Print Book $24.95
Print+Electronic
$32.44
Print Book £17.50
Edited by
Chris DiBona,
Sam Ockman,
Mark Stone
First Edition
January 1999
Pages: 280
ISBN 10: 1-56592-582-3 |
ISBN 13: 9781565925823
(Average of 4 Customer Reviews)
In Open Sources, leaders of Open Source come together in print for the first time to discuss the new vision of the software industry they have created, through essays that explain how the movement works, why it succeeds, and where it is going. A powerful vision from the movement's spiritual leaders, this book reveals the mysteries of how open development builds better software and how businesses can leverage freely available software for a competitive business advantage.
Full Description
- 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)
Register your book | Submit Errata | The Book Online
Browse within this book Book details
First Edition: January 1999
ISBN: 1-56592-582-3
Pages: 280
Average Customer Reviews: (Based on 4 Reviews)
Featured customer reviews
Open Sources Review, January 11 2004
An excellent read, one of the few tech books I found hard to put down. Even though I had to work the next morning I read through the first 6 chapters in one night staying up way too late.
The book is very insightful with a good overview of several areas.
What could have been better? In retrospect things could always be better in most books, there are things I would have personally like to have seen added or expanded. But for the general reader who wants a good read this flows well and is quite educational. It gets one in the mood for something geeky (whereas my wife might light candles and put on music for a romantic evening, I fire up some monitors and a good online read. This one sets the mood to make you want to learn more).
Open Sources Review, April 13 2003
"contributors from a wide range of backgrounds addressing different aspects of free software... some great material ... but it doesn't work that well as a book"
- read my full review
Open Sources Review, February 25 2003
Excellent!
An amazing book including
a wide range of points of view on Open Source.
If you are interested in open source at all,
buy this book and read it.
(detail)
Open Sources Review, September 24 2000
The chapter by Linus is charismatic and humorous. A definite read. RMS and the developers at Cygnus are interesting too. Lots of good stuff.
Open Sources Review, April 07 1999
Submitted by Andrew Pimlott [Respond | View]
"Open Sources" is a comprehensive and topical collection of beautiful
essays. You won't find more relevant information or as many thoughtful
opinions on this movement in one place. It may sound repetitive if you've
been following free software for years, but the reference value compensates.
And Appendix A (the famous "Linux is obsolete" debate) is a worthwhile
companion for any Linux (or Linus) fan.
However, I was disappointed in the care that O'Reilly gave to the production
of such an important handbook. The many typographical errors suggest that
it was edited hastily. Worse, the Introduction by DiBona, Ockman and Stone
is fraught with inaccuracies and appears positively meretricious before the
wonderful and insightful pieces that follow.
Open Sources Review, April 01 1999
Submitted by Robert K. [Respond | View]
Wow, picked it up and read it cover to cover.
Exclent , a must read and a keeper too....
Will there be a sequel? When will it be out? :)
Anchorage, Alaska
Open Sources Review, March 25 1999
Submitted by seven-three-six-six-2-dot-2-six-five-one [Respond | View]
I found this book significantly less valuable than the other reviews would lead one to believe. My opinion is on amazon.com.
Open Sources Review, February 01 1999
Submitted by Senior Programmer @ IBM [Respond | View]
It is encouraging to see the three big names in the Free Software community collaborating with some of the other contributors like Eric Raymond and Bruce Perens on a book who's time has come. And the color commentary from Richard Stallman is amusing though relevant somehow. The fact that Sam Ockman's name is on this should, by itself, act as a sign that says "BUY ME" and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the pressure to buy was well deserved. This book is a keeper.
Open Sources Review, March 06 1998
Submitted by Danny Faught [Respond | View]
My review, which was written for the Dallas/Fort Worth Unix Users Group newsletter, is available at http://www.rstcorp.com/~faught/DFWUUG/open_sources.html.
I didn't realize when I wrote the review that the book itself is Open Source and available online. How appropriate!
Media reviews
"Excellent. An amazing book including a wide range of points of view on Open Source. If you are interested in open source at all, buy this book and read it."
--George Woolley, oakland.pm, Feb 2003
"A powerful vision from the movement's spiritual leaders, this book reveals the mysteries of how open development builds better software and how businesses can leverage freely available software for a competitive business advantage...All of the essays in this book are very informative and give an amazing insight into the minds of these leaders of the Open Source movement...If you want to take Open Source to it's next evolutionary phase, you have to read this book so that you can learn how others before you achieved success with Open Source."
--Raven, RavenMatrix Newsletter, Feb 10, 2002
"Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution is a fascinating look at the raging debate that is its namesake. Filled with writings from the central players--from Linux creator Linus Torvalds to Perl creator Larry Wall--the book convinces the reader of the overwhelming merits of freeing up the many iterations of software's source code.. In many ways, this is a hands-on guide, displaying an insider's view of the development process and providing specifics on testing details and altering licensing agreements. However, interspersed with tech talk is a reader-friendly guide for those interested in the future of software development."
