Google has an interesting approach to creating and releasing new products, seemingly taking their cue from the Open Source movement to "release early and release often." The results, as one would expect, have been decidedly mixed, both functionally and financially. We're seeing some neat stuff, but the lack of interoperability between similar tools -- for example, the personal indexing services Google Bookmarks, Google Notebook, and Google Reader -- has been a problem. It seems reasonable to me to have something that combines the functionality of Furl and del.icio.us with a decent RSS reader -- well within Google's technical abilities, I'm sure.

Posted by John at 4:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The past few days visiting the relies here in Truro, Nova Scotia, I have been filling my idol hours playing Travian, trying to read an Isherwood memoir, and scanning Slashdot. A post yesterday reminded me of something that has nibbled at me about the open source movement for some time, but which no one seems to talk about: its communitarian antecedents and the lessons we can perhaps learn from them, if we are so inclined. Ted asks, Is there room for a company that has its direction dictated by all of the members? and the answer is obvious to anyone who has worked as a "social entrepreneur" or in non-profit organizations: we've been trying them for a long time in the form of collectives, co-operatives, and worker-owned businesses, and whatever positive qualities they might have, they are no panacea.

Posted by John at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)