[TriLUG] Generational differences in Free/Open Source Software world (was Re: OT: Job - $12/hr WOW!)

[Tanner Lovelace]

It's actually interesting to read about the differences in generations
and then try to apply that to personalities in FOSS.  According to
the book, Gen Xers (they call them 13ers, but I don't like that term)
are those born from 1961 to 1981 and Boomers are those born
in the 40s and 50s (don't remember the exact dates).  When you
are born determines when you grow up and as such has a profound
influence on your world view.  The book finds a repeating pattern
of generations over the entire history of America and attempts to
project from there.  The "Boomer" generation is what they call an
"Idealist" generation.  This generational type tends to be more "spiritual"
and inward looking.  Gen Xers, by comparison, are called a
"Reactive" generation and they're much more pragmatic.

Now, it's interesting to take this world view and apply it to FOSS
personalities.  Richard Stallman, born 16 March 1953 falls squarely
within the Boomer generation.  Linus Torvalds, by contrast, was born
Dec 28, 1969 and falls squarely within Gen X.  Now based on my
above description of Boomers as more "spiritual and inward looking"
and Gen Xers as more pragmatic the views of both Stallman and
Torvalds make sense and its easy to see why there's so much of a
disconnect there.  Boomers like Stallman grew up after World War
II when there was eternal optimism.  The US had vanquished the
evil Nazi empire and people thought there was nothing they couldn't
do.  Gen Xers like Torvalds, however, grew up with the previous generation
absorbed looking inward at their own problems and largely ignored
the younger generation besides telling them how bad they were.  (Note,
btw, that the book specifically only deals with American generations
and Torvalds, since he grew up in Finland, doesn't fit there entirely).

It makes sense to me that the older generation would come up with
something like the GPL.  From Stallman's view, the GPL attempts to
codify good behavior in the area of software development.  It's also
extremely ambitious.  The GPLv3 is just as ambitious and attempts to
"fix" things Stallman thinks are wrong.

Torvalds, on the other hand, chose the GPLv2 for what appear to be
purely pragmatic reasons.  The GPLv2 is very good at keeping people
from stealing other's source code.  It works for what Linus wants and,
since the generation is generally naturally distrustful of the previous
generation, changes in the license are looked upon with suspicion.

Anyway, this was just something I found interesting, and was marginally
on topic. :-)

So, um,... discuss! :-)

Cheers,
Tanner


On 6/19/07, Warren Myers <volcimaster at gmail.com> wrote:
> YES!!!!
> I was born in 81, so I'm not a millennial!!
>
> WMM
>
> On 6/19/07, Tanner Lovelace <clubjuggler at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > On 6/19/07, Tom Eisenmenger <teisenmenger at charter.net> wrote:
> > > Hmphhh.   I'm going to spend the rest of the day fretting as to
> > > whether I'm an "old millenial" or perhaps even a "non-millenial".
> > > How can I tell?
> >
> > As near as I can tell, the term Mellenials comes from the book
> > Generations:The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 by
> > Neil Howe and William Strauss.  (Coincidentally, I'm right in the
> > middle of reading this book right now, based on a recommendation
> > by Rob Rousseau.)  The book was written the year before the term
> > Gen X was coined, so they call GenXers "13ers" (since it is the
> > 13th generation in the U.S.) and they also call Gen Y "Mellenials".
> > They say people in that generation were born starting about 1982.
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Tanner (definitely a Gen Xer)
> >
> > --
> > Tanner Lovelace
> > clubjuggler at gmail dot com
> > http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
> > (fieldless) In fess two roundels in pale, a billet fesswise and an
> > increscent, all sable.
> > --
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> http://warrenmyers.com
> "God may not play dice with the universe, but something strange is going on
> with the prime numbers." --Paul Erdős
> "It's not possible. We are the type of people who have everything in our
> favor going against us." --Ben Jarhvi, Short Circuit 2
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-- 
Tanner Lovelace
clubjuggler at gmail dot com
http://wtl.wayfarer.org/
(fieldless) In fess two roundels in pale, a billet fesswise and an
increscent, all sable.