Mad Penguin featured an interview with Leo Laporte where he discussed the future of Unix, free and open source software and open content. It’s a good read, and neat to see someone so embedded in the proprietary content industry advocate strongly for open ideals. Laporte states:

It’s ironic, because my background isn’t open content, it’s proprietary content, if you want to make that distinction. It’s working for mainstream media companies, and that’s what my career has always been. It funds everything else that I do. I still have to make a living. The books that I write, the radio show that I do, the television show that I do are all traditional mainstream media. But on all three of those venues, one of the things that I really advocate for and believe in is the opportunity for everyone to have a platform with digital media, to have a voice through open code and content.

And on the future of open source vs. proprietary …

It’s gonna get increasingly difficult for private enterprise to compete against open source, because open source combines the goodwill and efforts of thousands of people in all different areas in a way that they can marshal so much more brainpower than any private company can. What open source teaches us is that while money is an important motivator for people, it’s not the only motivator.

Ahhhh … that’s a nice thought.