Open-source and sharing

The ideas of sharing are the foundation for the explosion of the internet. The open-source Philosophy states that access to the source code makes software easy to configure to specific user needs. Because open-source is freely distributed, it can greatly reduce the user's total cost of computing. Open-source software is reliable, stable, scalable, secure and extremely cost-effective. ( Open Source Software Institute.org ) The internet allowed different levels of sharing that previously were controllable through distribution and production. The music industry for example, in the past, maintained a control over the distribution and production of music. Artists would attach their music to a record label who would front the money to produce, advertise, and distribute that artist’s music for a fee. Artist would sign contracts based on complicated economic figures and essentially relinquishing some control over where, when, and who will have access to their particular music. The economic power existed in the hands of the producers and distributers of the music. The music industry, take EMI for instance, maintained large amounts of capital which could then attract big time artists such as The Rolling Stones, and Radiohead.