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Here's the HTML. You can also download the original SGML. You can also download PostScript of the full paper or even flat ASCII. You can also get a a Pilot Doc version.
A French translation, a Japanese translation and a Chinese translations are available.
This paper is not `finished', and may never be. Publishing a theory should not be the end of one's conversation with the universe, but the beginning. I welcome feedback, suggestions, and corrections and will incorporate them into the paper. A change log is included at the end of the paper.
This is the second of three papers I have written on the ecology of open-source software. The first was `The Cathedral and the Bazaar'. The third one is The Magic Cauldron. All these papers are now available hardbound as a book, titled "The Cathedral and the Bazaar", from O'Reilly Associates.
If you like these papers, you will probably also enjoy my How To Become A Hacker FAQ (also in the book).
Russ Allbery has also commented perceptively on the material.
I have written an essay of fame, ego, and oversimplification to counter some misinterpretations of HtN.
12 April 1998: Version 1.3. Typo fixes and responses to first round of public comments. First four items in bibliography. An anonymously contributed observation about reputation incentives operating even when the craftsman is unaware of them. Added instructive contrasts with warez d00dz, material on the `software should speak for itself' premise, and observations on avoiding personality cults. As a result of all these changes, the section on `The Problem of Ego' grew and fissioned.
16 April 1998: Version 1.7. New section on `Global implications' discusses historical tends in the colonization of the noosphere, and examines the `category-killer' phenomenon. Added another research question.
27 April 1998: Version 1.8. Added Goldhaber to the bibliography. This is the version that will go in the Linux Expo priceedings.
26 May 1998: Version 1.9: Incorporated Fare Rideau's noosphere/ergosphere distinction. Incorporated RMS's assertion that he is not anticommercial. New section on acculturation and academia (thanks to Ross J. Reedstrom, Eran Tromer, Allen MacInnes, and others). More about humility, (`egoless behavior') from Jerry Fass and Marsh Ray.
11 July 1998: Version 1.10: Remove Fare Rideau's reference to `fame' at his suggestion.
21 November 1998: Version 1.14: Minor editorial and stale-link fixes.
8 Aug 1999: Version 1.15: Major revision for the O'Reilly book. Incorporated some ideas about the costs of forking and rogue patches from Michael Chastain. Thomas Gagne <[email protected]> noticed the similarity between "seniority wins" and database heuristics. Henry Spencer's political analogy. Ryan Waldron and El Howard <[email protected]> contributed thoughts on the value of novelty. Thomas Bryan <[email protected]> explained the hacker revulsion to ``embrace and extend''. Darcy Horrocks inspired the new section ``How Fine A Gift?'' Other new material on the connection to the Maslovian hierarcy of values, and the taboo against attacks on competence.
If you enjoy this paper, and you need high-quality Linux hardware, see the good folks at VA Linux Systems, and tell them Eric sent you. I finished the first public release of `Homesteading' while on the road, working out of their offices in Mountainview CA. They gave me hardware and in December 1998 made me a director of the company. VA is very active in supporting open-source development and the Linux community.
| Back to Eric's Home Page | Up to Site Map | $Date: 1999/10/26 15:22:52 $ |