Fwd: ACM Presents: Dr. Menzies - Open Source: Can You Just Ignore It?

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gregory Gay <[email protected]>
Date: Feb 5, 2007 1:05 PM
Subject: ACM Presents: Dr. Menzies - Open Source: Can You Just Ignore It?
To: [email protected], [email protected]


This Wednesday (2/7) at 6:30 in room 113 MRB. We will give a short
talk on what the ACM does.
Afterwards, Dr. Menzies will speak on the topic of open source
software. Pizza and drinks will be served after his speech.

This even counts as an out-of-class experience for those in
Engineering 101, 102, and 199.


 Title:
Open Source: Can You Just Ignore It?

Photo of me: www.flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=294983846&size=s&context=set-72157594371209297

Dr. Tim Menzies, Ph.D., lectures AI and software engineering and works
>
>
> a lot with NASA. No, he's not a rocket scientist but he knows a
> couple. H has been working on advanced modeling and AI since 1986 and
> received his PhD from the University of New South Wales, Sydney,
> Australia. He is the author of nearly 200 research papers. A former
> research chair for NASA, Dr. Menzies is now a associate professor at
> the West Virginia University's Lane Department of Computer Science and
> Electrical Engineering. For more information of Dr. Menzies, see http://menzies.us.
>
> Abstract:
>
>
> It is mistake to view the open source movement as some new fad,
> temporary thing, just an obsession by a couple of geeks that will soon
> just go away, if you ignore it.
>
> In this talk, I will argue for the above on anthropological, legal,
> economic, and technical grounds.
>
> ANTHROPOLOGICAL:
>
> Properly considered, open source is actually a modern expression of a
> tradition in human cultures dating back to prehistory. The notion of
> the "gift economy", where prestige is granted by what you can give
> away, seems wired into the psychology of homo sapiens.
>
> LEGAL:
>
> The nature of copyrights and patents has changed, radically, in the
> last twenty years. Unless we take make the open source stand, the
> digital world will become a digital prison where ideas will be locked
> away, unmodifiable, unusable. Worse, we will lose our ability to build
> exciting new futures past on past achievements.
>
> ECONOMIC:
>
> The evidence is very very clear. Open source works. Companies can
> lever open source tools, to great advantage.
>
> TECHNICAL:
>
> There is tension between security and availability. If you give others
> access to it, even limited access, it is hard to prevent them from
> prying it open. Sure, some things need to be locked away (guns need
> guns cabinets) and we need institutions that punish inappropriate
> access or abuse of digital resources. But most the digital material
> being locked away is not radioactive or infectious or
> explosive. Companies need to realize that if they try to lock away
> their I.P., they can waste scarce intellectual resources that could be
> better spent on building new resources that attract larger markets.


-- 
Gregory Gay
Research Assistant - WV Virtual Environments Lab
Reporter - 4 Color Rebellion (http://www.4colorrebellion.com)