Open source

The previous open source article now exists at open-source software. This article needs help with content that is more about the environment of open source and its history.

Influence on other fields

The open source movement has been the inspiration for increased transparency and liberty in other fields. For example the release of biotechnology research by CAMBIA, and the encyclopedia named Wikipedia. The open-source concept has also been applied to media other than computer programs, e.g., by Creative Commons. It also constitutes an example of user innovation (see for example the book Democratizing Innovation).

Related Topics:
Transparency - Biotechnology - CAMBIA - Wikipedia - Creative Commons - Democratizing Innovation

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Open Cola is another idea inspired by the open source movement. Soft drink giants like Coke and Pepsi hold their formulas closely guarded secrets. Now volunteers have posted the recipe for a similar soda drink on the internet. The taste is said to be comparable to that of the standard beverages.

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There is also an open-source beer recipe called Vores Øl. Following its release, an article in Wired magazine commented that "as open source spreads beyond software to online encyclopedias like Wikipedia and biological research, it was only a matter of time before somebody created an open-source beer". http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,68144,00.html?tw=wn_17culthead

Related Topics:
Vores Øl - Wired magazine

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There have also been several excellent proposals for open source pharmaceutical development, like this one, which led to the establishment of the Tropical Disease Initiative. There are also a number of not-for-profit "virtual pharmas" such as the Institute for One World Health and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative. All of these projects attempt to address the fact that for-profit pharmaceutical companies have little incentive to develop drugs to treat diseases like Malaria, which primarily affect populations that lack the economic resources to purchase such drugs if they were in fact brought to market. Virtual pharmas and open source pharmaceutical initiatives attempt to solve this problem by transferring the cost-intensive research-and-development phase to a community of researchers who design drugs for free (in the open source model) or at well below market rates (in the not-for-profit model). In theory this then allows for-profit pharmaceutical companies to manufacture and distribute drugs thus developed, because there is no R&D cost to recoup. In the open source model, drugs developed in this manner would be covered by something similar to the GPL, which would allow pharmaceutical companies to manufacture and sell the drug, but prevent them from claiming any intellectual property rights.

Related Topics:
Pharmaceutical - Malaria - GPL

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