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Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution 1st Edition, Kindle Edition

4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 23 ratings

Freely available source code, with contributions from thousands of programmers around the world: this is the spirit of the software revolution known as Open Source. Open Source has grabbed the computer industry's attention. Netscape has opened the source code to Mozilla; IBM supports Apache; major database vendors haved ported their products to Linux. As enterprises realize the power of the open-source development model, Open Source is becoming a viable mainstream alternative to commercial software.Now in Open Sources, leaders of Open Source come together for the first time to discuss the new vision of the software industry they have created. The essays in this volume offer insight into how the Open Source movement works, why it succeeds, and where it is going.For programmers who have labored on open-source projects, Open Sources is the new gospel: a powerful vision from the movement's spiritual leaders. For businesses integrating open-source software into their enterprise, Open Sources reveals the mysteries of how open development builds better software, and how businesses can leverage freely available software for a competitive business advantage.The contributors here have been the leaders in the open-source arena:

  • Brian Behlendorf (Apache)
  • Kirk McKusick (Berkeley Unix)
  • Tim O'Reilly (Publisher, O'Reilly & Associates)
  • Bruce Perens (Debian Project, Open Source Initiative)
  • Tom Paquin and Jim Hamerly (mozilla.org, Netscape)
  • Eric Raymond (Open Source Initiative)
  • Richard Stallman (GNU, Free Software Foundation, Emacs)
  • Michael Tiemann (Cygnus Solutions)
  • Linus Torvalds (Linux)
  • Paul Vixie (Bind)
  • Larry Wall (Perl)
This book explains why the majority of the Internet's servers use open- source technologies for everything from the operating system to Web serving and email. Key technology products developed with open-source software have overtaken and surpassed the commercial efforts of billion dollar companies like Microsoft and IBM to dominate software markets. Learn the inside story of what led Netscape to decide to release its source code using the open-source mode. Learn how Cygnus Solutions builds the world's best compilers by sharing the source code. Learn why venture capitalists are eagerly watching Red Hat Software, a company that gives its key product -- Linux -- away.For the first time in print, this book presents the story of the open- source phenomenon told by the people who created this movement.Open Sources will bring you into the world of free software and show you the revolution.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution is a fascinating look at the raging debate that is its namesake. Filled with writings from the central players--from Linux creator Linus Torvalds to Perl creator Larry Wall--the book convinces the reader of the overwhelming merits of freeing up the many iterations of software's source code.

The open-source movement has become a cause célèbre in light of the widespread adoption of Linux, Perl, and Apache as well as its corporate support from Netscape, IBM, and Oracle--and strongly felt opposition from Microsoft. Open Sources doesn't address why these Microsoft foes are throwing their weight behind the movement. Instead, it focuses on the history and philosophy of open-source software (previously referred to as freeware) as an argument for shaping the future of programming. Open Sources is much larger than just a fight with any one company. Instead, it is a revolutionary call to release software development from the vested interests that label new directions in software development as threatening.

This is not to say that opening the source code is an entirely egalitarian and communistic endeavor. These are programmers and startup owners; they want to be able to continue to program for a living. To that end, Open Sources contains strong business profiles from entrepreneurs such as Apache's--and now, O'Reilly & Associates'--Brian Behlendorf, who discusses how to give away software in order to lure customers in for specialized versions. In many ways, this is a hands-on guide, displaying an insider's view of the development process and providing specifics on testing details and altering licensing agreements. However, interspersed with tech talk is a reader-friendly guide for those interested in the future of software development. --Jennifer Buckendorff

From Library Journal

The idea for open source software began years ago with Richard Stallman, who at the time was considered crazy for proposing that computer code be free to all to use as they see fit as long as they posted the changed code for the common good. Along the way he won a MacArthur ("Genius") award, Linus Torvalds created Linux, and Brian Behlendorf developed Apache, the most used free web server package. This collection of writings by the leaders of the open source movement offers readers a chance to think about the past and how it will change the future of software development.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0028N4WKG
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (January 3, 1999)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 3, 1999
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1715 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 282 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1565925823
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 23 ratings

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
23 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2013
It gives one a different perspective to read the essays of the people who are in the midst of the open source revolution, and making a huge difference in the way we live and think as regards the machines on which we depend for our daily routines, and understood so little for all that.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2013
Open Sources is a collection of essays related to Open Source development. It was published in 1999, which was a wonderfully interesting time in "open source land" as it had grown a lot in popularity and the question in the air was how much further will they be able to get. 14 years later, the answer is a lot further, yet not as far as people might have hoped and probably in very different directions. Anyways, most of the essays in this book are of historical significance as most essays reflect on one thread through the open source history together giving an interesting perspective on how it has developed.

After a brief introduction, Eric Raymond has the opening (and closing) essay. In the opening essay he looks at the history of 'hackerdom.' His essay feels strongly influenced by Steven Levy's delightful Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution - 25th Anniversary Edition. His closing essay talks about the open sourcing of Netscape, which is interesting as it has both been a success (I'm typing this in a Firefox browser) and a failure (Netscape is gone). But at the time the essay was written, it wasn't known yet how this would play out, making the speculation interesting.

