open source is the only thing that can save us
open source software feels like the last bastion in the fight against enshittification and the feeling that we have no control, or even ownership, over the technologies that we use everyday. in a lot of ways, it feels like open source is the only part of tech today that’s impervious to the effects of enshittification because of the principle at the core of the open source philosophy: that technology must be free (as in freedom) to ensure that it’s as beneficial as possible to society.
i’ve been reading cory doctorow’s fantastic enshittification and it provides a clear picture of the problems we’re facing today and the fundamental root causes that have led us here: corporate consolidation, dark patterns, a lack of competition, and the imbalanced power dynamic that corporations leverage against users. this led me to start thinking about the ways in which oss has (so far) been able to avoid these problems.
decentralized control
the decentralized nature of open source shields it from some of the worst effects of capitalism and authoritarianism. if thousands of copies of the code for some piece of software are distributed across both public and private networks, it’s much more difficult for some entity to restrict access to that technology. it also means that even if the owners of some oss tech decide to restrict access, they can’t really do so retroactively, which makes it much harder for them to compel users to accept less favorable terms and empowers others to continue maintaining the open source version, with which the owners will have to compete.
because the ownership of open source software is generally decentralized, it’s also more difficult for power over the technology to become concentrated in a way which cannot be effectively countered by users. in particular, the nature of open source makes it incredibly difficult for the maintainers of a piece of oss tech to amass enough power (i.e. capital) to be able to ignore the desires of users or to otherwise wield their power against the wishes of their users.
competition is protected
competition cannot be stifled in open source; it enables the most robust form of competitive market because it’s open to everyone and the barrier to entry is low. there are fewer incentives for maintainers to introduce anti-consumer/user-hostile features because they know that anyone can fork the project to remove those anti-features and they would then have to compete with that fork. this means that “features” cannot be forced onto users without consequence. if you’ve been paying attention to how tech (and the industry) has operated over the past 10 years, you understand why this is so important.
equalizing information asymmetry
open source software makes access to all or nearly all of the critical information that construes the product (source code) available, which helps to equalize sources of information asymmetry. this asymmetry is fundamental for the ability of businesses to control the relationships they have with their users and to maintain the upper hand in the power dynamics. users are made dependent upon the business because the business retains exclusive control over the production of the product/service because only they possess the information required for the production process.
in other words, open source empowers users to own the means of production.
conclusion
the open source space gives me hope, but i admit i’m also a bit nervous. my experience in tech over the past 20 years is that things inevitably get worse over time, especially if something is popular and attracts a sizable user base. that’s why the recent wave of new users coming over to linux from windows is both exciting and a bit concerning. my hope is that the principles that define the oss philosophy are fundamentally impervious to the worst effects of enshittification and that the points discussed above will prevent oss from going down that same path. we’ll see how that goes. in the meantime, keep open source alive and contribute (either money or time) to the projects you care about.