Rebel Code: Linux And The Open Source Revolution
Everyone in computing has heard of Linux--hundreds of millions use it  every day. Every Net user accesses Linux systems dozens of times during any Net  session. Yet, because people associate products with companies, Linux--with its  thousands of largely anonymous volunteer developers and free availability--is a  difficult fit with our world view.Rebel Codeputs Linux into historical and social contexts. Based largely  on interviews with the main players and precise historical data (Linux kernel  releases are dated to the second), it traces "free software" from its early '80s  origin--with Robert Stallman's founding of the GNU Project--and takes it as far  as the end of 2000--with GNU/Linux becoming a worldwide phenomenon that runs  handheld PDAs, PCs and Macs, IBM mainframes, and the world's biggest  supercomputers.Glyn Moody charts every milestone in the development of the Linux kernel, from  Linus Torvalds's first installation of Minix. As importantly, he follows the  progress of major "free software" projects (essential to the success of  GNU/Linux) from Emacs and GCC to Sendmail and XFree 86, and finishes with KDE  and Gnome.The end result is a curiously exciting and compulsively readable tale that  compares with Tracy Kidder's book,The Soul of a New  Machine. It's endlessly fascinating, and you'll be up reading well past  your bedtime.--Steve Patient, Amazon.co.uk