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the.world.is.flat-第29章

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At IBM's expense; its lawyers worked with the Apache group to create a legal framework 
around it so that there would be no copyright or liability problems for companies; 
like IBM; that wanted to build applications on top of Apache and charge money for 
them。 IBM saw the value in having a standard vanilla Web server architecture…which 
allowed 
90 
heterogeneous computer systems and devices to talk to each other; displaying e…mail 
and Web pages in a standard format…that was constantly being improved for free by 
an open…source community。 The Apache collaborators did not set out to make free 


software。 They set out to solve a common problem…Web serving…and found that 
collaborating for free in this open…source manner was the best way to assemble the 
best brains for the job they needed done。 
〃When we started working with Apache; there was an apache。org Web site but no formal 
legal structure; and businesses and informal structures don't coexist well;〃 said 
Swainson。 〃You need to be able to vet the code; sign an agreement; and deal with 
liability issues。 'Today' anybody can download the Apache code。 The only obligation 
is that they acknowledge that it came from the site; and if they make any changes 
that they share them back。〃 There is an Apache development process that manages the 
traffic; and you earn your way into that process; added Swainson。 It is something 
like a pure meritocracy。When IBM started using Apache; it became part of the community 
and started making contributions。 
Indeed; the one thing the Apache people demanded in return for their collaboration 
with IBM was that IBM assign its best engineers to join the Apache open…source group 
and contribute; like everyone else; for free。 〃The Apache people were not interested 
in payment of cash;〃 said Swainson。 〃They wanted contribution to the base。 Our 
engineers came to us and said; 'These guys who doApache are good andthey are insisting 
that we contribute good people。' At first they rejected some of what we contributed。 
They said it wasn't up to their standards! The compensation that the community 
expected was our best contribution。〃 
On June 22; 1998; IBM announced plans to incorporate Apache into its own new Web server 
product; named WebSphere。 The way the Apache collaborative community organized itself; 
whatever you took out of Apache's code and improved on; you had to give back to the 
whole community。 But you were also free to go out and build a patented commercial 
product on top of the Apache code; as IBM did; provided that you included a copyright 
citation to Apache in your own patent。 In other words; this intellectual commons 
approach to open…sourcing encour… 

aged people to build commercial products on top of it。 While it wanted the foundation 
to be free and open to all; it recognized that it would remain strong and fresh if 
both commercial and noncommercial engineers had an incentive to participate。 
Today Apache is one of the most successful open…source tools; powering about 
two…thirds of the Web sites in the world。 And because Apache can be downloaded for 
free anywhere in the world; people from Russia to South Africa to Vietnam use it to 
create Web sites。 Those individuals who need or want added capabilities for their 
Web servers can buy products like WebSphere; which attach right on top of Apache。 
At the time; selling a product built on top of an open…source program was a risky 
move on IBM's part。 To its credit; IBM was confident in its ability to keep producing 
differentiated software applications on top of the Apache vanilla。 This model has 
since been widely adopted; after everyone saw how it propelled IBM's Web server 
business to commercial leadership in that category of software; generating huge 
amounts of revenue。 
As I will repeat often in this book: There is no future in vanilla for most companies 
in a flat world。 A lot of vanilla making in software and other areas is going to shift 


to open…source communities。 For most companies; the commercial future belongs to 
those who know how to make the richest chocolate sauce; the sweetest; lightest whipped 
cream; and the juiciest cherries to sit on top; or how to put them all together into 
a sundae。 Jack Messman; chairman of the Novell software company; which has now become 
a big distributor of Linux; the open…source operating system; atop which Novell 
attaches gizmos to make it sing and dance just for your company; put it best: 
〃Commercial software companies have to start operating further up the 'software' 
stack to differentiate themselves。 The open source community is basically focusing 
on infrastructure〃 (Financial Times; June 14; 2004)。 
The IBM deal was a real watershed。 Big Blue was saying that it believed in the 
open…source model and that with the Apache Web server; this open…source community 
of engineers had created something that was not just useful and valuable but 〃best 
in its class。〃 That's why the open…source movement has become a powerful flattener; 
the effects of which we are just beginning to see。 〃It is incredibly empowering of 
indi… 

viduals;〃 Brian Behlendorf said。 〃It doesn't matter where you come from or where you 
are…someone in India and South America can be just as effective using this software 
or contributing to it as someone in Silicon Valley。〃 The old model is winner take 
all: I wrote it; I own it…the standard software license model。 〃The only way to compete 
against that;〃 concluded Behlendorf; 〃is to all become winners。〃 
Behlendorf; for his part; is betting his career that more and more people and companies 
will want to take advantage of the new flat…world platform to do open…source 
innovation。 In 2004; he started a new company called CollabNet to promote the use 
of open…sourcing asa tool to drive software innovation within companies。 〃Our premise 
is that software is not gold; it is lettuce…it is a perishable good;〃 explained 
Behlendorf。 〃If the software is not in a place where it is getting improved over time; 
it will rot。〃 What the open…source community has been doing; said Behlendorf; is 
globally coordinated distributed software development; where it is constantly 
freshening the lettuce so that it never goes rotten。 Behlendorfs premise is that the 
open…source community developed a better method for creating and constantly updating 
software。 CollabNet is a company created to bring the best open…source techniques 
to a closed community; i。e。; a commercial software company。 
〃CollabNet is an arms dealer to the forces flattening the world;〃 said Behlendorf。 
〃Our role in this world is to build the tools and infrastructure so that an individual 
…in India; China; or wherever…as a consultant; an employee; or just someone sitting 
at home can collaborate。 We are giving them the toolkit for decentralized 
collaborative development。 We are enabling bottom…up development; and not just in 
cyberspace 。 。 。 We have large corporations who are now interested in creating a 
bottom…up environment for writing software。 The old top…down; silo software model 
is broken。 That system said; 'I develop something and then I throw it over the w
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