Introduction

Recently, after some GNU/Linux training at OpenAdvantage and some time spent peering into the depths of the system. I made a blog post, saying Linux and Free Software seemed quite Taoist to my eyes. My intent here is to elaborate a little on exactly what I meant in that post.

It’s quite a leap from a software movement to a philosophical/spiritual system, but I really do think that there are parallels to be drawn between the two. Not just in terms of the thinking, but also in the application.

The Cathedral and The Bazaar

Eric S. Raymond explains the principles behind the development and meteoric rise of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) in his excellent book, The Cathedral and The Bazaar. Put simply, traditional software development takes place in a Cathedral like environment. Software is worked on by the priests (programmers), development directed by the bishops (project leaders) and access to the scriptures (the program code) is kept strictly priesthood only.

The development of FOSS tends to be more like a free for all market, a Bazaar. The projects are run quite openly and issues are worked out and discussed openly in the community, rather than behind the closed doors of a Cathedral. More to the point anyone who is qualified to do so can contribute, not just as a programmer, but by authoring manuals or drawing icons and clipart, or composing sounds and music for FOSS games. Importantly, respect is earned, not delegated from on high by a “priesthood”. The result is a level of progress that is astounding, and that has taken the proprietary vendors by surprise and left them shocked.

FOSS generally comes with a license, e.g. the GNU General Public License or GPL, that ensures that it stays free and can’t be bought up and monopolised by a predatory company. There are several different licenses, and it’s up to the project community to choose the most appropriate one for their needs.

FOSS Operating Systems and the software that runs on them are generally made available free of charge. There some exceptions, and some companies only make a cut down version available for free, but most of them can simply be downloaded. Given the time and commitment, the sky is the limit for the person using a FOSS Operating System, as all the tools you could want are right there!

Finally, a word about those tools. The overriding approach is one of making a tool do one job, but do it well. Many software packages try to be “killer apps”, features can be half baked, poorly integrated. We wind up with a word processor that is trying to be a DTP package, can be used as an inegrated E-Mail editor, and even includes a programming language! Er, hello? What happen to just typing a letter and printing it? I think somebody forgot why they’re here!

As an example, the best thing the Mozilla foundation did with the browser suite formerly know as Netscape Communicator, was break up the one monolithic suite and divide it into smaller components. Netscape Navigator eventually became Firefox, Mail & News became Thunderbird and Composer became Nvu. You only install the bit you need, and it keeps the program to the point of what it’s about!

OK, all this ties in to Taoism how, exactly?

Taoism as we know it is derived from the Tao Te Ching, there are a number of translations, which vary the emphasis of the meaning. I’ve seen some that are quite spiritually inclined, others are more secular. Different scholars take different views, and the Tao Te Ching also advocates an open mind, you’re encouraged to think about what you’re reading.

A lot of discussion in modern Taoism happens on internet forums, lots of information is freely available on the web, people learn from both online and paper books and each other. The days when it was all handed down from master to student are fading fast. There are different approaches to getting the knowledge out there, from the approach that refuses to even mention Chinese terminology, through the use of popular characters (i.e. Winnie The Pooh) to illustrate Taoist principles, to a pop Taoism approach which gives information in a quick fire, high funk manner. Personally, I can see good and bad points with each approach, but that’s way off-topic.

Obviously, traditional religious methods equate to the Cathedral in our analogy. As described above, modern Taoism more closely resembles the Bazaar. Many modern Taoists get involved in internet forums, and we all contribute our thoughts and ideas freely. We’re all coming at this with our own appraoches, and it’s not so much a matter of blindly following what’s handed down in the book, as meditating on the verses in the Tao Te Ching to make them work for us.

The verses are simple things, each has it’s point and sticks to it, but when used in conjunctions with the other verses it becomes a system of formidable power and versatility. Even each verse can be applied in different ways in different situations. Sound familiar? Think of the linux command line tools, equate them to the verses of the Tao Te Ching, think of them combined in either a script or a long command line, now think of the verses combined to form the Tao Te Ching.

The Tao Te Ching doesn’t tell us how to use it, it can be applied in any number of ways in any number of situations (e.g. personally, professionally, politically) with incredible flexibility. Sounds kinda of like FOSS doesn’t it? FOSS doesn’t tell you what you can do or try to limit what you can do with it, but instead it allows you combine it’s tools to produce the effect you want, limited mainly by your talent and understanding.

That sounds kinda like Taoism, and you know what? It sounds good!

2nd March 2005

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