How hard it is to live a fully open source life?
We have all seen the experiments of using some technology for 30-day periods. You know, the month of using Windows or Linux, the month of using the cloud, or testing Apple or Android. I have even seen the month of using open source software. But could you live for a year with open source? Not just using open source software, though; I mean open source everything.
Sam Muirhead, a New Zealander living in Berlin, is going to try just that starting August 1st. Muirhead is going to try and eschew everything proprietary for the next 12 months. Not just software or even technology. Sam is going to eat food made only with open source recipes. He is going to try and make sure the food itself is not derived from genetically engineered patented strains. Clothing will be from open source patterns, using materials that are again natural and open.
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Muirhead is actually a Mac kind of person, but will be moving to Linux for the next year, at least (you know once you go Linux, you may not go back, though). Maybe some Linux company could provide some help to him with this. He will use open source apps like Open Libre, open source film editing software and open source video codecs. He is also looking at open source cameras and other open hardware designs.
I spoke with Sam about this via Skype (which he will not be using come August 1, as it is not open source, either). My conversation with him is below, but I wanted to know what drove Sam to do this. He is a filmmaker by profession and, while he has never been a big open source user, he was always a big supporter of the concept.
By concept, it is not just about open software, either. He thinks the “open source way” is a great model to follow for much more than software or even technology. The patent-free sharing of design is near and dear to Muirhead. He says that there is a large like-minded community of folks in Berlin near where he lives, whom he is counting on to help him in this journey.
Of course, even open source can still cost money. Getting people to film his weekly updates, editing and buying open supplies is going to cost money. So Sam is trying to raise $20,000. He has put up a page on indiegogo.com, where you can donate to his cause. In addition to just donations, the page offers several items for purchase, including the open source swimsuit calendar, which features open source celebs like Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman in swimsuits and other skimpy clothing at exotic locations. I think I will skip that one, thanks.
Sam has put his first of his weekly film episodes detailing much of this on both the indiegoo.com site and the blog site he set up to detail his year of open source. The domain is called https://yearofopensource.net/. (I guess that should not be a surprise). I am also embedding it at the bottom of this article as well.
We will check in with Sam every month as the year progresses to see how he is doing. I am sure it will be difficult to truly go open for the year. It will be interesting to see where he has to bite the bullet and forego open source in the name of survival. In the meantime, good luck to Sam and if you like what he is doing, maybe you can support him with a small donation.
