Sebastopol, CA – O’Reilly & Associates announced today that
they a are making the entire new book, “OpenSources: Voices From
the Open Source Revolution” freely available (or “open-sourced”) on
their web site: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html
“Open Sources” is a collection of essays that offer insight into
how the Open Source movement works, why it succeeds, and where it
is going.
“OpenSources,” published in January 1999, has earned
considerable critical acclaim. In “OpenSources”, Open Source
pioneers such as Brian Belendorf (Apache), Scott Bradner (Internet
Engineering Task Force), Jim Hamerly (Netscape), Kirk McKusick
(Berkeley Unix), Tim O’Reilly (O’Reilly & Associates), Tom
Paquin (mozilla.org.), Bruce Peren (Open Source Initiative), Eric
Raymond (Open Source Initiative), Richard Stallman (Free Software
Foundation), Michael Tiemann (Cygnus Solutions), Linus Torvalds
(Linux), Paul Vixie (Bind), Larry Wall (Perl), and Bob Young (Red
Hat) share their vision of the Open Source movement.
“Of course, the hardcopy of the book will still be available for
sale at bookstores,” said Tim O’Reilly, president of O’Reilly &
Associates, “But we felt that especially now, these are voices that
must be heard. A key part of the success of Open Source depends on
the easy dissemination of information over the Internet, so making
it possible for people to freely redistribute these essays will
help to spread the good word. Still, unlike computer source code,
you don’t want people changing the primary source material, so the
license allows redistribution only without modification.”
Each of the fourteen co-authors contributed a chapter to
“OpenSources”. Not surprisingly within this community, all chose to
allow their work to be freely re-distributable, as long as it
wasn’t modified.
“The more people understand Open Source, the more they will
demand it in their commercial environments.” said co-author Michael
Tiemann, “We are pleased that O’Reilly has made the bold move to
promote the Open Sources book with an open source distribution
policy. I have little doubt that such a move will increase the
sales volume of this already popular book”. Co-author Eric Raymond
agreed: “‘OpenSources’ is important as a primary historical source.
It is front-line reporting from the people who were there when the
wave broke.”
Even within the Open Source movement, there is a rich mosaic of
philosophies–one of the things that makes the collection of voices
in the book “OpenSources” so fascinating.
“O’Reilly Associates and the other authors have joined to do the
right thing — to permit redistribution of the rest of this book.
Next I hope that ORA and authors will join to permit redistribution
and modification of some of their manuals describing free software
packages — to help fill the great gaps in documentation that
remain in our free operating systems.” said co-author, Richard
Stallman.
On the other hand, Eric Raymond stated: “Unlike some, I don’t
think it’s an ethical requirement that this book be freely
redistributable; books are different from programs, they don’t need
peer review and rapid evolution in the same way. Still, I may have
been the first person to do simultaneous paper and on-line
publication of a book aimed at the mass market (the New Hacker’s
Dictionary back in 1991). If that experience is any guide,
publishing this book on line will actually *increase* its
sales.”
What the Critics Have Said About “OpenSources:
Voices From the Open Source Revolution”
“What you can’t find on the Web, apart from all the fragments,
is a really comprehensive account of the (Open Source) movement.
For that you need Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source
Revolution from O’Reilly.” –David Warsh, Boston Globe, February
28, 1999“Maybe because I read it in one sitting in a hotel on the edge
of San Francisco’s Mission district, where many of the Net’s
architects still live and work and where Hotwired, the first
website I wrote for is located, I was blown away by Open Sources:
Voices from the Open Source Revolution, published by O’Reilly
($24.95). I’ve been struggling to learn about OS and free software
and to acquire and learn Linux on my new box. I’m not there yet,
but I’m not inclined to quit, and the voices in the book explain
why. The programmers, hackers, and others developing OS are freedom
fighters, guerillas of the Information Age; the Open Source and
Free Software movements are both radical and unprecedented. There’s
a lot at stake in whether or not they succeed; whether the Internet
remains the freest culture in the world or suffers the fate of
off-line media – becoming corporatized, homogenized, mass-marketed
and pervasively censored. Open Sources is an important document,
and this is the first of several columns about it. Every
significant movement seems to have a book that sparks or defines
it, from environmentalism’s Silent Spring to Mao’s little red book.
Open Sources is that kind of ideological book. . . When I began
reading the voices in Open Sources – including Richard Stallman of
the Free Software Foundation, Tim O’Reilly of O’Reilly &
Associates, Bruce Perens and Eric Raymond of the Open Source
Initiative, and Linus Torvalds (Linux) – I expected to hear a
description of a new kind of technology. But what’s captured is the
birth of a movement. –Jon Katz, slashdot.org, March 1999“O’Reilly & Associates continues to impress me as a
publisher. This week I received Open Sources: Voices from the Open
Source Revolution, which I’m about a third through now, and find
informative and fascinating.” –Mark Hall, Performance Computing,
February 1999“Open Sources is a book of readings and one of the best reads
I’ve had in years . . . If you are just being introduced to Free
Software, you will find no better introduction to the thinking
behind it than Open Sources. If you have been into Free Software
for a year or two, Open Sources will give you a deeper and more
comprehensive understanding of it. If you are an old Free Software
hacker, Open Sources will give you fresh and fascinating glimpses
into the minds of its creators, movers and shakers… In the end,
there is absolutely nothing bad to say about Open Sources except
that if you can’t afford to buy a copy you might just have to steal
one.” –Dwight Johnson, Linux Today, February 25, 1999If you develop software, or run a company that does, Open
Sources is a must-read. This is Hackers (Steven Levy’s classic
portrayal of early microcomputer software renegades) for the next
generation. It may also be a manifesto for software development and
marketing in the next century. Open Sources brings together 14 of
the brightest, most influential visionaries in the dynamic
open-source movement to discuss the past and future of open-source
software. Their fascinating first-person insider accounts range
from the story of Linux by Linus Torvalds and a free-software
manifesto by Richard Stallman to an essay on how to make money
selling free software by RedHat Software, Inc. President Robert
Young. . . This is one of those rare books that define a new
paradigm. Highly recommended. –Amara D. Angelica, TechWeek, March
8, 1999“Looking for a really good book about the Open Source concept?
Then get a copy of the book entitled OpenSources: Voices From the
Open Source Revolution…both entertaining and educational, and
exposes the reader to some very creative minds who are destined to
shape the future of our industry.”-John Black, Real-Time
Engineering, Spring 1999“an excellent and fascinating look…well written and readable
account with some genuinely interesting insights.”-Nick Merritt, PC
Answers, May 1999“a valuable and unique snapshot of the Open Source processes and
developments as they currently exist.”-Elizabeth Zinkann, Sys
Admin, June 1999
“OpenSources: Voices From the Open Source Revolution” is
available online at: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/toc.html
or from your local bookstore (O’Reilly & Associates,
$24.95)
Open Source is a trademark of the Open Source Initiative.