What does it mean to be open?

By Dave Winer on 1/14/07; 12:14:58 PM.

A permathread for sure.  

Am I hypocrite because I want to write software to run on iPods but I won't allow other people to post to Scripting News? I don't know, maybe to some it does, but I think not.  

When I started this blog in April 1997, I immediately published, for free, in source, the code I used to publish the site. The result, within a few months, a bunch of sites that worked more or less the same way this site did. When I added syndication to this site, I encouraged others to create their own syndicated content, and tools that use the content. Within a few years everyone is doing it. That may not be the only way to define being open, but it seems to be part of what it means to be open.