Content-type: text/html Downes.ca ~ Stephen's Web ~ Solveig Singleton on Open Source, Games, and Public Policy

Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
Given that games are widely touted as the guture for online learning (especially by me) the implications of this article are interesting. The central thesis of the item is that there are few open source games, and the author seeks to explain why. "The open source business model seems to have trouble CRLFcoming up with large initial investments at the cutting edge of innovation, where risks are greatest," argues the author. The lessons drawn for public policy are that government sponsored technological development should not be released as open source (to reward companies for the 'risk' they took, though the logic here defies me, since it is the public, not the entrepreneur, that took the risk) and that government procurement policies should be neutral. The paper drew a large number of replies that, in my view, effectively undermine its central presumptions (especially as I spent many years of my life programming these very same 'non-existent' open source games).

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
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Last Updated: Nov 23, 2024 5:27 p.m.

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