When I’m not being a hacker, I’m often a writer. Here are some
of the screeds I’ve uttered over the years.
Open Source and Hacker Anthropology:
The Cathedral and the Bazaar (1997-2001)
Probably the most popular thing I’ve written. It’s in demand in a
lot of different forms, so I’ve given it its own subsite. Includes
Homesteading the Noosphere, The Magic
Cauldron, and A Brief History of Hackerdom.
Goodbye `free software’; hello, `open source` (1998)
My original February 1998 call to the community, issued immediately
after the Netscape breakthrough, to start using the term `open source’.
This is the beginning that OSI and the mainstreaming of Linux built on.
Open Source Summit (1998)
And this is what followed, when the chieftains of the hacker tribes
met and threw their weight behind “open source”.
Keeping an Open Mind (1999)
An essay on Open Source I wrote for the Cyberian Express, a
Barnes & Noble newsletter.
Response to Nikolai Bezroukov (1999)
I dissect a really bad article in First Monday that billed
itself as a “Critique of Pure Raymondism”.
The Case of the Quake Cheats (1999)
After the Quake 1 source was GPLed, John Carmack reported that
the release had enabled some cheats. Does this mean open source is
a security problem? In this essay, I discuss the security lessons
of Quake.
Guest
Editorial: World Domination (2001)
Because some visions are too audacious not to approached with a
sence of humor.
Telling Lies: ESR on Microsoft (2001)
A senior Microsoft executive is telling lies in public. In other
startling news, the sky is blue and water has been seen flowing
downhill.
Culture Hacking (2012)
My talk at AgileCultureCon on culture-hacking and linguistic maps.
A Fan of Freedom (2003)
Some thoughts on Sam Williams’s excellent biography of Richard Stallman.
The Prudential interview (2003)
A transcript of my 15 October 2003 conference call with some
big-time Prudential Securities investors. If you’re looking for an
example of how to do effective advocacy to a business audience, this
interview is representative of how I do it.
Hacking and Refactoring (2003)
An essay examining the convergence between open source and agile
programming.
Open letter to Sun: Let Java Go (2004)
At Sun’s February 2004 meeting, CEO Scott McNealy said “The open-source
model is our friend”. This is the open letter I wrote to urge him to
demonstrate that.
The Luxury of Ignorance: An
Open-Source Horror Story (2004)
The biggest obstacle between open-source software and world
domination is not Microsoft, it’s our own endemic cluelessness about
how to design software that won’t make nontechnical users run
screaming. I ran into a particularly poignant example when I tried to
configure CUPS for remote printing. A glitzy GUI interface fails to
compensate for some astonishing blunders. There are lessons here for
other projects.
The Luxury of Ignorance: Part Deux (2004)
A followup to The Luxury of Ignorance: An Open-Source Horror
Story in which I discuss the community reaction, develop the
concept of the luxury of ignorance further, and call for a sea-change
in attitudes towards UI.
Samizdat: Stinks on Ice (2004)
I offered the Alexis de Toqueville instutute a private critique of
their book on the supposed theft at the heart of the Linux operating
system, in the fond hope that they would correct the errors. They didn’t.
Here it is.
Free Hardware
: a
Trojan Horse? (2004)
In early 2004 Sun Microsystems and Microsoft started talking up a
vision of the future in which hardware would come free
with
software subscriptions. This essay makes clear why this offer is a
dangerous trap.
Terminology Wars: A Web Content Analysis (2004)
Who use the terms “open source” and “free software”? What is their
relative frequency on the Web? Among developers? In media? This
paper has the answers.
Open Minds, Open Sources (2004)
My article on open source development that apppeared in the
June-July 2004 issue of Analog magazine. Focuses on
some ideas from complexity theory and on connections with the
SF tradition.
World Domination 201 (2008)
This paper, written with Rob Landley, explains why 2008 is a deadline
for popular Linux acceptance on the desktop, and examines the strategy
and tactics necessary to achieve that.
Love doesn’t scale: The EconTalk podcast (2009)
In which I discourse on open-source economixs, net neutrality, and
all manner of related things.
Technical Writings:
GPSD
A comprehensive essay on the design of GPSD, which I believe has
significant lessons for other projects.
