Holmes, Brian. 2003. "Commons-based Political Production: Open Source to an Alternative Society?." (Working Paper)

Abstract

"It is well known that the Linux operating-system kernel, and free software generally, is made cooperatively under the provisions of 'copyleft,' or the General Public License, without any money changing hands. This is something that quickly caught the attention of artists and culture critics, with the result that in the early days of the Nettime mailing list, for example, there were a lot of discussions about what Richard Barbrook called the 'high-tech gift economy.'"