Dimensions
153 x 233 x 26mm
How Linus Torvalds, Linux and The Open Source Movement Are Outmastering Microsoft
In 1991, Linus Torvalds, a Finnish student, sent an email to an internet newsgroup, asking for advice on how to make a better operating system. His project, he said, was a hobby and would never be 'big and professional'. Yet in less than ten years he and a loose alliance of hackers have created an operating system - LINUX - that challenges Windows NT for the server software market and is now poised to dominate the next generation of handheld and desktop computers.In this definitive account, Glyn Moody traces the history of open software from its origins in the UNIX community thirty years ago, through its embrace of internet technology, to its present status as Microsoft's only serious rival.This is a book about the human urge to share and exchange, about the limits - and resilience - of the profit motive. Above all it is about what we can achieve together when we suspend, even for a moment, the pursuit of personal advantage.
