Not only is free software development unprecedented in its size and geographic spread–hundreds of people from countries around the world collaborating on individual projects–but it brings together people who are notorious for having trouble dealing with other people. That’s really impressive when you think about it.

Of course, the stereotype of the computer programmer with Aspergers Syndrome is overblown. I used the term in my title to attract attention, but I’ve worked with enough programmers to know that many warm and socially sophisticated people take up the job.

Let’s put it more gently: many programmers have the feeling their people skills haven’t kept up with their technical mastery. That’s why they are attracted to sites such as Perl hackers Michael Schwern’s geek2geek, whose motto is “What we have here is a failure to communicate.”

How does free software development work so well, then?

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