Why don't artists use open source software?

I remember this panel as being one of heated debate at the Summit this year. Without irony, the coders (many of whom are also artists) were arguing from the political and activist side of things, and the artists (many of whom are also coders) were being pragmatic. There were extremely valid points on both sides of the "divide."

Putting guilt and aggression and the quality of OS wares aside, one of the points that stuck out most to me towards the end of the session was, given when all things are equal: "Why not?" Why not offer ogg instead of, or at least in addition to, mp3? And the same holds true of theora instead of Windows Media or QuickTime. Why not use a linux server, php instead of asp, a wordpress blog instead of movable type? Why not stick to open source images in codec, as well as CC in content? It's no extra time, no extra learning, and there are some pretty good wares out there.

I took this to heart when developing my new website. It's built entirely on open source platforms, plugins and themes - from php, mysql and wordpress, up through all videos being offered as theora downloads. It was fun, and I'm very happy with the results.

nathanielstern.com

If there are any php/wordpress gurus out there who want to try and help me port this as a free and open source theme/plugin/skin for other artists (a lot of it is currently hard-coded, as I am not that great of a programmer), feel free to contact me through the site.

I'm open.

tags: Dublin Ireland culture open-source content art portfolio website web internet php mysql wordpress

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