--Jennifer Buckendorff, amazon.com
"While you could go through life without ever knowing who any of the contributors to this book are, it gives an insight into the genesis of the Open Source, and is an excellent snapshot of the late 20th century of software. Open Source and The Cathedral and the Bazaar both make for fascinating reading. In fact both these books together would be a fascinating addition to a time capsule. Albeit it would have to be a geek's time capsule, but in hundred years or so, the books could be unearthed, and a critical point in the evolution of software development would be captured forever."
--Steve Coe, Canada Computes, June 18, 2001
"I can readily commend this book to a wide variety of audiences: programmers, analysts, business managers, computer hobbiests, and even philosophers. The subject matter is much larger than programming methods or Linux history alone."
--Rob Slade, Telemanagement, March 2001
"a ground-breaking book. I am drawn to 'OpenSources' by the pervasive, radical power of the concept of free software. Reading the book (in print or on the web) as a non-programmer with a sense of history and an ear aimed into the future, I can pick and choose from among the paragraphs, and feel some degree of participation in the process. If the names Larry Wall, Linus Torvalds, Tim O'Reilly, and their visionary colleagues don't mean anything to you, spend a few minutes or hours learning about the revolution, because it will affect you, positively, sooner rather than later."
--John Nemerovski, Book Bytes, My Mac Magazine, Sept 1999
"For me, 'Open Sources' did a great job of presenting several angles to the open source philosophy and the reasons that it's a practical choice. And it puts a lot of the history of the movement, as told by the pioneers themselves, in one convenient place. I highly recommend the book for any true hacker."
--Danny Faught, Dallas/Fort Worth Unix Users Group Newsletter, October 1999
"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."
--Jan 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, 1999
"If 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
"An excellent and fascinating book...well written and readable account with some genuinely interesting insights."
--Nick Merritt, PC Answers, May 1999
"A valuable and unique snapshot of the OpenSource processes and developments"
--Elizabeth Zinkann, Sys Admin, June 1999
"Looking for a really good book about the Open Source software conept? Then get a copy of the book entitled Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution published by O'Reilly & Associates."
--Real-Time Engineering, Spring 1999
"This unique book represents the spirit of O'Reilly & Associates and the Open Source community...offers a glimpse into a future of software development that is far different from the one many technology companies envision...a fascinating look at some of the people who have made a big difference in the way software is written, distributed, and used. Their stories are interesting, often funny and shed new light on high-tech headlines."
--Suzanne A. Smith, San Diego Union Tribune, June 8, 1999
"If you have any interest in the future of software development, this book is a compelling read.... If your interest in Open Source has been sparked, this book will certainly appeal to you. It provides a lively, engaging, and informative debate on what's currently one of the IT industry's most interesting topic."
--Dave Jewell, PC Pro, July 1999
"Open Sourcesclarifies just what open source really is (and isn't) and shows the stunning diversity of the people in the movement.
Open Sources is an entertaining, enlightening, and thought-provoking book that casts considerable light on the open source phenomenon and the personalities driving it. Everyone in the software business, and probably most people who use software for business or pleasure purposes should read this book, so they can form their own, more educated, opinion of the movement"
--Lou Grinzo and Laryn Fernandes, Dr. Dobbs, Sept. 1999
"Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution is a fascinating look at the raging debate that is its namesake. Filled with writings from the central players-from Linux creator Linus Torvalds to Perl creator Larry Wall--the book convinces the reader of the overwhelming merits of freeing up the many iterations of software's source code.
The open-source movement has become a cause célèbre in light of the widespread adoption of Linux, Perl, and Apache as well as its corporate support from Netscape, IBM, and Oracle--and strongly felt opposition from Microsoft. Open Sources doesn't address why these Microsoft foes are throwing their weight behind the movement. Instead, it focuses on the history and philosophy of open-source software (previously referred to as freeware) as an argument for shaping the future of programming. Open Sources is much larger than just a fight with any one company. Instead, it is a revolutionary call to release software development from the vested interests that label new directions in software development as threatening.
This is not to say that opening the source code is an entirely egalitarian and communistic endeavor. These are programmers and startup owners; they want to be able to continue to program for a living. To that end, Open Sources contains strong business profiles from entrepreneurs such as Apache's--and now, O'Reilly & Associates'--Brian Behlendorf, who discusses how to give away software in order to lure customers in for specialized versions. In many ways, this is a hands-on guide, displaying an insider's view of the development process and providing specifics on testing details and altering licensing agreements. However, interspersed with tech talk is a reader-friendly guide for those interested in the future of software development." --Jennifer Buckendorff
