Eric S. Raymond: The Cathedral & the Bazaar (1999–)

28 March 2009, dusan

Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel.

The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. According to Bob Young, “This is Eric Raymond’s great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them.”

The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. This revised and expanded paperback edition includes new material on open source developments in 1999 and 2000. Raymond’s clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001.

Key terms: hacker culture, fetchmail, open-source software, gift culture, Netscape, ARPAnet, Halloween Documents, Linus’s Law, hackerdom, Linus Torvalds, operating system, Homesteading the Noosphere, Microsoft, Zope, closed-source, SMTP, Linux kernel, network effects, VA Linux Systems, Larry Wall

With a Foreword by Bob Young
Publisher O’Reilly, 2001
Open Publication License, v1.0
ISBN 0596001088
241 pages

PDF (Revised edition, 2001, updated on 2014-8-28)
View online (Version 3.0, 2002, HTML)

Free Software, Free Society: Selected Essays of Richard M. Stallman (2002)

28 March 2009, dusan

The intersection of ethics, law, business and computer software is the subject of these essays and speeches by MacArthur Foundation Grant winner, Richard M. Stallman. This collection includes historical writings such as The GNU Manifesto, which defined and launched the activist Free Software Movement, along with new writings on hot topics in copyright, patent law, and the controversial issue of “trusted computing.” Stallman takes a critical look at common abuses of copyright law and patents when applied to computer software programs, and how these abuses damage our entire society and remove our existing freedoms. He also discusses the social aspects of software and how free software can create community and social justice.

Given the current turmoil in copyright and patent laws, including the DMCA and proposed CBDTPA, these essays are more relevant than ever. Stallman tackles head-on the essential issues driving the current changes in copyright law. He argues that for creativity to flourish, software must be free of inappropriate and overly-broad legal constraints. Over the past twenty years his arguments and actions have changed the course of software history; this new book is sure to impact the future of software and legal policies in the years to come.

By Richard M. Stallman, Lawrence Lessig, Joshua Gay, Free Software Foundation (Cambridge, Mass.)
Contributor Lawrence Lessig, Joshua Gay
Published by Free Software Foundation, 2002
ISBN 1882114981, 9781882114986
224 pages

Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this book provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

More info (includes PDF downloads of Italian, Catalan, and Spanish translations of the book)

PDF, PDF

bang. Pure Data (2006)

19 March 2009, dusan

Pd (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical processing. Pd is free software. It is subject of a constant process of change, revealing new characteristics with each application. Is it a tool/media/instrument? Is this a question that can be answered? Is it a decision that needs to be made at all?

This publication is a compilation of texts describing different approaches to Pd, a profile of its usage and development. It is contradictory, and at the end, one finds oneself with a lot of open questions, on a technical level as well as on a philosophical one.

The 1st International Pd-Convention in Graz in fall 2004 was the motivation for this book. The authors participated at this meeting, and an accompanying DVD shows some of the works that were presented at this occasion.”

With articles from: Frank Barknecht, Reinhard Braun, Ramiro Cosentino, Günther Geiger, Thomas Grill, Cyrille Henry, Jürgen Hofbauer, Reni Hofmüller, Werner Jauk, Brian Jurish, Andrea Mayr, Thomas Musil, Michael Pinter, Miller Puckette, Marc Ries, Winfreid Ritsch, Andrey Savitsky, Christian Scheib, Susanne Schmidt, Hans-Christoph Steiner, James Tittle, Harald A. Wiltsche, IOhannes m zmölnig.

Edited by Fränk Zimmer
Publisher Wolke, Hofheim, 2006
Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.5 License
175 pages

PDF, PDF (7mb, updated on 2024-4-20)