From the New York Times:
In the early 1980's, Sony was helping to develop a new digital music technology. Mr. Ohga, then the company's president, insisted that no matter what else, the new format had to be able to play Beethoven's Ninth Symphony without interruption. Mr. Ohga, you see, had been a classical vocalist before getting into electronics.
The Times went on to ask a bunch of folks what they would like to see invented.
Eleven prominent men and women, few of them technologists, suggested a technology or gadget they would like to see invented. One theme in their responses is a desire to break free from the incessant blinking and buzzing and flashing that the digital age has produced. It is a yearning to make technology more responsive to human needs rather than an inchoate web of digitalese existing for its own sake.
Hmmm. A democracy of technology? Enabled through open source design (not just of software, but other things). Grassroots markets develop. What could be possible?
It would be very cool if R&D labs devoted some percentage of research to open source endeavors. Provide space, supercomputer time, equipment etc. Maybe we could vote on what research gets done.
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