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Monopoly, Who Me?
The Linux Defence
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Is Windows a monopoly in operating system software? "No!" cried Microsoft,
"There's Linux!".
And as luck would have it, Linux, the Open Source operating system, hits
critical mass and the headlines. Buoyed by the dot-com bubble, analysts
hype Linux as the Windows-killer.
Linux computer maker VA Linux makes Wall Street history as the most
effervescent IPO, but it didn't help the Microsoft case in the end.
Since the bubble burst, VA Linux no longer builds computers, but
Open Source is still on Microsoft's mind. Is its Shared Source
program meant to coopt or to obfuscate? We think it's the former, but
time will tell.
See also:
The Shared Source vs Open Source Debate
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Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution
by Glyn Moody
Perseus Pr, 01/2001
ISBN: 0738203335
A history starting from Richard Stallman's dream to
the widespread adoption of Linux
in 2000, a sympathetic collation of the projects and heroes of the
Free Software/Open Source movement.
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Under the Radar: How Red Hat Changed the Software Business--and Took Microsoft by Surprise
by Robert Young, Wendy Goldman Rohm
The Coriolis Group, 09/1999
ISBN: 1576105067
Self-congratulatory tract published around the time of the Red Hat IPO.
Open Source grows up, gets hype.
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Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
by Linus Torvalds, David Diamond
Harperbusiness, 05/2001
ISBN: 0066620724
Good-humored, conversational account of the Finnish nerd
whose hobby evolved into the best-known example of
software programming as a global team sport.
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The Cathedral and the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary
by Eric S. Raymond
O'Reilly & Associates, 01/2001
ISBN: 0596001088
Stream-of-conscious rant but nevertheless one of the first popular
essays shedding light on Free Software.
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Open Source: The Unathorized White Papers
by Donald K. Rosenberg
Hungry Minds, Inc, 01/2000
ISBN: 0764546600
A thorough and well organized dissertation covering broad areas of
Open Source from history to business and law.
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Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution
by Chris Dibona (editor)
O'Reilly & Associates, 01/1999
ISBN: 1565925823
If your unix system could talk: first hand accounts from key
creators of Open Source software from emacs and Perl to Apache and BSD.
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Free for All: How LINUX and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High-Tech Titans
by Peter Wayner
Harperbusiness, 07/2000
ISBN: 0066620503
First outsider account marred by poor structure and writing.
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Embracing Insanity: Open Source Software Development
by Russell Pavlicek, Robin Miller
Sams, 09/2000
ISBN: 0672319896
An IT manager's guide to the natural history of the Open Source tribe: how to
join the movement and not lose your head; complete with do/don't checklists.
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