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The Fallacy of the Zero-Sum Game

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Conference: Linux.conf.au
Location: Ballarat, Australia
Slides: PDF

Description: In economic and game theory, a “zero-sum game” describes a scenario where success for one individual or entity only comes by failure of another. In FLOSS culture, we strongly value the idea that collaboration and cooperation is a fundamentally superior model for innovation, development, and business. And yet, paradoxically, you’ll often see the implicit or explicit assumption that there can be only one “best” text editor, or programming language, or Linux distribution and all others must suffer by comparison. This talk explores why free software is the future of technology, competition vs growth, the hazards of silos, and the green fields beyond feature parity with proprietary software.