The Cathedral & the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond

It's an interesting time-document that directly led to the founding of what's now known as Mozilla, but it's also outdated. Then there's the new 'Bazaar', in which rapid development around a core team of developers is favoured, developers who are constantly in contact with users and co-developers - most of open source software development happens like this. This book describes two 'modes' or 'metaphors' for software development - the old 'Cathedral' one, in which a few programmers, locked away from the world, slowly release iterations of their software to the world, a mode employed by the business world. With major vendors creating acceptance for open source within companies, independent vendors will become the open source story in 2001. Raymond's clear and effective writing style accurately describing the benefits of open source software has been key to its success. This revised and expanded hardback edition includes new material on open source developments in 19. According to Bob Young, 'This is Eric Raymond's great contribution to the success of the open source revolution, to the adoption of Linux-based operating systems, and to the success of open source users and the companies that supply them.'The interest in open source software development has grown enormously in the past year. Its conclusions will be studied, debated, and implemented for years to come. Already, billions of dollars have been made and lost based on the ideas in this book.

The Cathedral & the Bazaar is a must for anyone who cares about the future of the computer industry or the dynamics of the information economy. This revolutionary model for collaborative software development is being embraced and studied by many of the biggest players in the high-tech industry, from Sun Microsystems to IBM to Intel. According to the August Forrester Report, 56 percent of IT managers interviewed at Global 2,500 companies are already using some type of open source software in their infrastructure and another 6 percent will install it in the next two years.

Open source provides the competitive advantage in the Internet Age.

The Cathedral & the Bazaar by Eric S. Raymond