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Rebel Code: Linux And The Open Source Revolution Paperback – July 15, 2002

by Glyn Moody (Author)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 101 ratings
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"Open source" began as the mantra of a small group of idealistic hackers and has blossomed into the all-important slogan for progressive business and computing. This fast-moving narrative starts at ground zero, with the dramatic incubation of open-source software by Linux and its enigmatic creator, Linus Torvalds. With firsthand accounts, it describes how a motley group of programmers managed to shake up the computing universe and cause a radical shift in thinking for the post-Microsoft era. A powerful and engaging tale of innovation versus big business, Rebel Code chronicles the race to create and perfect open-source software, and provides the ideal perch from which to explore the changes that cyberculture has engendered in our society. Based on over fifty interviews with open-source protagonists such as Torvalds and open source guru Richard Stallman, Rebel Code captures the voice and the drama behind one of the most significant business trends in recent memory.
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  1. Print length
    344 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    July 15, 2002
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.82 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    0738206709
  6. ISBN-13
    978-0738206707
  7. Lexile measure
    1250L
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Glyn Moody is a London-based writer who has been covering Linux almost since its inception. He has published major features on it in Wired, New Scientist, and Salon, and has written for the Economist and the Financial Times.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; First Edition (July 15, 2002)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 344 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0738206709
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0738206707
  • Lexile measure ‏ : ‎ 1250L
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.82 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 101 ratings

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  1. Hirosi Koyama

    Hirosi Koyama

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  2. Glyn Moody

    Glyn Moody

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    Glyn Moody studied mathematics at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was Senior Wrangler in 1977. Cambridge University awarded him a PhD in Quantum Mechanics in 1981.

    After university, he entered journalism, and was one of the first to explore the emerging field of microcomputers. In 1994, he started writing the weekly Getting Wired column about the business use of the Internet, which ran in the UK magazine Computer Weekly for nine years. During this time, his work appeared in a variety of other titles, including The Economist, Financial Times, The Guardian, and The Telegraph.

    In 1997, Wired magazine published his in-depth feature about Linux and Linus Torvalds, the first mainstream article to describe the then-new world of free software. Moody's full-length book on the topic, "Rebel Code: Linux and the Open Source Revolution", appeared in 2001. His book "Digital Code of Life: How Bioinformatics is Revolutionizing Science, Medicine, and Business", about the new field of bioinformatics, was published in 2004.

    In addition, Moody has written nearly 2,000 posts for Techdirt, and over 400 articles for Ars Technica. More recently, his writing has focussed on digital rights and privacy. Numerous posts about copyright, another area of particular interest, have appeared on the Copybuzz and Walled Culture blogs.

    Glyn Moody has given keynotes and speeches at conferences around the world, and appeared many times as a commentator on television. He lives in London.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
101 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Gary E. Albers
5.0 out of 5 stars A refresh review
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2011
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The most recent previous review is now about three years old, so an update may not be out of place. This book is a decade old, published shortly after the turn of the millennium and, more importantly, a couple of years after Gnu/Linux and the open source movement finally hit the big-time; i.e., acceptance by, and endorsements from, some of the major players in the computer arena, like IBM, Sun, Dell, Intel, etc.

The author boasts that, at the time of writing, the Apache (open source) server software was used on about 25% of servers on the internet; today that figure has tripled to an astounding (approx.) 75% share! The Gnu/Linux operating system, largely fueled by the Ubuntu distribution and the Gnome and KDE desktops (GUIs), is used by a respectable share of the desktop computer community world-wide, and is growing at a healthy rate.

While the author's predictions for the future of Gnu/Linux and open source software was decidedly optimistic, it was still somewhat tentative. However, subsequent growth during the last decade has been phenomenal. Not only does it appear that open source software is here to stay; it may even eventually come to dominate over traditional costly, proprietary software. There is now no shortage of experienced computer users, myself included, who are willing to make the case that the Gnu/Linux operating system, the Apache server, and the Firefox browser are much superior to the offerings of their closed source, for-profit competitors (e.g., Microsoft and Apple).

This book is still an excellent place to start for anyone interested in both the history of, and philosophy behind, open source software. Here's where to learn about the formative years and the leading figures behind the movement, larger than life characters like Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds, Eric Raymond, Larry Walls, etc. It's also a good place to learn just why it is that the open source method of creating software has been able to produce such superb products. Highly recommended.
8 people found this helpful
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Maxim Masiutin
4.0 out of 5 stars The history of the development of Linux in detail
Reviewed in the United States on July 16, 2005
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The book is mainly based on the information collected by the author from various people via e-mail, telephone or personal communication between September 1999 and September 2000, and the interview with Linus Torvalds at a critical juncture in his life, in December 1996, as well as other interviews with key players from the last three years.

The book begins with a story of Richard Stallman, who labored for years to create a Unix-like system, written from scratch that would be free. Hw worked alone at first; then he gradually received contributions from to others, including - thought neither of them knew it in 1991 - Linus, whose Linux program would provide the last major pieces still missing from Stallman's huge software jigsaw puzzle.

