Regular readers may notice that I have changed the sub-title of this blog.
That’s because I want to follow a story closely, and eventually turn the blog into a book. Other blogs which have done this in the past include The Long Tail, Global Guerillas and Glenn Greenwald’s Unclaimed Territory.
I’m also hoping focus can lead to discipline and knowledge.
I have found, over the last months, that the open source story I first tackled for ZDNet 18 months ago actually has much deeper implications than I imagined. Open source software, an open Internet, and open spectrum are not only the major challenge to our present political dynamic, but to our economic system as well.
By holding basics in common, and having everyone build on top of those basics (while also letting them expand the definition of basic) enormous innovation is unleashed. The resulting solutions are far ahead of what any company can do on its own.
The same is generally true for an open Internet and open spectrum. The
difference is that we have yet to establish reliable business models
that can measure this change. So these changes are opposed by those who
benefit from the current system — the copyright industries and the
telcos.
But if you look a little deeper, at the dynamics of an open source
business, you find an even greater threat. Open source produces
"superstars," top performers whose work is extremely valuable. This has
proven difficult for the software industry to get its arms around,
leading to disintermediation and the success of firms like JBoss. The same is true for an open Internet, which you can see in the rise of such groups as the Arctic Monkeys.
You can see this clearly in the areas of journalism and politics. Many political bloggers are more trusted than major newspapers, and the rise of Netroots candidates in the political sphere continues unabated.
My goal is to trace what these changes are, and then to follow them
through the economic and political processin the period of upheaval
we’re now entering. My goal is to discover the new rules underlying
this new economics, and the new political dynamic, so that your parents
and leaders can understand them.
I think the economic model for open spectrum is actually the best established of the bunch. If one compares the profit generated from interactive (i.e. not broadcasting) technology that utilizes open spectrum, I think one will find it certainly proportionaly (on a per Hz basis) exceeds that generated by closed spectrum technology and perhaps exceeds it in absolute terms as well.
I think the economic model for open spectrum is actually the best established of the bunch. If one compares the profit generated from interactive (i.e. not broadcasting) technology that utilizes open spectrum, I think one will find it certainly proportionaly (on a per Hz basis) exceeds that generated by closed spectrum technology and perhaps exceeds it in absolute terms as well.