Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: A History of "Open Source
Author: Erik L. Neu Posted: 8/21/2000; 7:41:15 AM Topic: A History of "Open Source" Msg #: 19872 (In response to 19845) Prev/Next: 19871 / 19873
Eric, this was a fabulous piece of work (Parts I and II both).As much as I believe open-source may be justly termed revolutionary, I do not believe it is in any way singular in the challenge it presents to a would-be historian. Recording and interpreting history is ALWAYS difficult, complicated, arguable, incomplete, uncertain, biased. It is always art and never science, and always fascinating when the subject is interesting and the execution is good. Yes, a history IS indeed a story, and when done well(not the pointless memorization exercise many may remember from school), the story is compelling and riveting.
I claim no great expertise, but from the first time I read about RMS, when he got the MacArthur genius grant in the late-80s, I thought "this guy is clearly a first-order ideologue". You captured that well. Ideologues are typically prickly, numbingly single-minded (pretty much by definition), sometimes petty and territorial. All-in-all, they are often not the most pleasant of companions. But--you usually do need one or two to launch a revolution or movement.
UserLand is fortunate to have content of this extraordinary caliber!
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