Computer Systems Laboratory Colloquium
4:15PM, Wednesday, January 13, 1999
NEC Auditorium, Gates Computer Science Building B03
The Open Source Revolution
How software engineering might finally grow up
Eric S. Raymond
Open Source Initiative
About the talk:
Recently the software industry has been shaken up by the explosive growth of
`open-source' software projects like the Linux operating system, which
exhibit an unprecedented degree of reliability and performance. The
fundamental innovation behind this new wave is not in technology per se
but in the social process by which the software is developed. Mr. Raymond
will describe this process, how it differs from traditional methods, and
how it challenges many assumptions rooted in scarcity economics and
command/control institutions.
About the speaker:
Eric S. Raymond is an observer-participant anthropologist in the
Internet hacker culture. His research has helped explain the
decentralized open-source model of software development that has
proven so effective in the evolution of the Internet. His own
software projects include one of the Internet's most widely-used email
transport programs. Mr. Raymond is also a science fiction fan, a
musician, and a martial artist with a Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do.
His home page is at http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr.
Contact information:
Eric S. Raymond
6 Karen Drive
Malvern PA 19355
(619)-296-5718
esr@thyrsus.com