Free software is a gift economy
*planted: 30/12/2021last tended: 30/12/2021
Not sure I agree with this claim or not. I like free software and I like gift economies so I'd be fine if it was a good one.
But part of me feels like it's actually more communist (from each according to their ability, to each according to their need). Gift economies as I understand it have some expectation of (delayed) reciprocity that I'm not sure exists in free software.
Note that this doesn't necessary claim that free software is exclusively a gift economy. Different projects could be different types of exchange systems.
See
- The Hi-Tech Gift Economy
- Maggie Appleton on Open Source as a Gift Economy
- Participation in the open source gift economy –
for some places to possibly dig in to this.
1. Epistemic status
- Type
- claim
- Gut feeling
- 4
- Confidence
- 2
2. Elsewhere
2.1. In my garden
Notes that link to this note (AKA backlinks).