Azeem Azhar, The Microsoft Killers, Prospect, no.95 (February 2004). Azhar reviews the history and growth of open source software and the spread of the open source model into education (such as MIT's OpenCourseWare) and academic publishing (such as BioMed Central.) "The open access movement aims to increase distribution of research through journals unhampered by restrictive licensing regimes and high subscription costs-indeed, it has been doing so for several years, and some of them have become essential sources for scientists." The author also notes the British parliament's inquiry into the costs of scientific publishing. An interesting discussion of "public goods" explores the benefits people gain from participating in open source projects. Azhar's concluding points summarize how open source models are sustainable in the marketplace and represent real challenges to large, heretofore dominant companies. (Source: SciTechDaily)
Posted by
Garrett at 2/12/2004 12:11:00 PM.
The open access movement:
Putting peer-reviewed scientific and scholarly literature
on the internet. Making it available free of charge and
free of most copyright and licensing restrictions.
Removing the barriers to serious research.
