Comments on: Software: Work or Labor? http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/ Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:41:24 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: grex http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/comment-page-1/#comment-1470 grex Sat, 21 May 2005 15:14:28 +0000 http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/#comment-1470 thanks for fixing what I messed up, Niklas. I agree with the idea the libre software should be theoretically less prone to aging. We have done some empirical work on this for some libre software projects, but haven't data to compare it against proprietary software. On the other hand, I want to point out that there is not that much difference for working on a libre software project or on a proprietary one for the ones who actually work on them. For both of them, and with current laws being the copyright holders means to own the software in the same way. My point is that the big difference is for the ones who receive the software not for the ones who create it, so that's why I don't see the labor vs. work argument being of importance in this area. thanks for fixing what I messed up, Niklas.

I agree with the idea the libre software should be theoretically less prone to aging. We have done some empirical work on this for some libre software projects, but haven’t data to compare it against proprietary software.

On the other hand, I want to point out that there is not that much difference for working on a libre software project or on a proprietary one for the ones who actually work on them. For both of them, and with current laws being the copyright holders means to own the software in the same way.

My point is that the big difference is for the ones who receive the software not for the ones who create it, so that’s why I don’t see the labor vs. work argument being of importance in this area.

]]> By: Niklas Vainio http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/comment-page-1/#comment-1469 Niklas Vainio Sat, 21 May 2005 10:11:21 +0000 http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/#comment-1469 grex, thanks for your cents and links. The paper looks interesting. I also fixed your markup. I share most of your criticism. Although I agree with many Marxist ideas, I'm not so sure about the alienation theory. On the other hand, there is a difference between work done for a proprietary software company and the work done for the joy of hacking. The latter may lead to active life, politics etc. And although particular versions of KDE become less useful, the KDE software as an idea (or codebase or community) is less prone to aging because it is maintained by the community. This can happen with proprietary software as well, but it will stop on the day the company goes bankcrupt. grex, thanks for your cents and links. The paper looks interesting. I also fixed your markup.

I share most of your criticism. Although I agree with many Marxist ideas, I’m not so sure about the alienation theory. On the other hand, there is a difference between work done for a proprietary software company and the work done for the joy of hacking. The latter may lead to active life, politics etc. And although particular versions of KDE become less useful, the KDE software as an idea (or codebase or community) is less prone to aging because it is maintained by the community. This can happen with proprietary software as well, but it will stop on the day the company goes bankcrupt.

]]> By: grex http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/comment-page-1/#comment-1467 grex Fri, 20 May 2005 14:52:21 +0000 http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/#comment-1467 oh, sorry, got my HTML wrong in the previous post. I'm really sorry. oh, sorry, got my HTML wrong in the previous post. I’m really sorry.

]]> By: grex http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/comment-page-1/#comment-1466 grex Fri, 20 May 2005 14:51:01 +0000 http://hiisi.fi/blog/post/2005/05/19/software-work-or-labor/#comment-1466 Let me a little bit critic with this point of view. Software is "something that lasts", but it is known for many years now that software also ages, a concept coined by David Parnas in his <a href="http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=257788" rel="nofollow">Software Aging</a> paper around ten years ago. This has been also the matter of study for many researchers, among others Lehman and his findings known as the <i>laws</i> of software evolution (see <a href="http://www.manageability.org/blog/stuff/the-8-laws-of-software-evolution/view" rel="nofollow">here</a>) which applies to E-type software which is almost all software. The first law one (known as 'Continuing Change') says that a system must be continually adapted else they become progressively less satisfactory in use. So, even if software is mathematically perfect, but it becomes in time less and less useful (that's why yo probably use one of the most recent versions of GNOME or KDE and not the ones from 1998 for instance). If you consider this, I don't know if we should put software as labour or as work. My two cents ;-) Let me a little bit critic with this point of view. Software is “something that lasts”, but it is known for many years now that software also ages, a concept coined by David Parnas in his Software Aging paper around ten years ago. This has been also the matter of study for many researchers, among others Lehman and his findings known as the laws of software evolution (see here) which applies to E-type software which is almost all software. The first law one (known as ‘Continuing Change’) says that a system must be continually adapted else they become progressively less satisfactory in use. So, even if software is mathematically perfect, but it becomes in time less and less useful (that’s why yo probably use one of the most recent versions of GNOME or KDE and not the ones from 1998 for instance). If you consider this, I don’t know if we should put software as labour or as work. My two cents ;-)

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