The Flicker Blog and Podcast

Whilst listening to the presentation mentioned in my last post, a brief mention of the development of software for the new Airbus A380 plane caused me to wonder:
Whilst travelling on a plane, which scenario would make you feel most secure?
1. The software on the plane was developed entirely by the Open Source Community.
2. The software on the plane was developed by a private company.
Discuss…

My first thought - open source software ends up being safer and more secure because those who discover/experience flaws get to fix them. Obviously, a software failure on a plane has far more devastating consequences. That said, opening up the software to the community for scrutiny may be a very effective model for eliminating or discovering bugs.

Actually… pondering the importance of software on a plane is in itself, not terribly reassuring.

A dry and lengthy (but no less interesting) presentation by Verna Allee from the 2006 Mesh Forum on how the language of traditional economics is often innapropriate for understanding or explaining contemporary online business. We often hear of intangible assets; this presentation explains the need to quantify and measure them.

Economies are usually measured, valued or understood on the basis of trading finite resources. The information/attention/knowledge/etc. economy is hugely different. Put simply, knowledge multiplies when distributed - unlike a tangible product, it does not become scarcer.

Talking about traditional accounting practices, she highlights one of the major institutional and ideological conflicts that arise - to paraphrase:
The typical HR mantra: ‘People are our greatest asset.’
A typical accounting statement: ‘People are our biggest expense.’
If a business can’t agree on where it has value, how can it grow it?