My Sermon on Open Source


Gather ye round, ye pilgrims of progress, ye seekers of syntax and salvation, for today I bring you not just words—but The Word Made Code. I bring glad tidings of great joy: the Gospel of Open Source.


Let he who has eyes, read the README. Let she who has ears, hear the license of the Lord—be it GPL, MIT, or Apache—freely given, freely shared.


I. In the Beginning Was the Code


And lo, in the early days, the Code was without form and void. Proprietary darkness covered the face of the deep. And the Spirit of Collaboration hovered over the servers.


Then came the First Commandment:

"Thou shalt not hide thy source, nor bind thy neighbor with licenses of bondage."

But some turned from the path. They hoarded their algorithms. They DRM'd their data. They made idols of profit and obfuscated truth with closed binaries. These were the False Coders.


II. The Prophet Linus Spake


But in the wilderness of Finland arose a prophet. His name was Linus. And he saith unto the people: "I bring you the Linux kernel. It is not perfect, but it is yours."

 

And the multitude rejoiced. They forked, they pulled, they merged. For they had seen the light of version control and knew it was good.


III. The Communion of the Community


Brothers and sisters, hear me: Open Source is not just code—it is communion. It is the sacred act of sharing, improving, and uplifting together.

 

To commit is divine. To fork is forgiveness. To open an issue is confession. And to merge—oh to merge.—is to know true grace.

 

When you use open source, you dine at the table of collective wisdom. You eat the bread of community builds. You drink the wine of free updates, poured from the cup of transparency.


IV. The Heresy of Closed Source


But beware. There are serpents in the sandbox.


They promise ease. They promise polish. But behind their sleek icons lies a prison cell. You cannot see their workings. You cannot change what is broken. You must pray for updates and pay for patches.


They say, "Trust us." But do not trust what you cannot read. For it is written:

"By their source shall ye know them."

V. Go Forth and Compile


So I say unto you: download that .tar.gz. Clone that repo. Report those bugs with joy in your heart. Translate the docs into every tongue, that all might read and believe.


Evangelize. Convert one friend, one office, one school at a time. 

 

Let your light so shine before sysadmins, that they may see your good works and glorify the Source.


VI. Benediction


And now may the Kernel keep you,
May the License bless you and keep you copyleft,
May your uptime be eternal,
Your contributions frequent,
And your bugs forever reproducible.

Go in peace. And may the source be with you.

Amen.


------

 

Neanderthals vs. Homo Sapiens - Lessons Learned (PCWorld magazine)





--
--
Phil Shapiro, pshapiro@his.com
https://pairsmathgame.com
https://philshapirochatgptexplorations.blogspot.com/
https://bsky.app/profile/philshapiro.bsky.social

He/Him/His

"Wisdom begins with wonder." - Socrates
"Learning happens thru gentleness."
"We must reinvent a future free of blinders so that we can choose from real options."  David Suzuki

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