Complementarity: noun (physics): the principle that the complete description of a phenomenon in microphysics requires the use of two distinct theories that are complementary to each other

Skype is broken again. As I write this, my Skype contact list appears to be in the same place that once inspired an explorer to query, "Dr. Livingston, I presume?" My online contact list has vanished, lost somewhere in the 'Heart of Darkness'. Only one of contacts has managed to crawl out from the void and follow the bread crumbs. It now sits on its little green button and announces its online status, although the contact does not respond when I hail him with the IM feature.

Is it just a coincidence that Skype begins to walk with a halt just weeks after Microsoft's proposal to acquire the immense VOIP company? Probably. The real culprit may be an Open Source advocate with good intentions.

Free Open Source Software (FOSS) is a movement that began in the early 80's with the Gnu Project. This movement was designed to provide an operating system whose source code was totally disclosed, available for re-engineering by any programmer willing to donate his or her time to the project. The idea was that a kitchen full of Master Chefs could come up with a better soup recipe than a single chef with a roomful of apprentices. The master chefs are at liberty to explore new terrain, circumscribed only by the limits of their imagination and creativity, and are in a position to police each other's innovations. The apprentices, on the other hand, must always follow in the footsteps of their overlord. The Linux operating system was born out of this project, as was Open Office, a suite of office tools wholly as functional as Microsoft's own proprietary product.

The open source community has always been contemptuous of Bill Gates and his company. The feeling has traditionally been reciprocated by Microsoft, which has a history of subverting or trying to stamp out open source projects. The giant software company seems to view Open Source as synonymous with Communism. The idea of anything with utilitarian merit being made available to the public without attendant charge or license fee is abhorrent to Microsoft. It is simply the worst kind of un-American, anarchistic, Bolshevik treachery. Although in recent years Microsoft has sent its dark doves into the open source community, offering guarded partnerships to various open source growing market-share groups, its manifest attitude to the open source community remains unchanged, as can be seen by their policies.

Now, what has Open Source got to do with Skype? Nothing, except for the antics of Efim Bushmanov, a programmer from the tiny Republic of Komi (in Russia), who reverse engineered an early version of Skype and published some of its code on the internet just five days ago (on June 2, 2011). Bushmanov's actions appear to invite the open source community to develop a Linux compatible version of Skype.

"Anyway, my research has already been made available," he said in an interview. "The files have been set loose into the world and anyone with a mind for it can continue building this open source version of Skype."

So there was Skype source code, hanging out in the breeze, available to anyone with a craw full of backed up bile for Microsoft and an axe to grind. And then suddenly Skype develops health problems. More coincidence?

Like any war, the two perspectives of the opposing sides are only interchangeable when the observer is nonpartisan and steps back to see the large picture. But for each side of the battle, there is no complementarity. The wave form of the open source socialists can only see their own perspective, just as the particle viewpoint of the proprietary capitalist only sees stock value.

The Cold War practices of proxy battlegrounds, containment, deception, economic pressuring and double agents are alive and well in the realms of software development. When the smoke finally clears, it will be interesting to see who is left standing. Will the information-sharing extended family of the Open Source Community endure or will Microsoft's intellectual property lawyers, price manipulations and 'Better Dead then Red' philosophy overwhelm the competition?

I know who I'd like to see survive the fray. And at the victory celebration, there would be no flag waving.