Modern software is often opaque: users cannot inspect how it works or change it to meet their needs. Making source code available does not necessarily solve the problem, because complex systems can remain practically impossible to understand or modify. This opacity limits users’ ability to explain outcomes, such as targeted advertisements, and to adapt tools for accessibility. The argument connects this loss of understanding to a broader alienation from technology, and holds that transparency initiatives often address the symptoms without questioning why software is designed to hide its workings.
A historical account traces competing visions of openness, including Smalltalk’s ambition to let people explore applications, see their components, and build new systems, and the Free Software movement’s promise of studying and adapting code. Those visions did not become the norm: object-oriented ideas entered mainstream languages such as Java, while Smalltalk’s open approach gave way amid practical concerns such as deployment. The central claim is that software becomes closed not only through deliberate secrecy, but also through well-intentioned engineering and managerial choices. The promised case studies of OS/360 and the Web are intended to show how those choices produce opacity over time, despite sound goals. Understanding that process is presented as a prerequisite for imagining software that people can meaningfully understand and shape.
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