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Abstract for Seminar

This talk is about the way we shape a technology to create circumstances in which countries and people can develop a better society.

I shall take the technology of software, and talk about the way we have shaped that technology to create a world in which software does what you want, where software is reliable, and secure; a world in which you have a choice of vendors in a competitive, free market; a world in which you have both the legal and the practical right to start a business; a world that rewards the law abiding, not law breakers; a world in which you are permitted to collaborate and encouraged to share.

What I shall do first is explain open source, free software. I will briefly describe the history of free software.

Then I will describe the key freedoms, to copy, study, modify, and redistribute, which not only shape the technology, but also serve as criteria for evaluating licenses and regulations.

Next, I will explore several metaphors, which we use to gain understanding. We call the Internet a `highway', a `market', or `library'. These metaphors link older and more familiar technologies with the newer and less familiar technology.

I will apply lessons learned from the older technologies to the new technology.