Building The Perfect Box (1996)
My article on building good Linux hardware cheap, written for
Linux Journal #36. I was a bit surprised at how popular it
proved.
The Essential Perl Books (1998)
Some book reviews from just before I discovered Python.
Why Python? (2000)
Guido van Rossum told me once he thought this article was the single most
effective piece of Python evangelism ever. For some years it was the single
most popular back article on the LJ website.
The Ultimate Linux Box 2001 (2001)
This article is a sequel to my 1996 “Building the Perfect Box”
article. Where that was a guide to building Linux workstations on
the cheap, this examines a slightly different question: What do you
build when money is no object? A severely truncated version edited
down to about 25% of its length, appeared in the November 2001
Linux Journal.
DRAG.NET (2002)
A technical presentation on Windows-to-Linux end-user migration
that is also a cheesy vaudeville routine — performed at the Winter
2002 LinuxWorld with Rob Landley and Catherine Raymond.
Considering SCO’s Evidence: This Smoking Gun Fizzles (2003)
A detailed and in-depth analysis of the so-called evidence of
massive code copying that SCO revealed on 18 July 2003.
The Unix Koans of Master Foo (2003)
While working on The Art of Unix Programming, I became aware
of a fascinating archeological discovery — the recovery of the
lost teachings of an ancient Unix master…
The Art Of Unix Programming (2005)
My most recent book, an extended meditation on how to think
like a Unix guru.
Heirloom Software: the Past as Adventure
How some friends and I restored the final version of Colossal
Cave Adventure. With more general thoughts about restoring
software Old Masters: reasons, goals, best practices.
Science
The Myth of Man The Killer
Most people believe that human beings are uniquily violent animals,
natural-born killers. This belief is not only wrong, it prevents
clear thinking about the actual causes and mechanisms of violence.
In this essay I show that our original sin is not murderousness but
obedience
The Biology of Human Promiscuity
Why does love got to hurt so bad? Or, to put it another way, why
aren’t humans wired to mate faithfully for life, like swans? An
essay in evolutionary psychology.
The Utility of Mathematics
An essay, originally written for the Extropians list, on why
mathematical formal systems are so mysteriously applicable to the
real world.
Science Fiction
Raymond’s Reviews
From 1990 to 1992 I wrote and posted to USENET an SF review column
which became rather popular. I still get questions about it, so
I’ve made the reviews available on the Web here.
SF Words and Prototype Worlds
An essay on how readers understand science fiction.
A Political History of SF
The largest pattern in the history of modern science fiction has
been the four failed revolutions against Campbellian hard SF. In this
essay I examine the roots of these revolutions and the reasons for
their failure.
Opinion and Ideas:
Decentralism Against Terrorism
A few hours after the destruction of the World Trade Center on 11
September 2001, some friends asked me to speak out against the
worst long-term damage it could mean for our country — not the
terrorism itself, but our political reaction to it.
The Anti-Idiotarian Manifesto
My attempt to distill a lot of post-2001 talking and thinking in the
blogosphere into a coherent set of principles and guides to action.
A declaration of war on terrorism and the friends of terrorism.
Collateral Damage:
Reflections on Timothy McVeigh
Timothy McVeigh raises moral questions we seem ill-prepared to
answer. Perhaps that’s why there’s a media rush to turn him into a
demon?
Why I Am An Anarchist
On August 19, 1934, 90% of the German people — educated citizens
of a modern constitutional democracy — voted Adolf Hitler
dictatorial power over their country. In this essay, I explore the
stark and terrible implications of this fact.
On Socially Responsible
Programming
My remarks to Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility on
the occasion of co-receiving the 1999 Norbert Weiner Award.
Shut Up And Show Them The
Code
An essay on Open Source advocacy, with particular focus on why
talking about `freedom’ or other kinds of ideals is
counterproductive in promoting our values.
Ethics from the Barrel of
a Gun
An adventure in ethical philosophy; what bearing weapons teaches
about the good life. If you are politically correct, this will give
you absolute hives. Read it anyway.
Whatever became of “Civil
Rights”?
I wrote this around 1990 after a particularly outrageous series of
newspaper stories. The Philadelphia Inquirer published
an edited version as an Op-Ed piece in “Community Voices” on
Sunday, February 8 1998.
