Open-sourcing the world

I'm new to this open-source terminology, so forgive me if I stuff up with my assumptions in this post...

The more I trawl the net, the more I learn from those who inhabit it, the more I realize how everything is changing.

Cartographers are in danger of going out of business as Google gets the locals to mark their own maps, taken by high-flying satellites, with information that you'd never ordinarily find. Personal experiences with places that put a spin on them no geographic markings ever could. Explainations of "what's that?" from guys on the ground, who drive past it every day or live in it or have been there - and know.

Teachers turn into directors (or they should) as they simply point students in the right direction. Give them a few hints, guide how they apply them, but let them learn on their own. Answer questions raised within their field of expertise. Blog their lessons or post them on message boards. Your students can talk back, and you can't tell them not to.

Bloggers rule the news. You saw it "here" first - not on CNN, Reuters or your local news service. Bloggers change the way the pulic perceives, interprets, lives. They sway opinions, cement thoughts, express what the media dare not. They infiltrate where news is banned, and get the word out under the wire.

Open-source software, free tutorials, coding cheats undercut the mainstream, we'll-take-the-shirt-off-your-back Big Guns. It is more blessed to share than to sell...

Authors throw stories into cyberspace, create e-books, collaborate with each other. They're no longer on a distant pedestal, obscured behind a publishing house - you can subscribe to their blog feed and actually tell them what you think. What you think might end up in their next book.

Businesses deal in virtual cash. A transfer of numbers from one place to the next. Can't find you online? - you simply don't exist. Website and email locations overrule physical addresses. Anyone can do business, from their home office, garage or back yard. An online rumour can sink you.

Knowlege is free. Brainstorming with the major players is a given. Your nifty idea can get noticed and the word spread like wildfire as a network of "you gotta see this" runs loose.

The world is opening up. What was sacred, secret is flung wide open, accessible to all.

Flippin' amazing. I love it.