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Jaron Lanier’s broadside against “open source religion” in Discover Magazine was well-timed. The turn of the year, and the evident turning of an era, offers a great time to see the success, and possible excesses, of the open source ideal with fresh eyes. Lanier first came to prominence through virtual reality, which has become both more and less than he anticipated, through the interplay of commercial and open source models. Lanier’s VPL Research, created to commercialize his immersive 3D technology, went nowhere fast, and its patents were eventually acquired by Sun. Yet non-commercial development kept his ideas alive, and elements are seen in such things as flight simulators and Second Life. There’s an interplay between entrepreneurship and shared research, in…