Rebel code

I'm about to finish Glyn Moody's book "Rebel Code" that documents in fine detail the origins and the development of the free software or the open source movement (free software and open source are not necessarily the same thing as Richard Stallman has pointed out). This book is very well written as it gives a human dimension to the motivations, frustrations, challenges, triumphs and successes of the people behind open source. Programmers are usually not glamorous, but this book brings alive the world of software in a way that makes it general-interest reading.

I will write more about some of the specifics in the book and what I liked and didn't like about it. Right now let me just state that this book is quite a comprehensive account of the origins of the movement with Richard Stallman's work at MIT and why he felt that it was important for software to be free and the source code to be open. The book documents the creation of the major pieces of open source software like emacs, gcc, GNU/Linux, Apache, Perl, Tex, and GNOME and the role of the internet in the collaboration between people from across the world.

If you're interested in the software industry you can't miss this book. I highly recommend it to others too just to get a feel for the world of software programmers. Maybe you'll get the bug for open source software like I'm getting and switch to open source.