“It can’t be very much longer before free-software hackers start
regretting how high their media profile has become in these
open-source software crazed days. How are they supposed to get any
work done? If they aren’t fielding calls from clueless journalists
or giving yet another keynote address at yet another industry
convention, they’re being overwhelmed by the flood of e-mail from
newbies desperate to join this movement that they’ve been reading
about in their favorite Web zine or trade press publication.”
“That’s the price of success. But lately, it’s not just the
bright glare of media attention that free-software hackers must
squint through. The geeks behind GNU and Apache and Linux are
receiving a steadily growing barrage of scrutiny from curious
academics as well. The latest instance of such attention is a
survey from researchers at the University of Michigan’s School of
Information.“