Mises.org just went Open Source

[Conza88]

http://blog.mises.org/archives/009475.asp

Mises.org is going open source - volunteers wanted

February 19, 2009 3:40 PM by David Veksler

I am pleased to announce that the entire Mises.org website is going open source. We are releasing everything you need to run a complete copy of Mises.org. This includes all the books, all the media, all the journals, all the source code, and the complete database behind mises.org.

This is not a one time release - I have created a public repository so you can get the latest version of everything as soon it hits the site.

Furthermore, anyone can submit their own contributions and enhancements the repository.

Obviously, this is quite an undertaking from a technical perspective, so we will not be able to release everything immediately. We are loooking for volunteers familiar with Subversion, change management, Windows/.Net security and open source projects to help with the initial release and provide assistance on an ongoing basis. Please contact the webmaster or comment on the Wiki.

If you want to get your hands dirty right away, the access information is below. We'll post further updates on this project on the Mises.org Ideas Wiki.

SVN anonymous login: guest/guest
Website: https://code.mises.com:8443/svn/MisesWeb/trunk/MisesWeb/
Database scripts: https://code.mises.com:8443/svn/MisesDatabases/Mises/Scripts/
(The full database will be released after a security audit, but private copies may be provided by request.)

Mises.org media/books/pdf's:
http://mises.org/multimedia/
http://mises.org/books/
http://mises.org/pdf/
http://mises.org/journals/

[mediahasyou]

Anarchy!

[RSLudlum]

I love the idea.
Leonard Read would be happy to see this!!!

[Conza88]

I can explain. What this will mean is the de-centralization of the mises.org contentent. Servers around the world will be able to serve the content up from multiple locations on a voluntary basis.

This means that if a central authority decides to censure a website, say in Arkansas, then any of the other sites can still serve up the data, the articles, books, and media, to the Internet.

OpenSource operating systems and software are already freely distributed in this fashion. In a way, by converting the website to OpenSource, and setting up our own "mises" server mirrors around the world, we are increasing the availability of the Austrian Economic Theory to the world at a time when the world most needs it. Sort of Minute Men of the modern age, minus the guns!

Setup a mirror! Become a Mises Minute Man(Woman).

;)

[cthulhufan]

Kick ass. I've been sitting on several domains since '98 or so with nothing much to do with them other than use them as email/file repositories. They have just gained purpose.

[tonesforjonesbones]

So in other words..their site can be duplicated by others? tones

[pcosmar]

So in other words..their site can be duplicated by others? tones

In any other words YES.
Open Source = Freedom

[Rael]

mises.org is the shit, and it just got even better. I can't see having enough bandwidth on my site to mirror them though...

[RSLudlum]

So in other words..their site can be duplicated by others? tones

Yep, you can use all their content, even down to the format and appearance.

In other words, Roll Your Own Mises site :D

[UnReconstructed]

no idea how to do this

[liberteebell]

no idea how to do this

Me either. Can some of you tecchies explain this please??

[pcosmar]

Me either. Can some of you tecchies explain this please??

That might get a bit involved. first you would need storage space, ( not sure how much) I suspect a lot of storage. Next a server, and a Domain (web address, to simplify)
You then download the entire data base from Mises to your storage and serve it to whoever connects to your server.

Simple, and yet somewhat involved. :cool:

[Conza88]

Uploaded to torrents... host pdf's... spread the message :D

[LibertyEagle]

I think it's neat and all, but could someone explain to me what there is to gain from this? I mean, are they afraid they're going to be shut down or something and want to get dups out there in as many places as possible, or are they needing mirrors because of bandwidth issues, or what? So much of their stuff is already free from their site. Downloads galore.

Anyway, this is probably a stupid question, but I just don't get it. Will someone please explain it?

[constituent]

I think it's neat and all, but could someone explain to me what there is to gain from this?

repackaging for broader appeal.

[Rael]

I think it's neat and all, but could someone explain to me what there is to gain from this? I mean, are they afraid they're going to be shut down or something and want to get dups out there in as many places as possible, or are they needing mirrors because of bandwidth issues, or what? So much of their stuff is already free from their site. Downloads galore.

Anyway, this is probably a stupid question, but I just don't get it. Will someone please explain it?

I don't see that much of a reason to mirror the site either. but having access to all of their stuff is cool!

[LibertyEagle]

repackaging for broader appeal.

Oh, ok. That helps. Thanks.

[RSLudlum]

I think it's neat and all, but could someone explain to me what there is to gain from this? I mean, are they afraid they're going to be shut down or something and want to get dups out there in as many places as possible, or are they needing mirrors because of bandwidth issues, or what? So much of their stuff is already free from their site. Downloads galore.

Anyway, this is probably a stupid question, but I just don't get it. Will someone please explain it?

