For immediate release
For more information, a review copy, or cover graphics,
contact:
Lisa Mann (707) 829-0515 ext. 230 lisam@oreilly.com
The hurricane force of the Open Source movement has taken many
industry leaders by surprise. Until recently, Open Source software
quietly fueled the Internet. But within the past year, Open Source
has grabbed attention of the industry with a flurry of headlines.
Netscape has opened the source code to Mozilla; IBM supports
Apache; major database vendors have ported their products to Linux;
Microsoft leaks the Halloween document. Suddenly, Open Source is
recognized as a viable mainstream alternative to commercial
software.
In “Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution”,
leaders of Open Source come together in print for the first time to
discuss a 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)
Bob Young (Red Hat)
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.
———————————————-
“Linux today has millions of users, thousands of developers, and
a growing market. It is used in embedded systems; it is used to
control robotic devices; it has flown on the space shuttle. I’d
like to say that I knew this would happen, that its all part of the
plan for world domination. But honestly this has all taken me by
surprise. I was much more aware of the transition from one to one
hundred users than the transition from one hundred to one million
users.”– Linus Torvald, “The Linux Edge” in “OpenSources; Voices
from the Open Source Revolution”.
“Open-source software has already created a fork in the road.
Just as the early microcomputer pioneers (in both hardware and
software) set the stage for today’s industry, open-source software
has set the stage for the drama that is just now unfolding, and
that will lead to a radical reshaping of the computer industry
landscape over the next five to ten years.”– Tim O’Reilly,
‘Hardware, Software, and Infoware” in “OpenSources; Voices from the
Open Source Revolution”.
“We have a fondness for sayings in the Perl community. One of
them is “There’s more than one way to do it”. This is true in Perl.
It’s also true of Perl. And it’s true of the Open Source community.
I won’t tell you everything about how Open Source works; that would
be like trying to explain why English works. But I can say
something about Perl, and where it’s going. Here’s another saying:
“Three great virtues of programming are laziness, impatience, and
hubris, Great Perl programmers embrace those virtues. So do Open
Source developers. But here I’m going to talk about some other
virtues: diligence, patience, and humility”. If you think these
sound like the opposite, you’re right. If you think a single
community can’t embrace opposing values, then you should spend more
time with Perl. After all, there’s more than one way to do it.”
Larry Wall, in “Diligence, Patience, and Humility” in “OpenSources;
Voices from the Open Source Revolution”.
“Yoda’s philosophy (There is no “try”) sounds neat, but it
doesn’t work for me. I have done most of my work while anxious
about whether I could do the job, and unsure that it would be
enough to achieve the goal if I did. But I tried anyway, because
there was no one but me between the enemy and my city, Surprising
myself, I have sometimes succeeded. Sometimes I have failed; some
of my cities have fallen. Then I found another threatened city, and
got ready for another battle. Over time, I’ve learned to look for
threats and put myself between them and my city, calling on other
hackers to come and join me. Nowadays I’m often not the only one.
It is a relief and a joy when I see a regiment of hackers digging
in to hold the line, and I realize this city may survive–for now.
But the dangers are greater each year, and now Microsoft has
explicitly targeted our community. We can’t take the future of
freedom for granted. Don’t take it for granted! If you want to keep
your freedom, you must be prepared to defend it.” Richard Stallman,
“The GNU Operating System and the Free Software Movement” in
“OpenSources; Voices from the Open Source Revolution”.
“Open Source software taps the intrinsic efficiency of the
technical free market, but it does so in an organic and
unpredictable way. Open Source businesses take on the role of Adam
Smith’s ‘invisible hand” guiding it both to help the overall market
and to achieve their microeconomic goals.” Michael Tiemann, “Future
of Cygnus Solutions.” In “OpenSources; Voices from the Open Source
Revolution”.
———————————-
Open Sources
Voices from the Open Source Revolution
Edited by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman & Mark Stone
1st Edition January 1999 (US)
ISBN: 1-56592-582-3, 280 pages, $24.95
http://www.oreilly.com
1-800-998-9938