see this facility being absolutely exlposive.

Why explosive?  Because most of the licenses of open source software allow you to take the source code and adapt it, so long as you retain the freedoms and restrictions of the original license; you can branch the project into another project and you don't need the original author's permission (though it is nice to ask).  This means that ANYBODY can become a project leader - all you need is a vision of what needs doing, and an ability to communicate.  I believe that this will allow a much higher degree of "value based coding" - that is the pursuit of features according to their value, where previously much of the coding was technologist led.

How explosive?  It will change the nature of the Open Source movement; it will put a new lease of life into old, dusty, half forgotten projects that were created during some coder's slack period.  It will develop a whole new generation of software project leaders, who will utilise global networking tools to manage their ad-hoc teams.  And coders will finally start getting remunerated properly for their open source efforts.  Furthermore, if you change the nature of the Open Source software movement, through competitive forces, you also change the nature of the Closed Source software industry.

Well done Sourceforge.net; what a master stroke.

-- Philip Greenwood