Think about it with the mp3 'piracy' debate. How many mp3's do people download when they are available across thousands of sites/outlets (whether you agree with the practice or not). The average web-surfer would be more likely to run across the site/ideas.

This article on Leonard Read and his open source philosophy in promoting the ideas of FEE (Foundation for Economic Education), their publications and libertarianism.





Leonard Read's Open-Source Vision
February 13, 2009 12:51 PM by Jeffrey Tucker | Other posts by Jeffrey Tucker |

source (http://blog.mises.org/archives/009434.asp)

Leonard E. Read, the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education in 1946, is often heralded for his role in kick-starting the libertarian movement after World War II. The sons of FEE went on to do great good for the world, and FEE is often called the father of all libertarian think tanks--institutions that work outside of official academia to advance radical ideas.

He did more than merely sponsor lectures and publish. As a matter of fact, others were doing the same. So far as I know, no one has yet noticed that he used a secret weapon in his struggle, something that made him truly different and unusually effect. He eschewed the use of exclusive copyright.

Pick up any book or publication from FEE before the 1990s. You will see a remarkable and visionary sentence on the copyright page: "Permission to reprint granted without special request." This one sentence is what made it happen. Any newspaper could print a column. Any publisher could include an essay. Indeed, he invited any publisher to take FEE book and publish it and sell it, owing no royalties and asking no permissions.

The publisher was not even asked to acknowledge its source! So in this sense, he was even more radical than Creative Commons attribution license. It was copyrighted solely so that someone else couldn't copyright it, and then maximum permissions were granted. In effect, Read was putting all of the scholarship of FEE in the public domain as soon as it was published.

This saved on the grueling bureaucratic struggle involved with granting permissions, and keeping up with the permissions they granted. Asking no fees or royalties meant saving on accounting bureaucracy as well.

Read was not an anarchist but rather a believer in "limited government," but regardless, this much is true: he hated the state. He saw it as the great enemy of freedom, creativity, and social progress. In fact, he was even more radical: he loathed all restrictions on information. He must have seen that restricting the flow of information through conventional copyright relies upon state interference to make a non-scarce thing--information--artificially scarce. This went against his entire temperament.

As he wrote: "Freedom works its wonders simply because the generative capacity of countless millions has no external force standing against its release!"

But there is a more important point that Read understood.

He understood that the critical problem faced by what he called the "freedom philosophy" was not piracy. From his point of view, the ideas of liberty were not "stolen" nearly enough. The problem that he sought to overcome was not too much copying, it was not enough copying. He saw that his number one goal had to be busting up the obscurity of these ideas and getting them out to the public. Conventional copyright was not a help in this respect; it was a hindrance.

Never forget that Read had a background in business. He was head of the Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles before founding FEE. He must have seen countless business start and fail, not because they didn't have a good product, but because people didn't know about the product enough to go and buy it. The critical problem that every innovator faces, after coming up with the innovation, is getting the word out.

Think of a new hamburger stand in Los Angeles. It doesn't matter how great the burgers are, if people don't know about it, it will not succeed. Imagine if some huge fan wanted to print up t-shirts about the hamburgers. Why in the world would the owner of the joint want to use the government to extract money from the t-shirt printer? That would be nuts.

And let's say that another burger company in town started up that used the same recipe. What then? The answer is to regard the imitation as flattery, and compete in the most aggressive possible way. It keeps you on your toes, keep you innovating, and the excitement of the competition itself can attract imitation. And who is going to benefit the most from this struggle, the original institution or its copy? The answer is shown to us every day. Originators who keep innovating benefit.

In the same way, Read saw himself in the idea business. Why, then, would he turn to the state to restrict the flow of ideas? That would cut into everything he ever wanted to do. Indeed, rather than restricting access to FEE texts, he begged the world to take them and print them and distribute them. He wanted this more than anything else.

You will note that he was very prolific, but why? Because he had a lifetime burning passion to get the world out in every possible way. He stated the freedom philosophy again and again in every way he could imagine and encouraged others to do the same. He was an evangelist spreading the news. He wanted to be pirated so that he could see that he was making a difference.

Thank goodness for his vision here. But please note what this means. The modern freedom movement depended heavily on open source materials. It had an effect on the world because it eschewed restriction, state-means of imposing artificial scarcities, and sought above all else to get the word out. The modern libertarian movement was born in Creative Commons and grew through that means.

Indeed it was true: FEE material was everywhere! It was in newspapers, magazines, monographs, books, and printed by all existing technologies. People in those days report that you couldn't help bumping into it. I'm telling you that this gentlemen Read knew what he was doing. He went against the pack. Everyone else was availing themselves to copyright. He said no. And he stuck to it.

