The Economist On The Economics of Sharing

RCulpepper writes "The Economist, reliably the most insightful English-language news publication, discusses the economics of sharing, from OSS programmers' sharing time, to P2P users' sharing disk space and bandwidth. " True indeed (about The Economist, I have to remember to renew my subscription); one of the main supports for the article comes from Yochai Benkler latest piece, which is excellent.

I wish!

[jacen_sunstrider]

One reason why sharing is so commonplace is that there is enormous overcapacity in both computer memory and internet bandwidth

I bloody wish. Over 160 gigs, I have less than 3 spanned through 3 drives. I deperately need an overcapacity of storage. And as for bandwitdth...my university's pipe is no where near adequate. I'd do better hooking up Comcast!

Don't worry

[AtariAmarok]

"Coming to a conclusion in an article summary stifles discussion. Stop doing that."

This would only be a problem if everyone RTFA. However, as that is rarely a problem, there is nothing to worry about.

Re:Sure...

[drinkypoo]

Why? Because no one gives a fuck if they need to renew their subscription, and it leads to threads like this. Duh.

The economies of sharing V1.0

[Emperor Shaddam IV]

Economies of sharing, as socialism moves forward.

V1.0 - I have axe, you have club, therefore you share everything with me.

V2.0 - I am the government, therefore you share part of everything with me and I decide who to share with.

V3.0 - I have fileserver, you have connection, therefore I share everyone else's stuff with you whether they gave me permission or not.

V4.0 - I have everything you have. You have everything I have. Everyone has shared everything. Life is meaningless. :)

Re:Sure...

[MasterOfUniverse]

Folks, /. is not a news organization

Exactly! Its more like Fox news...

Re:The rest are just worse.

[j-b0y]

So you'll be cancelling your subscription then :)

Re:Sure...

[Daniel Dvorkin]

Exactly! Its more like Fox news...

Or what Fox would be like if, instead of being run by right-wingers from top to bottom, they switched positions every fifteen minutes: first have the news as reported by a fascist, then by a communist, then by an anarchist, then by a Randroid, then by a monarchist ...

That works until....

[AtariAmarok]

"Fortunately for Linux, there's plenty of "soup" to go around"

This works untiol SCO shows up and claims ownership of the lentils found in every bowl served, and demands that each soup-eater pay them $699.

Re:The True Economics of OSS

[Anonymous Coward]

If anyone has a silly pun about "open-saucing" hot dogs, well, remember that I'm a computer scientist and can generate an enormous static charge from your keyboard to Get You.

I wouldn't relish the thought!

Just let me know...

[adam31]

I have to remember to renew my subscription

Here, you can borrow mine...

Re:Economist is better than the rest...

[ggvaidya]

I am a registered pinko commie bastard.

Ah, an open source developer :).

Cognitive dissonance much?

[Thud457]

"/. is not a news organization,

"News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"

One of those is incorrect. Plz fix, kthx, bye.

They're only just now getting it?

[xXunderdogXx]

From article:

[Economists] understanding, though, is much clearer than it was 20 or 30 years ago: co-operation, especially when repeated, can breed reciprocity and trust, to the benefit of all.

I'll take "Things I Learned in Kindergarten" for $100 Alex.

Re:The True Economics of OSS

[wcrowe]

computer scientist and can generate an enormous static charge from your keyboard to Get You.

Are you saying you're a real hot-dog programmer?

Re:The True Economics of OSS

[Martin Spamer]

If anyone has a good counter-argument,

1) Communist Solution.
The government owns all bun and all the sausages, so you use it as a bribe officials to escape black-marketing charges.

2) Socialist Solution.
The government take it off you by way of increased taxation to pay social security to the unemployed bun vendors.

3) Capitalist Solution
The now unemployed bun vendors become sausage vendors, thereby increasing the supply so that you now get 2 for the price of 1 and die an early death from obesity related disease.

4) Real life,
The now unemployed bun vendors change to a life of crime steals it from you.

I read it out of order

[jfengel]

I read the initial opinion section, and the letters, then the US news. Those are the parts that get me what I don't read in my daily paper and the online news feeds. Then I'm afraid I skip over Europe and Latin America and Asia and read the science and glance at the arts.

If I have time I go back and skim the headlines of the rest, and read the articles on rare occasions. I'm ashamed to admit that I really don't much care about the workers strike in Bolivia or the folding of the soccer teams in Albania. I realize that makes me a bad person.

British WSJ

[evodas]

"The Economist, reliably the most insightful English-language news publication"....

As a good Brit would say: "Utter rubbish"

Re:British WSJ

[easter1916]

Or even more likely, "utter bollocks".

Re:I wish!

[TTYMan]

You're an exception. Most people don't have that much pr0n.