whiletruefm 0017: RE:Open Source Has Not Failed
Tags: podcast, opensource, culture, career
Published: 2018-08-23 20:44:36

---
title: whiletruefm 0017: RE:Open Source Has Not Failed
published: true
description: Responses to racism, selfish human natures, software copyrights, and the shareholder value myth.
tags: podcast, opensource, culture, career
---

[**Here's the audio!**](https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/whiletrue.fm/whiletruefm-0017.m4a)

[Here's a link to the episode on our site!](https://whiletrue.fm/2018/08/reopen-source-has-not-failed/)

Mike wrote an article about corporations and open source software that got 1000s of hits on Dev.to and 70,000+ views on Reddit! His responses to comments on racism, selfish human natures, software copyrights, and the shareholder value myth.

(I can't figure out how to make podcasts appear nicely... So this will have to do for now...)

# The Articles
* ["Open Source Has Failed"](https://medium.com/@johnmark/why-open-source-failed-6cae5d6a9f6) by John Mark
* ["Open Source Has Not Failed"](https://dev.to/lethargilistic/open-source-has-not-failed-dont-cover-up-corporate-abuse-of-open-source-3ffe) by Mike Overby
  * [Largest reddit post](https://www.reddit.com/r/programming/comments/987z7p/open_source_has_not_failed_dont_cover_up/)

# Racism
* ["Open Source is Way Whiter and Maler than Proprietary Software](https://readwrite.com/2013/12/11/open-source-diversity/)
* ["The Ethics of Unpaid Labor and the OSS Community](https://www.ashedryden.com/blog/the-ethics-of-unpaid-labor-and-the-oss-community)

# Proving you can do the job
* ["Preparing for a Management Interview"](https://www.oriontalent.com/military-job-seekers/transition-resources/interviewing/management-interview.aspx#Management-Interview-Questions)
* ["How to Prepare for Your First Engineering Job Interview"](https://www.theengineer.co.uk/prepare-engineering-job-interview/)
* ["GitHub is not your CV"](https://blog.jcoglan.com/2013/11/15/why-github-is-not-your-cv/)
* ["Programming Doesn’t Require Talent or Even Passion"](https://medium.com/@WordcorpGlobal/programming-doesnt-require-talent-or-even-passion-11422270e1e4)

# Open Source is not a meritocracy
* ["Study Finds Gender Bias in Open-Source Programming"](https://news.ncsu.edu/2017/05/gender-bias-in-programming-2017/)

# Normativity and Corporate Selfishness
* [Normative](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normative)
  * Not an endorsement because I haven't researched it, but there is a [Normative Theory of Law](http://scholarship.law.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2772&context=wmlr)
* [*Silent Spring*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring) by Rachel Carson
  * ["The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6fAP6Fjx-Y), a famous 1962 CBS documentary made at the height of *Silent Spring*'s fame, an engaging summary of the book.
  * [*American Experience: Rachel Carson*](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/rachel-carson/), a 2016 documentary about Carson's life that [is excellent](https://letterboxd.com/lethargilistic/film/american-experience-rachel-carson/). (It is also [on Netflix](https://www.netflix.com/watch/80991258))
* [DDT](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT)
* [Environmental Protection Agency](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Environmental_Protection_Agency) (EPA)

# Copyright is not required for R&D
* [GPL](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html)
* [Copyright Act of 1976](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_Act_of_1976)
* [Berne Convention](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention)
  * [Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention_Implementation_Act_of_1988)
  * [Visual Artists Rights Act](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Artists_Rights_Act)
* ["Original work of authorship fixed in a tangible medium of expression"](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/17/102)

# The Shareholder Value Myth
* [Lynn A. Stout](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynn_A._Stout)
  * [Short video explanation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzztBF9nprA) (3 minutes)
  * [Another short explanation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMNuDZYiqTY) (8 minutes)
  * [More complete explanation](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5Eoy988728&t=1192s) (30 minutes)
* [Milton Friedman](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman) (not Martin!)
  * ["The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits"](https://www.colorado.edu/studentgroups/libertarians/issues/friedman-soc-resp-business.html)
* ["The Origin Of 'The World's Dumbest Idea': Milton Friedman"](https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2013/06/26/the-origin-of-the-worlds-dumbest-idea-milton-friedman/#1131675c870e)
* Some people point to a case in the United States where a judge mentioned this theory in their opinion. That was dicta, not a holding, and that case was in Michigan, not Delaware. If it wasn't in Delaware, it's basically irrelevant when it comes to large corporations. Additionally, there is plenty of dicta in Delaware that says otherwise.
* Also, I forgot to mention that there are plenty of prominent corporations that have not yet turned profit even once and would be in big trouble if that were legally required. Tesla, anyone?

# Talk to Mike
* [invite.progdisc.club](https://invite.progdisc.club) (14,000 members and
  growing!)
* [Mike (@lethargilistic) on Twitter](https://twitter.com/lethargilistic)
* [Mike (@lethargilistic) on Dev.to](https://dev.to/lethargilistic)
* [Mike (@lethargilistic) on GitHub](https://github.com/lethargilistic)

* [**Support us on Patreon**](https://www.patreon.com/whiletruefm)