I'm quite sure everyone is familiar with the popular Dr. Seuss book, The Lorax. May more may only know the recent popular movie version. My kids love the book. I read it (again) last night to them and was reminded how the word unless was a central focus.
Wait a minute, related to open source?
As I stated in the title unless is a powerful word. I think it implies so many different things. Specifically I love the implications the word unless has for open source communities. I know, I know, you're thinking I'm crazy. Am I trying to draw out a relationship which doesn't exist? I don't think I am. Hang on, stick with me and see if you agree with me. Here's several reasons why I think the word "unless" relates to open source.
In The Beginning
Let's take a short trip back in time. We'll start in 1983 with a gentleman by the name, Richard Stallman. Richard saw an environment where an operating system (Unix) was being very quickly used by a variety of businesses and educations. He created a license familiar to many people in open source, GNU General Public License (GPL). The purpose was to establish a license for the free distribution, replication, modification, and sharing of Unix code. He continued to work on this license and by 1990 had almost enough contributed code to create a full operating system based on his license...and then it stalled. Things slowed down and the concept of an open source operating system might have died there - unless... A student by the name of Linus Torvalds stepped up with an announcement of a new operating system kernel. He shared his newly created code (Linux) under a shareable license, and thus established a new level of free and open source software. So we can easily see how concept of unless played a role in the original creation of free and open source. Let's look next at a current example.
Modern Day Open Source
If we jump back to current times we can see another example where the power of the word unless has disrupted things again. This time let's look at a technology called OpenStack. This relatively new free and open source software has exploded onto the scene as a leader in open source cloud computing. How do the ideas found in the meaning of unless apply in this market? Again, it's an easy path to see. Cloud computing, or more simply, the distribution of computer processing across multiple machines (servers) has become the buzzword for hosting and server providers in recent years. Everyone wants to move "to the cloud" even if this is unclear to them what it implies. The technology was complicated, and the market very closed. It was difficult for most businesses to take advantage of cloud computing as a result of these barriers. In 2010 this all changed. Rackspace (and NASA) thought differently. In fact, somewhere along the way I guarantee you there came a point where someone, somewhere, sitting in an office thought (perhaps said aloud)...unless. These two organizations jointly created and released a new free and open source cloud computing platform. In true open source form they established a non-profit corporate entity to manage and run the project and today there are more than 200 companies who have joined in to promote the project.
Challenge The Status Quo
In both of these stories and in countless other stories the underlying thought is the same. We see people thinking differently. We see people challenging the status quo and questioning the "norm". We see people caught up with the idea of unless. Where would open source be without this idea of doing things differently? More importantly, where would our world be without these people willing to stop, to think, to stand up, and say "unless".
What about you
Take a minute and look back on your own history. Can you point to specific times when you've stopped and said wait a minute, I don't think we have to do this? Have you found times when you stood for something? Rather than giving up in a dejected, defeated attitude of accepting what has been put before you, have you been bold, been creative, been original and said, "unless..." This is why I believe the word, unless, is powerful within this one word lies the ability to affect a market, to impact a community, to change the world. Open source holds keys to changing our world, we're seeing new applications daily and in far more areas than software alone (see this article about farming to name one).
Great things happen when we, as individuals, as volunteers, are committed to fighting apathy, focused on improving our world, and willing to think 'outside-the-box'.
The next time you feel like something might have an opportunity to excel, to truly be something great but is somehow limited, restricted, or closed - don't be afraid. Think it quietly to yourself, whisper it softly to a friend, or boldly stand and shout it. Unless. You never know what greatness will follow. [caption id="attachment_254" align="alignnone" width="705"]
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