Open source, education and success

Peter Retief
Jul 28, 2017 · 2 min read

The concept of an open society of tolerance and sharing of resources is possibly a utopian dream, however, the shortest way isn’t always the best way and there could be solutions we have never considered.

Open source software is one of the beacons of sharing in an industry that is notoriously cut-throat. What can we learn from its success? Well we have Linux that has achieved wide success, dominating the server and smart phone industries, vendors leveraged horizontal benefits from a stable, well known operating system that allowed them to get to market very quickly without the costs of developing and maintaining the vertical system. How do we continue from here? The concept of a shared vertical system is powerful, let see what it could mean for education.

The raspberry pi (RPI) is a hardware system designed for education, it supports Linux and more recently Windows 10 hosted on a SDCard, using an ARM processors and selling for around 35 USD. The obvious benefits from using an open source operating system is that people can learn about compiling their own kernel and how the “user space” fits with the “machine space”. This is not just interesting it is vital to understand what is happening on this level. Sadly the RPI is not open source on the actual chip set so we have a break in the vertical system. Some people would say this is no big deal but I say it is a problem. From education one hopes for gainful employment and contribute to the economy in some way, so lets look at success.

The next step in open source is hardware, it has started and there are small steps in making chip sets, it is not easy and would be very expensive with cross patents making it all but impossible to create a modern CPU. This is the break in the vertical system. The birth of the desktop manufacturer could be the answer, the more eyes we have on a problem the easier it is to solve and it could be a complete disruption of current thinking, for instance, what if a 3D printer used dissolved metals and minerals in sea water? So this could be more than technology, what about vertical systems in sociology, health, science or housing?

How do we share success? Make our society fairer? I would certainly make a case for vertical systems being free and open

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