Open Source Software Movement

I think it's really important for communication scholars to study the open source software movement. I think it would be interesting for scholars to study many aspects of the open source software from the technologies point of view and also a interpersonal point of view. As programmers collaborate on the software it creates relationships. As Stallman states, "creativity can be a social contribution, but only in so far as society is free to use the results." I feel that the open source software movement is also a social happening between programmers.
I also think that the open source software can be very benificial for many individuals.
The idea of a free program as Stallman envisions is really interesting, and he's able to answer any doubts on his idea. The idea of programmer's sharing their software and nothing being secret any more is very noteworthy. If the open source software movement is studied, there could very well be many advancements made. Although it seems as if there are a lot of kinks to work out in order for it to be free, it is a good plan.

Discussion questions:
1. UNIX: how does it work and how is it different from GNU?
2. Is there anything out there that is similar to GNU? How many different ones?
3. After questioning if communication scholars should study the open software movement makes one wonder if they already have? Have there already been studies done? What have they found?