The allure of open-source

“John C. Stille is a 17-year-old senior at Raleigh’s Cardinal Gibbons High School who does more than type research papers and play games on computers. He writes the code that makes them work. For the past three years, Stille, who also plays on his school’s varsity baseball team, has created open-source software — applications whose technical workings can be seen, manipulated and improved by anybody. Stille has even helped start an online foundation that assists other people looking to get involved in the business. He talked with Connect’s Jonathan Cox about his experiences.”