Q&A: WordPress & Open Source

This one covers how open source creates ownership, the importance of community to WordPress, the role of BuddyPress in social media, open source and government, and the infectious nature of the open source mindset. Hope you guys enjoy!

12 thoughts on “Q&A: WordPress & Open Source

  1. I like your ideas on government. I’d like to be able to look at a bill and watch it morph over time. Then perhaps one could watch the law change through decades as congress reauthorizes it over and over again.

  2. I love what you say about;
    1. tasting freedom and desiring to have more freedom in all aspects of life.
    2. Transparency and the benefits of open source, especially on the perspective of using a wiki to see a congressional bills progress and updates.
    Brilliant!

  3. An e-mail I sent to my elections supervisor in 2006:

    from: http://www.srqelections.com/voting_security.htm

    “The editorial proposes that all voting systems should be open to
    rigorous inspection and testing. The ES&S iVotronic touch screen
    system that we use is open.”

    “The entire process in Sarasota County is open to the public. I am
    issuing an invitation to anyone to view any of the procedures utilized
    in conducting our elections at any level at any time. Our system is
    secure and I want the voting public to have the same comfort level
    with the iVotronic as my staff and I do.”

    As a Sarasota County voter, I’d like to take you up on that offer.
    You say that the ES&S iVotronic touch screen system in use here is
    “open.” I’d love to have a peek inside to see just how secure it is.
    How might I go about obtaining a copy of the source code which
    dictates the behavior and security of the machine upon which the
    integrity of my vote rests?

    No response.

  4. I guess I think everything has its place. I think it’s more about giving people choices than forcing things to be one way or another. And, in terms of government giving leaders, as much as, the people choices.

    Forcing people to be/have/do something… whether close or open… never leads to freedom.

    Which I think you get, as you constantly use the phrase, “if you choose”.

    But, if you give the choice, then support what you support… people are empowered.

  5. Pure free market capitalism is not crash prone at all. Regarding individual business: Free market capitalism is a profit and loss system; and the loss is the most important part. It’s what sweeps away the companies which aren’t best serving the public. Mr CEO is fine to take all the risks he wants.

    The current recession/depression has nothing to do with a failure of capitalism. It is a ‘failure’ of central banking (fiat currency, artificially low interest rates, inflation, deflation, stagflation, stock market manipulation…none of these are accidents), corporatism, deficit spending (wars, etc), huge government (a billion and one programs, run extremely loosely, burning money), and government intervention (subsidies, bailouts, ‘too big to fail’).

    1. To the above:

      If you look into how Capitalism works, you’ll find it has many prerequisites. “Pure free market capitalism” must have a larger frame work surrounding it in order for it to function as advertised. This framework must attempt to guarantee freedom of entry and participation, guarantee competition, and require full disclosure and openness from both parties in regards to all available information, including potential gains and losses and that both parties comprehend those. Open-source is surprisingly compatible with these things.

      Most people who talk about free markets forget about its fundamental requirements.

  6. @Matt Is it me or did some get a bit off topic….lol

    Anyhow, I really have been not just a user/fan for a long time, but have been trying other ways. Of course, some not so new. I am just put my own social bookmark site built on WordPress in beta (Blogrity.com), as it is a bit different from Jean-Baptiste Jung’s WPVote.com, which I lurve (love.) I am looking to open a link directory built on WordPress too, which the site already exists but built on a different script made by a code ninja friend.

    I am really happy on how WordPress has progressed and I really meant when I shook your hand at WordCamp Chicago – thank you!

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