Why Libertarians Should Not Love Bill
Gates
The DOJ lawsuit against Microsoft seems to have thrown a good many
libertarians into confusion. In this essay, I argue that friends of
the free market should condemn both antitrust law and
Microsoft.
Five Myths Of New Media
I wrote this in April 1997 for a newsletter called “Editorial Eye”
targeted for writers and editors.
Why “High Art” is in Deep Trouble
A letter to the editor, with some thoughts on why self-conscious
art has been such an esthetic disaster area in this century.
Interviews
The Slashdot interview: October 1999
They asked questions. I answered them.
The OnLamp Interview: June 2005
Wherein I explain why we don’t need the GPL anymore.
Open-Source Guru: Time for ‘Compromises’: August 2006
Where I lay out the case that the open-source community needs to
compromise on proprietary codecs.
A Look Back at 10 Years of OSI: February 2008
Federico Biancuzzi interviews several early members of OSI. I am
among them.
Interview with Eric S. Raymond: January 2008
My ten-years-on retrospective on how far we’ve come since 1998.
The JUG interview
An Ask Me Anything in which I divagate about languages, sanity in software
architecture, my first hardware design, and many other topics.
The Setup interview
They wanted to know what I use to get work done. I told them.
Been There, Done That…
Fear and Loathing in Caracas
…A Bemused Journey into the Heart of the South American Dream.
Five days at the intersection of politics and technology in the
Third World, and what I found there.
The Adventure of the Cutty
Sark
Another travel tale, in which I go to Greenwich on a boat. Many
in-jokes for fans of the Aubrey/Maturin novels.
Blue Skies, No Sushi
…or, I Left My Heart In Shin-Osaka. An account of my first time
in Japan. Chock full of adventure, enlightenment, romance, and even
a few photos. I learned a lot — about exogamy, crazy Zen masters,
and where the set designs for Bladerunner came from…
Icelandic Showerheads Rule!
…A Norse is a Norse, of course, of course. My March 2001 trip to
Reykjavik; a tale of sagas, glaciers, and dangerous Viking food.
In Deepest Kimchi
An account of my adventures in Korea, the Land Of Great Barbeque
And Beautiful Women.
Five Nights in Bangkok
Thailand was gonna be the witness of the ultimate test of cerebral
fitness…
Eric Goes IPSCC
My first tactical-pistol match and what I found there. If you’re
politically correct you’d better skip this — it might put you in
danger of learning something.
War Games II
or, How I Learned To Start Worrying And Hate The Bomb. The full
version, parts 1 and 2, of my long-distance encounter with Cheyenne
Mountain, as posted to comp.risks on 1 April 1992.
Dancing With The Gods
Portrait of the Author as a Young Mystic. What I think I’ve learned
about the things we call `religion’ and `mysticism’, and how I
learned it.
The “Geeks With Guns”
Chronicles
Geeks and guns are a natural match. Open-source software is about
getting freedom; personal firearms are about keeping it. Besides
that, hackers gotta love anything where you get to tinker with
complex hardware that makes loud exploding noises. Here’s what
happened when this stopped being just theory…
Take My Job, Please!
This is what happens after you spend a year as a public person…
Understand My Job, Please!
People jumped to some wild conclusions about “Take My Job,
Please!”. Here’s the sequel I wrote three days later.
Panels
Celebrating 20 Years of Linux
A retrospective on the first 15 years of Linux at LinuxWorld 2006.
Plus a look ahead at the next five years.
Unclassifiable Weirdness:
World Domination R Us
Now, the full truth of my sinister master plan for world domination
can be revealed…
Conventions at Light Speed
…What Hackers Can Learn From SF Fandom. Science-fiction fans have
developed an excellent toolkit of techniques for running effective
conventions and shows on a shoestring budget with all-volunteer
staff. This document lays out some of the techniques for the use of
people running Linux and open-source gatherings.
The Nerligig Papers
My contribution to Steve Miller and Sharon Lee’s Liaden
Universe.
Unix Wars
A Star Wars parody.
la tenguar: a Romantic Orthography for
Lojban
In which the author marries a language almost nobody
has heard of with an orthography almost everyone has forgotten.
