OPEN

Nicholas Carr has a good post ruminating on the implications for the open source movement and the concept of social production as outlined by Yochai Benkler.

In summary:

…It illuminates a much broader and deeper tension in the digital world, a fault line that runs not only through the software industry but through every industry whose products or services exist, or can exist, as software. The tension is between social production and the profit motive. Volunteer labor means something very different in the context of a community than it does in the context of a business. In the context of a community, it’s an expression of fellowship, of the communal value of sharing. But in the context of a business, as Ellison’s move illustrates, it’s nothing more than a cheap input. Many of the most eloquent advocates of social production would prefer it if this tension didn’t exist. But it does, and it’s important.

He’s right, of course. It is very important indeed – and it will be instructive to watch what happens to both Oracle and the community / movement that produced the free software.