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Title: Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution by Glyn Moody ISBN: 0738206709 Publisher: Perseus Publishing Pub. Date: 15 July, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.24
Rating: 4
Summary: A fine background into today's Open Source
Comment: Glyn Moody's book is an admirably complete history of Linux and the open source movement. It also manages to keep the pace going well, despite having to deal with a comparitively dry subject matter. The trouble is, because the movement is so disparate, the book has to jump from point to point and person to person rapidly. By trying to cover the people, the products and the philosophy behind open source, Rebel Code stretches itself a bit too thinly. It is thorough though, with historically correct-to-the-second Linux launches and loads of annotated email from the important parties.
However, it doesn't explain itself thoroughly enough for a mainstream book. Someone with even a sketchy knowledge of computing will have no problems with the terminology, but those who don't even know that Windows is an operating system (or for that matter what an operating system is) may be left out in the cold. Then again, those who don't know what a web server is probably will not be drawn to the book (and are highly unlikely to read this critique on-line). There is also an underlying implication that Linux is only server-sided. This could inadvertently undermine today's open source movement - the next move for Linux must be to break into the small office/home desktop as successfully as it has into the web server world, as soon as more people discover there is 'no-cost' life beyond the Windows desktop.
Finally, despite praising the Open Source movement, Rebel Code doesn't fall into the trap of simply becoming a 'Microsoft is evil' rant. Instead it remains balanced which means anyone interested in the state of the computer world (now and for the next few years, at least) could find something of interest here.
Rating: 5
Summary: A lot more than Linux, A history of free software
Comment: From the cover and the initial descriptions I've read about this book, I thought it was going to be centered around Linux. In reality, it covers most of the major open source projects. This book describes the beginnings of free software and many of the most innovative projects including: Linux, Perl, Xfree86, Apache, Emacs, Hurd, and many others.
"Rebel Code" is well researched and goes in to just enough detail. Mr. Moody is careful not inundate the reader with too many details. Besides giving a history of Linux and open source, the book examines the motivating force behind the hacker ethic and the fruits of free software.
Rating: 4
Summary: Pobody's Nerfect
Comment: For those of you who have short attention spans, this book contains easily the most complete, detailed, researched, and clearly expounded history of Linux, the Free Software Foundation, the open source movement, the hacker ethic, and most everything else that has been going on with computer geeks since the 1950s. If you're at all interested by what's happening in the "free as in speech" technology sector, this book is a dramatic must-read. Go and pick it up now.
If you're still with me, however, this book is absolutely plagued by the disease known as "technical writing". It's long been known that those who deal with computers and electronics on a day-to-day (hour-to-hour?) basis are not often the most linguistically inclined individuals. This "urban legend" is manifested predominantly in the work, taking its form through constant usage errors, many spelling errors, excruciatingly awkward prose (at times), and, although this is more of a non-issue considering the subject matter, just a little too much bias in one direction.
Just to show that I'm not making this up, Glyn Moody frequently refers to "X Window", rather than "X Windows" (even though that's technically incorrect), "XFree86", "X11", or the "X Windowing System". Other similar, subtle annoyances occur throughout the book, but make no mistake: they don't obscure Moody's points indecipherably, they just annoy. One of the sentences that forced me to question Moody's bias was from Chapter 11: "If the history of Microsoft shows anything, it is a dogged determination to improve its often inadequate first attempts at writing software, and Internet Explorer is no exception." This sentence, inserted just after describing Microsoft's assertions to the U.S. Depratment of Justice as "shameless", leaves the reader no choice but to second-guess Moody's intentions.
Is the book complete? Yes (at least, you won't find a more complete book around). Is the book perfect? No, and due to the frequency of grammatical and otherwise editorial errors, I have to reduce my would-be 5-star rating to 4. Do yourself a favor and read this (but if Perseus would release a corrected second edition, that'd be just fine with me :D).
As a side note, I'm a user of Linux and a supporter of the open source model. When you do read this book, you'll be forced to form an opinion of your own on software patents and the whole lot. I encourage you not to take the RMS standpoint of "free [open] is better, always", nor do I encourage you to take the Bill Gates standpoint of "protected code is better, always". Draw a useful parallel between the two opinions.
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Title: Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary by Linus Torvalds, David Diamond ISBN: 0066620724 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 08 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary by Eric S. Raymond ISBN: 0596001088 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 15 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy ISBN: 0141000511 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 02 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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Title: Open Source: The Unauthorized White Papers by Donald K. Rosenberg ISBN: 0764546600 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 15 January, 2000 List Price(USD): $19.99 |
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Title: Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution (O'Reilly Open Source) by Chris Dibona, Mark Stone, Sam Ockman, Open Source (Organization), Brian Behlendorf, Scott Bradner, Jim Hamerly, Kirk McKusick, Tim O'Reilly, Tom Paquin ISBN: 1565925823 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: January, 1999 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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