Did this harm FEE? Quite the contrary! IT was the best thing that ever happened to the institution and to the ideas it represented. Just as Read said, freedom worked. The implications are profound.

What about the Mises Institute? Lew Rockwell adopted this model in the early days of the Institute, particularly for newsletter. The default permissions were the same as Read's own! We never had the money to print too much in the way of books. And reprinting in those days involved terrible copyright struggles. The issue went off the radar screen. But as Creative Commons appeared, Mises.org adopted it as its own, and it has been a wild success. We are nowadays taking the radical step of putting our books into this status as well.

This is all about practicing what you preach but there is more to it than that: it is about developing an effective tactic for spreading truth. It's a glorious thing what Read did, if only by instinct. Would that we all had his instinct for how to rise from obscurity into prominence.

[pcosmar]

I think it's neat and all, but could someone explain to me what there is to gain from this? I mean, are they afraid they're going to be shut down or something and want to get dups out there in as many places as possible, or are they needing mirrors because of bandwidth issues, or what? So much of their stuff is already free from their site. Downloads galore.

Anyway, this is probably a stupid question, but I just don't get it. Will someone please explain it?

I would guess that some of, or all or their software and programs were proprietary. That means it has a license agreement that can be pulled or must be renewed.
With Open Source the license is free and the software is freely available to anyone. No restrictions.
No censorship. No hassles.
And stored in multiple locations is an added safety.
It's all good. :cool:

[Conza88]

I think it's neat and all, but could someone explain to me what there is to gain from this? I mean, are they afraid they're going to be shut down or something and want to get dups out there in as many places as possible, or are they needing mirrors because of bandwidth issues, or what? So much of their stuff is already free from their site. Downloads galore.

Anyway, this is probably a stupid question, but I just don't get it. Will someone please explain it?


I can explain. What this will mean is the de-centralization of the mises.org contentent. Servers around the world will be able to serve the content up from multiple locations on a voluntary basis.

This means that if a central authority decides to censure a website, say in Arkansas, then any of the other sites can still serve up the data, the articles, books, and media, to the Internet.

OpenSource operating systems and software are already freely distributed in this fashion. In a way, by converting the website to OpenSource, and setting up our own "mises" server mirrors around the world, we are increasing the availability of the Austrian Economic Theory to the world at a time when the world most needs it. Sort of Minute Men of the modern age, minus the guns!

Setup a mirror! Become a Mises Minute Man(Woman).

They recognise the growing move to Censor the Internet... so, they're going decentralized... so cnts like China can't block access to Mises.org, or the clowns in Washington do the same.. (They wish they could, but probably aint got the balls)

Basically, if it does happen, someone can then simply link to URL, which contains all or most of the Mises content... :D

De-centralized... like PEER to PEER, Torrents etc... which really can't shut down, lol.. :D

Great post RSLudlum. :)

[cthulhufan]

I think it's neat and all, but could someone explain to me what there is to gain from this? I mean, are they afraid they're going to be shut down or something and want to get dups out there in as many places as possible, or are they needing mirrors because of bandwidth issues, or what? So much of their stuff is already free from their site. Downloads galore.

Anyway, this is probably a stupid question, but I just don't get it. Will someone please explain it?

My sincere hope is that they need mirrors. But just having multiple sites spreading the same message could be useful as well if not fragmented and inefficient (IMHO).

[roshie]

Please digg:

http://digg.com/tech_news/Mises_org_is_going_Open_Source

Each digg counts and since Digg is a tech website and Mises has been giving out free books, obviously it's going to help spread Austrian economics even further. The more exposure, the better. It's free advertising if we can promote the story.

[Trigonx]

also with open source users on the internet can redesign the site, add neat things to the site, make it more user friendly and send what they made to mises.org and they could implement the new stuff or parts of it. It could help make mises.org more streamline and mainstream. Good things all around with open source

[tonesforjonesbones]

I also believe they wan't it widespread in case their site gets attacked. I have never been able to figure out any torrents. dang. tones

[liberteebell]

That might get a bit involved. first you would need storage space, ( not sure how much) I suspect a lot of storage. Next a server, and a Domain (web address, to simplify)
You then download the entire data base from Mises to your storage and serve it to whoever connects to your server.

Simple, and yet somewhat involved. :cool:

Thanks! Maybe someday for me...

[liberteebell]

Think about it with the mp3 'piracy' debate. How many mp3's do people download when they are available across thousands of sites/outlets (whether you agree with the practice or not). The average web-surfer would be more likely to run across the site/ideas.

This article on Leonard Read and his open source philosophy in promoting the ideas of FEE (Foundation for Economic Education), their publications and libertarianism.


I LOVE fee.org. :D

[Truth Warrior]

:cool: Thanks for the heads up info. :)

I wonder what prompted that move. :confused: