Vlad and I went to OpenUK's State of Open conference last week. Following on from Vlad's talk at FOSDEM, I gave a talk at State of Open called "Evolving Corporate Reciprocity." I introduced the concept of a gift economy—a system of exchange based on gifts that carry with them an obligation to reciprocate—and framed Open Source in these terms.
I propose that Open Source is a gift economy, but it's a bad one, because the social norms that go along with it are ill-defined and asymmetrical. Mismatched expectations are bad for everyone. In the long run, it is in all of our collective best interest to clarify the Open Source social contract. The Pledge is one attempt along these lines.
Here is the full video of the talk:
Thank you to Amanda Brock and her team at OpenUK for hosting a wonderful conference with many important conversations about Open Source.