Author: Richard Stallman
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1882114981
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Essay Collection covering the point where software, law and social justice meet.

Author: Sam Williams
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 1449324649
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
Free as in Freedom interweaves biographical snapshots of GNU project founder Richard Stallman with the political, social and economic history of the free software movement. It examines Stallman's unique personality and how that personality has been at turns a driving force and a drawback in terms of the movement's overall success. Free as in Freedom examines one man's 20-year attempt to codify and communicate the ethics of 1970s era "hacking" culture in such a way that later generations might easily share and build upon the knowledge of their computing forebears. The book documents Stallman's personal evolution from teenage misfit to prescient adult hacker to political leader and examines how that evolution has shaped the free software movement. Like Alan Greenspan in the financial sector, Richard Stallman has assumed the role of tribal elder within the hacking community, a community that bills itself as anarchic and averse to central leadership or authority. How did this paradox come about? Free as in Freedom provides an answer. It also looks at how the latest twists and turns in the software marketplace have diminished Stallman's leadership role in some areas while augmenting it in others. Finally, Free as in Freedom examines both Stallman and the free software movement from historical viewpoint. Will future generations see Stallman as a genius or crackpot? The answer to that question depends partly on which side of the free software debate the reader currently stands and partly upon the reader's own outlook for the future. 100 years from now, when terms such as "computer," "operating system" and perhaps even "software" itself seem hopelessly quaint, will Richard Stallman's particular vision of freedom still resonate, or will it have taken its place alongside other utopian concepts on the 'ash-heap of history?'

Author: Christopher M. Kelty
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822342649
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 402

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Book Description
In Two Bits, Christopher M. Kelty investigates the history and cultural significance of Free Software, revealing the people and practices that have transformed not only software but also music, film, science, and education. Free Software is a set of practices devoted to the collaborative creation of software source code that is made openly and freely available through an unconventional use of copyright law. Kelty explains how these specific practices have reoriented the relations of power around the creation, dissemination, and authorization of all kinds of knowledge. He also makes an important contribution to discussions of public spheres and social imaginaries by demonstrating how Free Software is a “recursive public”—a public organized around the ability to build, modify, and maintain the very infrastructure that gives it life in the first place. Drawing on ethnographic research that took him from an Internet healthcare start-up company in Boston to media labs in Berlin to young entrepreneurs in Bangalore, Kelty describes the technologies and the moral vision that bind together hackers, geeks, lawyers, and other Free Software advocates. In each case, he shows how their practices and way of life include not only the sharing of software source code but also ways of conceptualizing openness, writing copyright licenses, coordinating collaboration, and proselytizing. By exploring in detail how these practices came together as the Free Software movement from the 1970s to the 1990s, Kelty also considers how it is possible to understand the new movements emerging from Free Software: projects such as Creative Commons, a nonprofit organization that creates copyright licenses, and Connexions, a project to create an online scholarly textbook commons.

Author: Sam Williams
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780983159216
Category : Computer hackers
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description

Author: Eric S. Raymond
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 059655396X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel.The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. According to Bob Young, "This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them."The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. This revised and expanded paperback edition includes new material on open source developments in 1999 and 2000. Raymond's clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001.

Author: Andrew M. St. Laurent
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
ISBN: 0596005814
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
The book wraps up with a look at the legal effects--both positive and negative--of open source/free software licensing.

Author: George Fitzhugh
Publisher: Richmond, Virginia : [s.n.]
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314

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Book Description
Sociology for the South: Or, The Failure of Free Society by George Fitzhugh, first published in 1854, is a rare manuscript, the original residing in one of the great libraries of the world. This book is a reproduction of that original, which has been scanned and cleaned by state-of-the-art publishing tools for better readability and enhanced appreciation. Restoration Editors' mission is to bring long out of print manuscripts back to life. Some smudges, annotations or unclear text may still exist, due to permanent damage to the original work. We believe the literary significance of the text justifies offering this reproduction, allowing a new generation to appreciate it.

Author: Keith Curtis
Publisher: Keith Curtis
ISBN: 0578011891
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 303

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Book Description
Computers are an advancement whose importance is comparable to the invention of the wheel or movable type. While computers and the Internet have already changed many aspects of our lives, we still live in the dark ages of computing because proprietary software is still the dominant model. One might say that the richest alchemist who ever lived is my former boss, Bill Gates. (Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are close behind.) Human knowledge increasingly exists in digital form, so building new and better models requires the software to be improved. People can only share ideas when they also share the software to display and modify them. It is the expanded use of free software that will allow a greater ability for people to work together and increase the pace of progress. This book will demonstrate that a system where anyone can edit, share, and review the body of work will lead not just to something that works, but eventually to the best that the world can achieve! With better cooperation among our scientists, robot-driven cars is just one of the many inventions that will arrive -- pervasive robotics, artificial intelligence, and much faster progress in biology, all of which rely heavily on software. - Publisher.

Author: William Meisel
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
ISBN: 1466974125
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
Software is driving most technology today, from PCs to mobile phones to thermostats. Software can evolve quickly, and that factor is driving an accelerating pace of change in technology. Software is also becoming more tightly connected to humans through advances in dealing with speech and human language, as well as being always available through mobile devices. As our connection to technology tightens, it drives rapid cultural evolution, in effect changing what it means to be human. Technological change driven by software also impacts our economy in basic ways, as computer technology drives more aspects of production, marketing, services, and sales. Software advances allow technology to do more tasks formerly requiring humans, creating efficienciesproductivity enhancementsthat can grow the economy. On the other hand, the rapid changes are affecting the economy at a pace that is overcoming human abilities to adapt to the job opportunities available and companies ability to adapt to rapid market changes. We are seeing today the impact of that fundamental economic change in persistent unemployment and in stress on some major companies that have historically been solid performers. The Software Society digs into these fundamental trends of softwares impact on our culture and our economy. It explains the trend to use computer intelligence to enhance our human intelligence and discusses its potential and limitations. The book digs into the economic risk caused by automation moving faster than peoples ability to adapt to the change, and suggests solutions to address this danger.

Author: James BOYLE
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 0674028635
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
Shamans, Software and Spleens presents a look at the tricky problems posed by the information society. Boyle's book discusses topics ranging from blackmail and insider trading to artificial intelligence, microeconomics and cultural studies.