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07-06-05, 09:23 PM

Thank you for your kind words. I wrote that article for a book on Open Source, so the emphasis was on that aspect of the broad revolution in, and democratization of, our economic, political and cultural interactions.

The intent was not to ignore or diminish the importance of P2P in that trend. In fact, the development model itself for much of open source/open development, from Linux to Wikipedia, IS decentralized, collaborative, essentially P2P.

As you note, the underlying concept is not new. In 1994, Laura Filmore, founder of Open Book Systems, quoted Steve Wolff of the NSF as he described the significance of this new "World Wide Web" thang: "Every Client A Server", to which she added, "and Every Author a Publisher". The same year, in part inspired by that quote, I wrote, "Whereas print has readers, and radio has listeners, and TV has viewers, the Internet has Participants." Essential to that vision of networked, egalitarian participation is a democratization of the creation, distribution, and reward systems, and a moving of power and control to the edges, in every sense of that term.

It has been a part of our formal business plan at PIECORP from the beginning to distribute our free, open-source virtual worlds through P2P channels.

As well, using a decentralized, P2P world-engine to run our virtual worlds has been one of the architectural options under review from the beginning, ever since I read Crosbie Fitch's ideas on serverless MMO engines half-a-dozen years ago.

Crosbie is still working on serverless MMO engine concepts, among other interesting things, and you should checking out his group, Digital Productions Ltd, at http://www.digitalproductions.co.uk/ and read some of his articles on the subject (in the "Cyberspace Engine" section, originally written for Gamasutra in 2000-2001).

You all might also be interested in the Open Source TV project of the Participatory Culture Foundation at http://www.participatoryculture.org/

P2P distribution is one (critical) piece of the puzzle. What the PCF, and we at PIECORP and others are committed to doing, is to create democratic tools for open source content creation--and THEN distribute that original, "copyleft" creative content through P2P channels. The vision is of an entirely alternative, post-capitalist economic system, delivering nonproprietary creations on nonproprietary delivery channels to be experience via nonproprietary player applications, as I all-too-briefly briefly describe in the last section of my "lever long enough" article.

My commitment to value-driven, as opposed to profit-driven, models of human activity lead me to leave the corporate world and create PIECORP as a non-profit development studio, with a written constitution that requires us to release EVERYTHING we create - code, story, art, tools, everything - under open-source/creative-commons/public domain licenses (as appropriate for each type of content).

Anyone reading this who is interested in participating in our experiment in alternative creation, in any way, is welcome to email me (contact info on our site at http://www.piecorp.org/)

Thanks,

David Galiel
Executive Director
Public Interest Entertainment Corporation
"The Technology of Human Imagination"

07-06-05, 09:23 PM	#3
galiel Posts: n/a	Thank you for your kind words. I wrote that article for a book on Open Source, so the emphasis was on that aspect of the broad revolution in, and democratization of, our economic, political and cultural interactions. The intent was not to ignore or diminish the importance of P2P in that trend. In fact, the development model itself for much of open source/open development, from Linux to Wikipedia, IS decentralized, collaborative, essentially P2P. As you note, the underlying concept is not new. In 1994, Laura Filmore, founder of Open Book Systems, quoted Steve Wolff of the NSF as he described the significance of this new "World Wide Web" thang: "Every Client A Server", to which she added, "and Every Author a Publisher". The same year, in part inspired by that quote, I wrote, "Whereas print has readers, and radio has listeners, and TV has viewers, the Internet has Participants." Essential to that vision of networked, egalitarian participation is a democratization of the creation, distribution, and reward systems, and a moving of power and control to the edges, in every sense of that term. It has been a part of our formal business plan at PIECORP from the beginning to distribute our free, open-source virtual worlds through P2P channels. As well, using a decentralized, P2P world-engine to run our virtual worlds has been one of the architectural options under review from the beginning, ever since I read Crosbie Fitch's ideas on serverless MMO engines half-a-dozen years ago. Crosbie is still working on serverless MMO engine concepts, among other interesting things, and you should checking out his group, Digital Productions Ltd, at http://www.digitalproductions.co.uk/ and read some of his articles on the subject (in the "Cyberspace Engine" section, originally written for Gamasutra in 2000-2001). You all might also be interested in the Open Source TV project of the Participatory Culture Foundation at http://www.participatoryculture.org/ P2P distribution is one (critical) piece of the puzzle. What the PCF, and we at PIECORP and others are committed to doing, is to create democratic tools for open source content creation--and THEN distribute that original, "copyleft" creative content through P2P channels. The vision is of an entirely alternative, post-capitalist economic system, delivering nonproprietary creations on nonproprietary delivery channels to be experience via nonproprietary player applications, as I all-too-briefly briefly describe in the last section of my "lever long enough" article. My commitment to value-driven, as opposed to profit-driven, models of human activity lead me to leave the corporate world and create PIECORP as a non-profit development studio, with a written constitution that requires us to release EVERYTHING we create - code, story, art, tools, everything - under open-source/creative-commons/public domain licenses (as appropriate for each type of content). Anyone reading this who is interested in participating in our experiment in alternative creation, in any way, is welcome to email me (contact info on our site at http://www.piecorp.org/) Thanks, David Galiel Executive Director Public Interest Entertainment Corporation "The Technology of Human Imagination"