The book covers the GNU project from its formal beginning, when in January 1984 Stallman started working on Bison, which was a replacement for Yacc. Having limbered up with this relatively minor task, he moved on to one of the most important. One of the key elements of a Unix system is the C compiler. After an unsuccessful attempt, he returned to Emacs and released GNU Emacs in September 1984. In October 1985 he has founded Free Software Foundation and then proceeded with C compiler and the C library.

The book then describes the biography of Linus, his years at the university and his work on his operating system, his experience with Minix, quite popular at that time in academic area, and fight with Tanenbaum, the author of Minix. The book then brings out the history of the development of Linux in detail.

Besides Linux, this book covers Open Source movement in Netscape, the development of TEX, Perl, Cygnus, etc., and how big companies like IBM adopt Open Source software and contribute to its development.

I would also recommend "The Cathedral & the Bazaar" by Eric S. Raymond in addition to this book.
7 people found this helpful
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Gregory Simkins
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Insights
Reviewed in the United States on August 12, 2007
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I ordered this book from Amazon because I had just ordered Linus Torvald's book Just for Fun and this book was also recommended. I am glad I did. Torvald's book was really fun to read and it really created an interest in the Open Source software phenomenon that I have heard about, but had mixed feelings about it for a few years. Rebel Code added to Torvald's account, a rather complete history to the whole phenomenon. The book covered elements that I have heard in the news, but wouldn't have come to mind, like the entry of IBM, the role of Novell, Sun, etc. As each important piece of software was discussed, some seemingly small like GIMP, DNS and Sendmail, the author paused to give a short bio of the author and how they each stumbled into this FOSS world, some quite accidently. There were so many fascinating stories, I am going to hold onto this book.
2 people found this helpful
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mattallmill
5.0 out of 5 stars A good overview
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 2013
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Linux is awesome not only because its model, Unix, is so pervasive in our world, but also for the way in which Linux arose. Owning this book will help one to get a grip on just what a revolution Linux is. I am convinced that the world at large does not grasp the significance of Linux, and how collaboration on a global scale can be used not only for the development of software, but anything else that it is applied to.
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nemos
4.0 out of 5 stars Read it if you would like to learn everything about open source
Reviewed in the United States on April 27, 2013
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I like the book very much ,but too many biographies details and at the end of the book it is not as it started but it is a excellent book if you would like to learn about the open source especially the first chapters.
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Epicurean_buyer
3.0 out of 5 stars Lost interest after the first few chapters
Reviewed in the United States on July 4, 2021
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I had read some of the reviews before buying this book whereby some people said they lost interest after halfway through. Well, I agree with those posters. I also lost interest after about half way through. It's still sitting on my bookshelf unread. I'll read the whole book eventually, I guess. The early chapters about Linus and Linux were really good.
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Wadud Miah
5.0 out of 5 stars A highly informative and entertaining read on the history of computing
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 19, 2021
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Although the book is mainly focused on the history of the open source movement, it covers the history of the computing industry. It describes how open source software has released consumers from vendor lock in and has encouraged innovation and wider options of consumers. It also discusses the many colourful characters who drove the open source movement and how their contributions have lead us to where we are today. Highly recommend this book - shame there are very few excellent books on the history of computing.
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Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Imprescindible
Reviewed in Mexico on September 1, 2017
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Mediante una prosa amena y fácil de seguir Moody nos muestra la evolución del software libre hasta el año 2000: RMS, Linus Torvalds, aparecen en estas páginas, empresas como RedHat, o TurboLinux, distribuciones como Mandrake, o Fedora, todo ello es narrado de forma natural, llevando al lector de la mano por el nacimiento y apogeo del software libre: con cierto hincapié en su éxito comercial, pero sin dejar de lado la filosofía que lo nutre, quizás para los mas estrictos haga falta una puntualización mas profunda entre las diferencias entre open source y software libre, o incluso de eche en falta un mayor protagonismo de RMS, sin embargo, aun así es una lectura indispensable.
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Viktor B.
5.0 out of 5 stars Interesting story of the history of Open Source
Reviewed in Germany on September 11, 2018
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Everybody interested in Software or Coding already heard of hacker heros such as Stallman, Linus or Larry Wall. This book tells the big achievements of those hackers and makes you want to support the free/open source software community.
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Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Guay, un trozo de historia de GNU/Linux
Reviewed in Spain on May 21, 2017
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El libro llegó en perfectas condiciones. Está en inglés. Todo sano. Supe de este libro a través del de Modern Operating Systems, 4th Edition de Tanenbaum. Da un repaso a la historia de los proyectos de software libre más conocidos a día de hoy: GNU y Linux. Su contexto, porqués, cómos. Adjunto fotografía del índice.
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Cliente de Amazon
5.0 out of 5 stars Guay, un trozo de historia de GNU/Linux
Reviewed in Spain on May 21, 2017
El libro llegó en perfectas condiciones. Está en inglés. Todo sano. Supe de este libro a través del de Modern Operating Systems, 4th Edition de Tanenbaum. Da un repaso a la historia de los proyectos de software libre más conocidos a día de hoy: GNU y Linux. Su contexto, porqués, cómos. Adjunto fotografía del índice.
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valentina bonetti
5.0 out of 5 stars great
Reviewed in Italy on June 17, 2015
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It gives a deep understanding of many things and stories... highly suggested for everybody who wants to think about free software and the power of collaboration.
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