Although Open Source appropriate technology may be a good idea, it faces a number of obstacles to its implementation. First, there is the issue of licensing. How do we license Open Source AT? Should we modify something like the GPL or the Creative Commons license to form a General Public Patent?
The license must incorporate some of the successful aspects of Free Software. It should be viral in nature, meaning that changes made to previously licensed innovations should also be published under the same license. It should also require that modifications be openly published.
Then there is the issue of community. Linus Torvalds’ great success in developing the Unix-based Linux kernel was not so much in his acumen as a programmer, but in his ability to create a vibrant and involved community willing to debug lines and lines of published code. How do we galvanize the AT community in a similar fashion?
A number of groups have already made significant inroads in this area. For example, Path to Freedom is an organization that has created an open source portal for organic agriculture and permaculture practices. Journey to Forever has published a great deal of AT information, especially in the area of educational resources. And then there is CAMBIA a research institute pioneering Open Source Biotechnology and Patent Informatics. Or Don Gould, whose Pure Water for All project has applied an Open Source model for developing and deploying water filters in the developing world.
Despite these efforts, the AT community remains somewhat discontinuous and disorganized. It is difficult to gauge where instances of replication are occurring. The movement needs a web-based axis around which the wheels of innovation can turn in collaborative unison.
Of course, we will experience resistance from the same commercial forces that resisted Free Software. Open Technological patents are a threat to traditional business models that rely on secrecy, proprietary systems, and vendor lock-in.
Again, we need but look to the Free Software movement to realize that open licensing is not a move away from capitalism towards state-centered socialism. On the contrary, innovative entrepreneurs within the movement were quick to take advantage of an economic trend that is continually moving away from products towards a service-based economic model. Where one door closes, a hundred more are suddenly opened.