Wed 23 Nov 2005
I just finished reading Longitudes and Attitudes: Exploring the World After September 11 by Thomas Friedman, a New York Times Op Ed columnist and Pulitzer Prize recipient. It was given to me by a co-worker at my former place of employment. I was hesitant to read it until now given some of the views held by said co-worker.
So I was pleasantly surprised to find a moderate voice who had tough views on all sides of the isle. Reading through the collection of articles, which is what this book was, gave me a sense that Mr. Friedman knew what he was talking about and didn’t try to come to a simple conclusion of why thing are the way they are.
A lot of the things he talked about, in terms of the modern world, are evident on not just the scale of global politics but also recurse down to our own communities within FOSS and how we developed. Take for instance his view of the transition of the balance of power between super powers (essentially the nation states of the US and USSR) to the modern trinity of nation states, corporate interests and super empowered individuals. A lot of this is fueled by globalization, the Internet and a broader reach of the media. Now look at FOSS. It began because of super empowered individuals with the reach of the Internet and expanded to include companies and even governments as they debate laws mandating FOSS and/or Open Standard software usage.
One of the things that heartens me about our communities is that if you look around you see a wide range of people from different background and nationalities. Some of us work for companies, some of us are students, others from government agencies and still others who’s social circles have nothing to do with FOSS. We don’t always agree but that is usually a clash of personalities or technical direction and not as a direct result of clashing cultures. So, what is the special sauce that allows such a diverse community work together towards common goals? I would like to think it is in the way we work, in the open and competitive, not closed off and adversarial. It is an environment where anyone is allowed to follow their own desires and voice their own opinions.
There is an interesting parallel from the world at large and our little piece of it. The book, while looking at the world at large, just sort of spoke to my experiences working in and with the community.
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November 24th, 2005 at 12:21 am
You might also be interested in an, erm, somewhat less complementary (and very funny) take on Friedman.
November 24th, 2005 at 1:30 am
I have to say, that “review” just seemed like a rant with no substance (dare I say elongated slashdot comment). It basically read like, hey look everyone, I hate this guy, what a douche.
I haven’t read The World is Flat yet nor do I claim to know the issues of globalization other than there are good and bad aspects to it but we are always inundated with the extreme views of both.
What I do know from what I have read in Friedman’s book is that he looks at things from a rational angle. At times his emotions seeps through, at times I don’t agree with him, but he doesn’t muddy the waters with rhetoric and I can respect that.
Perhaps I will change my mind when I read more of his writings, which I plan to do. The question is have you actually read his stuff or do you just go off what his detractors write about him (or were you just pointing me to the “review” for contrast)?
November 24th, 2005 at 2:41 pm
I’ve only read his newspaper columns, from which I can imagine some of what is in that review is accurate, but of course I don’t really know. So yeah, I wasn’t particularly endorsing that review, just pointing it out for interest.
Surely it’s better written than a Slashdot comment, though? Even if it’s a complete misrepresentation of Friedman, I’ve never seen the GNAA write anything as funny as “According to the mathematics of the book, if you add an IPac to your offshoring, you go from running to sprinting with gazelles and from eating with lions to devouring with them.”
November 25th, 2005 at 11:40 am
I wasn’t commenting on the quality of the writting in the review just on the fact that it resembles a slashdot comment in that it is full of emotions, one sided and skips over the substance to complain about the reviewers pet pieve. Namely Mr. Friedman’s use of metafors.
Anyway it is good to have a counter point. I would just like to read a counterpoint to Friedman that really challanged his assertions point for point.
December 11th, 2005 at 12:04 am
Definitely check out The World is Flat; it’s an interesting discussion of an important issue. He discusses the Open Source movement a bit, noting the ways that it’s changing how the software development game is played.
I got hooked on his work with Longitudes and Attitudes about six months ago, and have been slowly digesting his other works ever since. I’ve found his newspaper column to be very interesting, and am currently reading From Beirut to Jerusalem, which so far stands up to the quality I’ve come to expect from him.