The “open source” movement

January 3, 2018

Comment from E-mail

I read in your comments that you were giving away your early designs. This seems to fit with the current popularity of the “open source” movement, and I wonder if you feel that the recent opening of the OSX Darwin kernel is a step in the right direction for Apple. Many people develop free software for free operating systems. Do you? If so, does the new Apple initiative inspire you to code for OSX?

Woz

That’s a very astute observation. I gave away schematics of the Apple I at the Homebrew Computer Club. I also demoed enhancements to the Apple ][ every 2 weeks at the club. It was the opposite of normal corporate secrecy.

I don’t have time to develop now but I appreciate the people who do so in the open source movement. It’s been a long time since that was halfway normal. It makes me hopeful because young talented people have a chance to do more than stand by and watch and be paid a salary.