Brian’s Perspective - Old Blog

I have been an advocate of using Open Source software in ministry and religious work for some time. There are really two aspects of Open Source that I like a lot:

1. The Cost : Open Source software, usually released under the GNU Public License, is free. The quality is very good and the cost savings associated with not having to buy thousands of dollars of software is a big boon to ministers and churches.
2. The Principle : Open Source is about people working together to make the world better rather than to suck all the monetary profit they can out of the world. I like the idea of helping, and that makes me like Open Source.

I was over on Slashdot and read the following quote:

Slashdot | The Open Source Business?

“Being an advocate of the open source software movement for some time, I’m wondering how and if the principles of open source software could be applied to a new type of open source business. In a world where people slave away for the sole profit of a board of directors and merciless shareholders, is there room for a new type of organization that throws away the archaic and monolithic organizational structure of today and from there form a company that has its direction dictated by all of the members that run it. An organization where everyone has an equal say in what goes on. There isn’t any limit on how many people can be involved (the more the better, in fact) as long as they can be useful. Could this be the way of the future?”

Now I don’t know the viability of such a business model. After all, it forces radical, crass capitalism to its knees and brings a new breed of person who sole purpose is not to make money, but to do good work and get by in this life. It also recognizes the potential of freeing people to participate openly in the entire project. No body on the project is dead weight. They participate voluntarily because they want to do so.

I know Paul had something like this in mind in Ephesians 4:14-16 when he talks about the church being a group of people that grows and thrives by what the individual Christian supplies and contributes. We should not be looking so much for what we get out of it, like a bunch of rabid consumers needing God to give us a gift, but instead should be looking for how we can best be used to help others. This is biblical and right.

I wonder, though, if the business world will embarrass the church by getting there, to a place where they all work together, before we do?