The second essay is from Kirk McKusick about the history of the BSD unix distribution and how the different free BSD distributions got started and how they were related. The third essay is (unfortunately) short and is about how the Internet Engineering Task Force works. I wish they had found a better essay here as the history of the IETF is much broader than here described. The next essay is Richard Stallman, the last MIT hacker, about Free Software Foundation and GNU and building the GNU OS (where is it?). The essay of Stallman is quite political and strongly opinionated, which we ought to expect from RMS.

Next is Michael Tiemann, who is the founder of Cygnus Solutions and one of the main contributors to the gnu/gcc project. His company was one of the early Open Source companies and proved to the industry that you can build a company around Open Source. His company later merged with Red Hat (which isn't in the book). Next is Paul Vixie which IMHO could be left out. He describes "software engineering" as following a waterfall process. Next is Linus Torvalds who just contributed a very short essay about porting linux to different platforms.

Next. Robert Young, the founder of Red Hat to explain the business idea behind Red Hat. Next. Larry Wall, with a rather weird essay about... lines and circles. Next. Brian Behlendorf, one of the lead developers on Apache about different strategies for Open Source companies. Next. Bruce Perens, founder of the Open Source Initiative and creator of the Open Source Definition... talking about that. Next. Tim O'Reilly mumbling about the future of Open Source. Next. Some Netscape people about the Mozilla project. And than Eric Raymonds closing essay.

As you can see from the above line-up, it is quite amazing. Some essays are good, some are ok, some are bad... and some are excellent and insightful. That said, I find the book important as it gives so much different threads of how Open Source developed and how they were related. As a bonus in the book, the appendix contains a digested version of the Tanenbaum/Torvalds flame war on microkernels (which is a must read for anyone interested in OS or Linux history).

I very much enjoyed this book and would recommend it for anyone who is interested in history of open source or software development in general. If not, then you can better skip this book as it just talks about... the past :) The book isn't perfect as some essays are ... bad. Thus, 4 stars.
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Reviewed in the United States on March 12, 1999
Why shell out the 20 Euro for this tome? Because it got submissions from some of the major figures from different corners of the scene that is described by some as free software and by some as open source world, depending on what position they take regarding to freedom and commercialization. Plus the time is right now, at a time when the mainstream industry started to embrace it, and to commercially use it. Time will tell if there will be a stable balance between commercial interests and those people who simply enjoy programming and like to share their results (like I do). To make it work, future affairs will have to be handled in a way that both sides gain - simply treating the Internet's volunteers as free of cost labour will face opposition and won't work as the 100% free gospel won't. (that's why I stick with the BSD camp)
I have to stop now and read more .. :-)
Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2000
Open Sources is a collection of essays by people who have been involved in a prominent way in what is being called "the open source revolution." The authors are all very bright people with good intentions and diverse viewpoints; this makes for interesting reading. However, I had a problem with the introduction. In fact, I hated it. It attempts to couch the issue of free vs. non-free software in religious terms: in the bad old days, free software only came from universities or other government-funded research. Then, a few companies saw the light and began to open-source their software; currently the industry is divided between these companies (the saved) and the rest of the companies (the damned) who will spiral into oblivion due to their proprietary selfishness. I thought the presence of this sort of rhetoric in the introduction, which sets the tone for the rest of the book, was particularly unfortunate.
The essays in Open Sources are a mixed bag. Kirk McKusick's history of Berkeley UNIX is great, as is Michael Tiemann's history of Cygnus Solutions, RMS's article about the GNU project, and Bruce Perens' article about licensing issues. Also, I really enjoyed the transcript of the infamous 1992 flame war between Linus and Andy Tanenbaum about the merits of Linux vs. Minix. On the other hand, Paul Vixie's article about software engineering is pretty random, Larry Wall's article does not seem to have a point at all, and Eric Raymond's
second article and Tom Paquin's account of the open-sourcing of Netscape are too self-serving to be useful.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. However, the year that has passed since its publication has exposed some of the more outlandish predictions made by its contributors (Eric Raymond said that Windows 2000 would either be canceled or be a complete disaster). My guess is that Open Sources is not destined to become a classic. Rather, in a few years it will be viewed as an interesting but somewhat naive period piece.
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Top reviews from other countries

Marc van Woerkom
5.0 out of 5 stars Free software at critical junction betw. idealism & commerce
Reviewed in Germany on March 12, 1999
Why shell out the 20 Euro for this tome? Because it got submissions from some of the major figures from different corners of the scene that is described by some as free software and by some as open source world, depending on what position they take regarding to freedom and commercialization. Plus the time is right now, at a time when the mainstream industry started to embrace it, and to commercially use it. Time will tell if there will be a stable balance between commercial interests and those people who simply enjoy programming and like to share their results (like I do). To make it work, future affairs will have to be handled in a way that both sides gain - simply treating the Internet's volunteers as free of cost labour will face opposition and won't work as the 100% free gospel won't. (that's why I stick with the BSD camp)
I have to stop now and read more .. :-)

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