A Concise Introduction to Free and Open Source Software

"Over the past few months, I've been reading several books on the early days of FOSS (I hope to review them later), each based upon extensive interviews with those that made FOSS happen. That's been especially revealing, because in recent years I've gotten to know many of the same individuals, and didn't always appreciate the roles that they had played in the early days of FOSS.

"Recently, I tried to put all of this together, and more, into a single article that could serve as an introduction for people that might have an incomplete knowledge of FOSS, or might not fully appreciate all of its many dimensions. While no single article could ever hope to fully capture such a complex topic, perhaps the concise overview that I've put together can fill in some of the blanks for people who have only a general idea of what FOSS is all about. And hopefully it will also provide the incentive for them to want to learn more (I've provided a brief bibliography at the end for that purpose).

"Here's the introduction to that article, and you can find the full text in the August - September issue of Standards Today. If you have your own observations and thoughts (or differences of opinion) about what I've written, please do leave your comments, and I can take them into account in any future revision of this article."

Complete Story

Related Stories:

• Smart Phones, eBook Readers, and the Same Old, Same Old(Dec 14, 2009)
• #61 Jazz, Jazz Standards, and Open Source(Dec 11, 2009)
• Rambus EU Settlement Appears Near(Nov 25, 2009)
• The Birth of the SGIP (Live from Denver)(Nov 19, 2009)
• Checking in on CodePlex(Nov 06, 2009)
• Digitization and the (Vanishing) Arts of the Book(Nov 02, 2009)
• It's Time for Obama to Come Out for FOSS(Oct 21, 2009)
• Further Reflections on the CodePlex Foundation: The Glass Half Full(Sep 30, 2009)