Open Source : Technology and Policy

The open source movement is a worldwide attempt to keep the scientific advances created by software development openly available for everyone to understand and improve upon. This book addresses prominent projects in the open source movement, along with its enabling technologies, social characteristics, legal issues, business venues, and public and educational roles.

From the Internet's infrastructure to operating systems like GNU/Linux, the open source movement comprises some of the greatest accomplishments in computing over the past quarter century. Its story embraces technological advances, unprecedented global collaboration, and remarkable tools for facilitating distributed development. The evolution of the Internet enabled an enormous expansion of open development, allowing developers to exchange information and ideas without regard to constraints of space, time, or national boundary. The movement has had widespread impact on education and government, as well as historic cultural and commercial repercussions. Part I discusses key open source applications, platforms, and technologies used in open development. Part II explores social issues ranging from demographics and psychology to legal and economic matters. Part III discusses the Free Software Foundation, open source in the public sector (government and education), and future prospects.