One philosophical ideal that Longbars embraces is the engagement of our community of visitors. The way seek to encourage community engagement is by using tools that already exist, and are minimally expensive.

What’s that mean?

For starters, let’s talk about what I mean by open source:

While the term is generally used to describe software licensing models, open source development has been around much longer than computers. Open source, as I’m using the word, describes a technology development methodology. At it’s heart, the open source method is about information sharing. Open information has been around since the beginning of human civilization and examples of that method can be found throughout history.

Historic examples of such information include: shoelace knots, agriculture, spoken or written language, and even things that are as old as breaking rocks to make cutting tools. All of these technologies were developed communally and have benefited human civilizations ever since.

As humans have used technology, we learned from it and improved upon our tools. Each new and improved technique is transmitted through the culture by its users. These tools eventually evolved to their present condition. Our tools have been passed to us from our ancestors through this open development model.

While there are plenty of reasons to use an open methodology, I’m only going to mention a few right now:

• First and foremost, while I’m highly motivated to develop a healthy meal replacement for myself and also tremendously interested in healthy life extension, I am not an expert in either of these fields. As such, I couldn’t expect a product that I designed by myself to be the best possible meal replacement. An open development system allows each customer to contribute to the final product, thereby ensuring that the final product has the greatest appeal and meets the dietary guidelines for naturally extending my healthy lifespan (and yours).
• Second, as a recent graduate and an entrepreneur who quit his full-time job, I could never afford buy all the tools necessary to start a business. If it weren’t for the software available from the community of open-source programmers at Ubuntu / KDE / etc, there’s no way I would have been able to afford to make it this far without stealing somebody’s copyrighted software. All of the software that has been used to develop the Longbars website and support the business have been provided for me at no charge. These developers have facilitated Longbars in almost every step along the way, whether they realize it or not. This is my attempt to reciprocate, by working with and cultivating productive relationships with a community interested in healthy life extension.
• Also, I see the open source approach to information as the best and fastest way to respond to our rapidly changing world. As humans tools advance and become more complex, our approaches to refining those tools will also need to change. Closed models of development can be successful, but they inhibit rapidity of adjustment by limiting the number of thinking minds that are able to contribute. If we want to keep up, I think we’ll need to change the way in which businesses operate. And I think we’ll see that means moving away from property rules which inhibit collaborative development.

As Longbars moves forward, you can expect to see significant changes and improvements to the recipe of the bar. The changes will come slow at first, but bear with us. And please, let us know if you have any questions or input.