There are two types of forms of media. Open source and closed source form of media. The difference being that one gives the public the freedom to alter a softwares original code and essentially add or remove features to the software and the other being that no one can alter the code at all. Allowing something to be open source allows creative expression and even creates a community around the original software that is constantly being altered and updated. A prime example of this would be Wikipedia which is a ever growing online encyclopedia that gets information added onto itself everyday by a multitude of people, but there is a staff that is working at Wikipedia that has to fact check a lot of the information added to the site. That is the beauty of open source, it creates this sense of hey if I don’t like this specific thing I’ll just change it and make it better. In “The Political Economy of Open Source Software” it talks about the three essential things about open source media.
- That it allows free re-distribution. There is no charge for royalties or licensing fees to the author.
- It requires that source code be distributed with the software or otherwise made available for no more than the cost of distribution
- · It allows anyone to modify the software or derive other software from it, and to redistribute the modified software under the same terms.
These three essential things is what makes open source possible because of these three rules this allows project to be carried out by hundreds of developers that can work from around the world with out any real direct pay for their contributions to the software. Now since anyone can just copy and alter your work with open source it makes it difficult for someone to actually make a profit off their own software. Close source media allows people to live off and claim their creation as their own. Microsoft is an example of a closed source media that has strived over the years. In the future we may be heading down the path of more and more open source media but we’ll see when that happens the effects it will have on the economy.
