Firefox, Linux and the end of capitalism
The Internet browser Firefox is my favorite piece of software. Now I’ve made the move from Microsoft’s Internet Explorer I will never go back. The reason is simply because Microsoft won’t make IE open source. There would be no point, since they wouldn’t really own the software any more.
As a very amateur programmer I don’t have the skills to use the source code and create something I really like, so having the code doesn’t make any difference to me. But other people having the code does. They create wonderful plugins, which I can pick and choose to create my perfect browser.
If they shipped my browser to anyone else, they would think it was awful. If I received this browser as it is now just 6 months ago, even I would have thought it awful. But for the me right now, it is absolutely perfect. It has everything I want, and nothing I don’t want.
Firefox is the future of software.
Firefox works because it isn’t one product. It’s millions of products. And most importantly, it’s really easy to customise and keep up-to-date.
And remarkably it’s totally free. But that’s what makes it remarkable.
Linux will eventually take over practically the entire operating system market for the same reason. It’s not at that stage yet. If it’s now easy to use, I don’t know because it’s not easy enough to transfer.
But it’s much easier than it used to be.
I can download the software, burn it to CD, and try it out without installing it. Perfect. Except it doesn’t automatically work with my wireless card.
This isn’t the fault of Linux. In fact I had trouble setting it up on Windows — though it was Windows 98 at the time. But Windows wins out because I’ve already gone through the trauma and got it working there. I don’t want to have to go through that again, and while I stay with Windows I don’t have to.
I want to move to Linux because I know there are going to be big payoffs like there were with Firefox. But Linux isn’t quite Firefox yet.
But when it does reach the Firefox state I won’t ever want to move back. Not because it’s more secure or has a better interface, but because it will become increasingly plugin friendly. I will be able to make it my operating system. The changes I make won’t be cosmetic; they will be functional. That can’t happen on a proprietary system like Windows or OSX. It has to be open source.
Software patents won’t matter either. The open community doesn’t have a legal department. It doesn’t care about those kinds of rules. And it’s too widely distributed to police.
Eventually all software will be free because it will be better than anything an individual company can produce. Even specialist software will be free because the people who really make it are the animation studios.
Software is just the beginning, but it’s happening faster than anything else because there are no physical restrictions. If we want an open source world we have to find the technology to lift restrictions like labour and raw material. That’s incredibly difficult but it will happen eventually.
When it does capitalism will disappear.
Whether that happens in 20, 50 or 200 years, we cannot predict. But it’s the in between stages that are going to be really interesting. That’s starting to happen already.
Our economy has changed from one governed by necessity to one governed by desires. But that’s nothing new. The big change now is that more and more people have everything they want… except time.
People are going to start working less for money. More people will opt for part-time work in those non-passion-inspiring jobs so that they can spend time exploring their passions. As long as they can afford to live, they will do it.
But they won’t sit around on the beach for long because that gets boring. They will start doing work they enjoy and offer their output for free.
Eventually we will have a situation where scientists, doctors, computer programmers, politicians and even a different form of entrepreneur will work mostly for no pay, but will spend a day a few hours every week doing the few non-passionate jobs that can’t be fulfilled by robots and other automation.
Where they can they will volunteer because it makes them feel good and because they can afford to.
This is already starting.
November 3rd, 2006 at 3:03 UTC
I was an early adapter and convert to Firefox if only for the tab function and to see IE clumsily try to replicate it makes me laugh. As someone who has a mac in addition to using Firefox as my main internet browser I am not sad to see Microsoft slowly creep out of my life.
November 3rd, 2006 at 9:17 UTC
Microsoft is still ahead in many things, but their lead is looking surprisingly narrow. I think they have a bit of a crisis to look forward to. We’re just waiting for the tipping point.
August 5th, 2007 at 15:15 UTC
Regarding your view on Capitalism, the GPL clearly states that software is owned by its creator, and one is bound legally to share under the same terms any derivative. The wealth gained by Open Source IS capitalistic. Perhaps not through a monetary note, but definitely through a wealth of knowledge.
Debasing Linux and Open Source to a low socialistic ideology is a disservice to it, and the community of users and programmers who continuously capitalize personally through it.
August 5th, 2007 at 19:00 UTC
Certainly. This isn’t to say that we have arrived at this ideological socialism. People who build because they love to build still need to buy food, pay rent, travel, purchase hardware and so on. Open source embraces capitalism now, because we live in that world.
But if the world was more like software and other intellectual property, the rules change. I believe there are plenty of people who will work on software and write books full time, for no money, if they could. These jobs are interesting and challenging enough for that to happen. Factory jobs and boring admin jobs ruin this socialist dream. People just won’t do them without a financial incentive. But they are boring because they are easy; and easy work will be automated.
The low socialist ideal is one that has a dream, and believes we can just wish it to happen. And when that wish doesn’t just happen, they have to force it… as we have seen, sometimes by gun point.
The high socialist ideal (and this is probably bad terminology) is one that happens naturally, and whose time has not yet come. I just believe we are seeing the beginning of it.
Certainly we are seeing an enhancement to Capitalism. One that encourages lots of competition. If socialism believes in redistribution of wealth, Open Source provides it by making it easier for start-ups to emerge.
On a practical basis there is very little in common with socialist ideologies: Socialism starts with a dream; Open Source has grown with its feet firmly planted in reality. But I believe it shares a similar dream.