false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1172048606m/134825.jpg 134825 3 It may be foolish to consider Eric Raymond's recent collection of essays, <I>The Cathedral and the Bazaar</I>, the most important computer programming thinking to follow the Internet revolution. But it would be more unfortunate to overlook the implications and long-term benefits of his fastidious description of open-source software development considering the growing dependence businesses and economies have on emerging computer technologies.<p> <I>The Cathedral and the Bazaar</I> takes its title from an essay Raymond read at the 1997 Linux Kongress. The essay documents Raymond's acquisition, re-creation, and numerous revisions of an e-mail utility known as <I>fetchmail</I>. Raymond engagingly narrates the fetchmail development process while elaborating on the ongoing bazaar development method he uses with the help of volunteer programmers. The essay smartly spares the reader from the technical morass that could easily detract from the text's goal of demonstrating the efficacy of the open-source, or bazaar, method in creating robust, usable software.<p> Once Raymond has established the components and players necessary for an optimally running open-source model, he sets out to counter the conventional wisdom of private, closed-source software development. Like superbly written code, the author's arguments systematically anticipate their rebuttals. For programmers who "worry that the transition to open source will abolish or devalue their jobs," Raymond adeptly and factually counters that "most developer's salaries don't depend on software sale value." Raymond's uncanny ability to convince is as unrestrained as his capacity for extrapolating upon the promise of open-source development.<p> In addition to outlining the open-source methodology and its benefits, Raymond also sets out to salvage the <I>hacker</I> moniker from the nefarious connotations typically associated with it in his essay, "A Brief History of Hackerdom" (not surprisingly, he is also the compiler of <I>The New Hacker's Dictionary</I>). Recasting hackerdom in a more positive light may be a heroic undertaking in itself, but considering the Herculean efforts and perfectionist motivations of Raymond and his fellow open-source developers, that light will shine brightly. <I>--Ryan Kuykendall</I> 100993 1999 Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary total:205|5:46|4:91|3:54|2:12|1:2| 205 782 364 24 4 0 false false Sun Sep 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 00:24:36 -0700 2009 Mon Sep 28 00:38:10 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2003 Wed Oct 03 16:08:46 -0700 2007 Fri Oct 05 14:46:46 -0700 2007 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Feb 06 14:44:47 -0800 2007 Fri Feb 09 11:11:17 -0800 2007
The Cathedral and the Bazaar is a well known essay in the software dev. community, that O'Reily packaged into a book. The paper details the development of one of the earliest open source software projects and how the scope and functionality of the pr...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Mon May 25 12:51:07 -0700 2009 Mon May 25 12:56:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Mar 07 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sun Feb 15 09:06:42 -0800 2009 Sat Mar 07 01:59:02 -0800 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri May 02 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun May 04 05:29:25 -0700 2008 Sun May 04 05:46:44 -0700 2008 Decoding Liberation mentioned this book quite a lot so I was curious to read it. I wasn't disappointed as it's a more hands-on look at the open source software movement from a participant. Raymond talks a lot about the sociological, psychological, and economic aspects of the movement, that while is ...more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Oct 10 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun May 11 10:27:49 -0700 2008 Sun May 11 10:36:07 -0700 2008 more...]]> 3 0 false false Thu Mar 12 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 08:42:19 -0700 2009 Fri Mar 27 19:43:02 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jan 05 21:25:11 -0800 2009 Mon Jan 05 21:26:30 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sat Jul 25 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 02:23:47 -0700 2009 Sat Jul 25 02:25:35 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Sat Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 15 06:38:31 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 17 00:32:15 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Mar 26 20:14:57 -0700 2009 Tue Apr 21 14:44:31 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Mon Dec 03 18:01:54 -0800 2007 Sat Mar 01 10:27:45 -0800 2008
There is a lot here on the sociology of open source software development, and on ideas that are not strictly connected to the details of coding. So one could conceivably en...more...]]> 4 0 false false Thu Oct 09 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sat Apr 26 11:08:17 -0700 2008 Thu Oct 09 19:30:31 -0700 2008 1 4 0 true false Wed Jan 21 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Sat Oct 25 14:19:03 -0700 2008 Thu Jan 22 17:38:42 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Mon Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Jun 13 11:33:45 -0700 2008 Fri Dec 05 04:40:04 -0800 2008 1
The rest of the book descends into management navel gazing, which is a shame.]]> 5 0 false false Tue Apr 29 09:59:30 -0700 2008 Tue Apr 29 10:02:52 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Thu Feb 15 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jul 16 15:38:20 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 16 15:39:15 -0700 2008 4 0 false false Sun Sep 02 04:30:54 -0700 2007 Sun Sep 02 04:32:21 -0700 2007 4 0 false false Fri Sep 10 00:00:00 -0700 1999 Thu May 29 22:16:39 -0700 2008 Thu May 29 22:18:10 -0700 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=134825