“From its humble origins in the ‘hacker’ culture of US computer
science laboratories in the 1970s, open source software (OSS) has
grown to become arguably the most influential and talked about
phenomenon to hit the computer industry since the invention of the
microprocessor. At the heart of OSS is a wonderful idealistic
notion that appeals to our caring, sharing side. The OSS vision is
of a world in which there are no greedy corporations run by
megalomaniac billionaires intent on screwing users out of their
hard-earned cash in return for bloated, unstable, insecure software
which only operates properly with other products from the same
manufacturer and has laughable customer support. Instead, there are
communities of gentle, altruistic individuals working together
voluntarily for the good of mankind. Unsullied by the sordid world
of commerce, the code that they produce is somehow purer and more
ethical than proprietary software…”