Open Source Is the Answer. Now What Was the Question?

By GREGORY A. JACKSON

Here's a classic riddle from rock 'n' roll: If "the Beach Boys" is the wrong answer, what is the question? I find myself thinking about that riddle every time I hear about "open-source solutions."

I have nothing against open-source software. In fact, we use it extensively at the University of Chicago. Increasingly, though, proponents of open...

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