In the conclusion or Technolopolitics and Oppositional Media, Richard Kahn and Douglas Kellner propose that "It is up to oppositional groups that utilize the Internet to develop the forms of technopolitics that can produce a freer and happier world and which can liberate humanity and nature from the tyrannical and oppressive forces that currently constitute much of our global and local reality."
In looking at this concluding statement, I can't help but think about how the open source software (OSS) movement has helped change the world and the internet one program at a time. Far too many people fail to understand what it is that the OSS movement has done to improve all of our online lives.
To start, I'd like to look at one of the most successful OSS movements in recent history, called SAMBA. Headed by Andrew Tridgell (one of my personal heroes), SAMBA is an open source software project aimed at allowing non-Microsoft operating systems (pick one) to share files and printers with computers running Microsoft operating systems such as Windows XP, Vista, and even 7.
While that might sound trivial in 2010, it has dramatically changed the politics of operating systems over the last ten years by helping to eliminate vendor lock-in. Vendor lock-in, for purposes of this discussion is the complete and total dependence on a single company to provide for and sell you everything you might need because no other alternative is available. In the case of Microsoft, they made it virtually impossible for any other computer to connect to their computers without purchasing either a licensed API from Microsoft, or buying a Microsoft product to facilitate the connection.
The only problem with this solution, was that for many years, Microsoft did not provide any licensing to do this, which left all other computer operating systems incompatible with Microsoft operating systems. In short, users of alternative operating systems could not share files or printers directly with Microsoft operating systems.
Putting this into context, Microsoft had a 95% market share of computer operating systems and did not allow any other operating systems to connect to it. If you wanted to share files or printers with Microsoft's operating system, your only solution was to purchase a computer with Microsoft's operating system. From a business point of view, Microsoft had a very lucrative model. By eliminating the ability to connect with other non-Microsoft computers, users were forced into purchasing more Microsoft products. Pure genius... or evil? I'll let you decide.
Recognizing this limitation and vendor lock-in to Microsoft products, Tridgell and a team of hackers set out to solve what Microsoft would not. They created software that mimicked Microsoft's networking protocols, allowing them to connect non-Microsoft operating systems to Microsoft operating systems by pretending to be Microsoft operating systems.
Problem solved? Not by a long-shot. In fact the battle had just began. Once Microsoft found out what the SAMBA team was up to, they modified their operating system to be incompatible with it. Every time Microsoft modified their software, the SAMBA team had to go back to the drawing board and fix their software to work again. This back and forth went on for almost 7 years.
Microsoft, being found guilty of various other vendor lock-in and monopolistic practices was eventually forced to release their networking code to the SAMBA team in a landmark European court ruling. Finally, after many years, the SAMBA team was allowed to actually view Microsoft's networking code and write open source (free) software that would allow anyone with any computer to share files and printers with Microsoft operating systems.
Why does this matter? Thanks to hackers like Tridgell, any computer operating system running SAMBA can freely connect to Microsoft computers. Who uses it? Every single computer operating system that isn't a Microsoft windows computer, that's who. Have an Apple Macintosh and share files and printers with a Microsoft computer? Thank SAMBA.
It's hackers like Tridgell that exemplify what Kahn and Kellner were trying to say. Thanks to their efforts, the computer world is free from the grips of at least one tyrannical, monopolistic, techno-power.
Amen.
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Wow! Great post Maurice! I learned something new reading about Samba. Not being the most computer literate of people I don't tend to question things like Microsoft "lock-in" although I've been aware of the controversy they've faced as monopolistic software gurus. Your post was a great spin on the article we read and adds a different dimension to a unique kind of activism.
ReplyDeleteNice post. I seem to remember a similar debate when Sprint first released the Palm Pre.
ReplyDeleteYou see, my sister's fiance works for Sprint, so I remember it quite well. When Sprint first released the Pre, it was made to be compatible with iTunes, fooling iTunes into thinking it was an older iPod Nano. When Apple caught wind of it, they prompty released an update that kept the Pre from syncing with their software. Kind of a similar situation to the Microsoft/SAMBA relationship, though not quite the same.
I don't know what ever came of it though. Haven't really followed through since I'm kind of an Apple fanboy (sadly) and opted for the iPhone over the Pre.
Nevertheless, good post my man!