Mr. Himanen calls Bill Gates' Microsoft the computer hacker's No. 1 enemy. The world has gone through several changes that we know well. The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution give us examples of the unexpected developments that come with new inventions and new ways of thinking. The hackers of the world are writing software that transforms the way we live. And they do this just because they like to play with computers.
Hackers usually publish their work for others to review, use, criticize and improve upon.
In this, they are like the academic world that publishes new ideas for others to see with little or no thought of making money out of it. This openness is a major difference between hackers and the business world. It is also in conflict with the work ethic described by Richard Baxter that was suitable for the Industrial Revolution. Hackers gave us the Internet and the basis for most of the programs running on our computers. Their spirit of wanting to see what can be done and sharing it with others is necessary for our continued progress in the Information Age.