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Summary: For My Hubby
Review: I bought this book for my husband so he'll have to review it!
Rating:
Summary: Rebel code is a great read
Review: I found Rebel Code to be riveting. I loved his account of the complicated interactions between many of the great code hackers of our time. In truth, reading this book gave me insight into the fragility, and the resiliency of open source.
If you are interested in the elaborate history of open source projects such as emacs, gcc, linux, perl, etc... then this is the book for you.
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Summary: Nice cover - Couldn't care less about Linux...
Review: I like the cover, but nothing could interest me less than Linux or any software that ends with ..ux, ok maybe an IBM anthology of punch-card machines would be less interesting.To me the best thing about Linux is that it comes as a free CD on the cover of magazines providing me with an endless supply of coffee casters.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. Even though I knew some of the history of the Free Software movement before starting to read this book, alot of missing pieces came to me. This book does not only contain information about Gnu/Linux, but also about the people involved, what their motives were for doing it, and how all the strings magically came together. It describes the people, and the idea of Free Software in a non-biased way, which is good once in a while.
Great book to relax with.
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Summary: How it came to be...
Review: I very much enjoyed this book. Mr Moody writes well and entertainingly about the origins of the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Movement. The historic characters in the drama are well drawn and engaging. Time and again I'd remark 'So, that's where he/it came from!' as Moody traced the origin of Apache or Samba or Alan Cox. I was very much reminded of the excellent history of the PC 'Fire in the Valley' that traces the origins of the PC industry to where we find it today. I would recommend Rebel Code to someone interested in GNU/Linux and the inner workings of how it came to be. This is a book for the tech historian, not necessarily the hacker.
If I were to fault the book it would be that is is 3 years old. As such it misses the effect of the tech bust/recession on the Linux movement, and the growing successes it has achieved recently from the third world (e.g. China's Red Flag distribution) to supercomputing. I can only hope Mr. Moody will correct this fault with another edition.
Rating:
Summary: How it came to be...
Review: I very much enjoyed this book. Mr Moody writes well and entertainingly about the origins of the Free Software Foundation and the Open Source Movement. The historic characters in the drama are well drawn and engaging. Time and again I'd remark 'So, that's where he/it came from!' as Moody traced the origin of Apache or Samba or Alan Cox. I was very much reminded of the excellent history of the PC 'Fire in the Valley' that traces the origins of the PC industry to where we find it today. I would recommend Rebel Code to someone interested in GNU/Linux and the inner workings of how it came to be. This is a book for the tech historian, not necessarily the hacker.
If I were to fault the book it would be that is is 3 years old. As such it misses the effect of the tech bust/recession on the Linux movement, and the growing successes it has achieved recently from the third world (e.g. China's Red Flag distribution) to supercomputing. I can only hope Mr. Moody will correct this fault with another edition.
Rating: 
Summary: Gift for my father
Review: If you enjoyed _Hackers_, by Steven Levy, or if you are interested in computing, this book is a must read. Moody tracks the history of the Open Source movement from its inception in the AI lab at MIT up to the present, and along the way shows the people and events that have propelled the movement forward to its present pace. I was left with a profound and indubitable realization that open source is the future of software, and that realization is exhilerating. The book is impeccably researched and organized, but occasionally I was left stumbling over some awkward phrasing. Some of the prose, especially some of the idioms, could benefit from a redaction. Nevertheless, if you read only one book this year, this book must be the one. It's a powerful message, with an absorbing delivery.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling and Profound
Review: If you enjoyed _Hackers_, by Steven Levy, or if you are interested in computing, this book is a must read. Moody tracks the history of the Open Source movement from its inception in the AI lab at MIT up to the present, and along the way shows the people and events that have propelled the movement forward to its present pace. I was left with a profound and indubitable realization that open source is the future of software, and that realization is exhilerating. The book is impeccably researched and organized, but occasionally I was left stumbling over some awkward phrasing. Some of the prose, especially some of the idioms, could benefit from a redaction. Nevertheless, if you read only one book this year, this book must be the one. It's a powerful message, with an absorbing delivery.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating account of FSF/GNU & OSS movement(s).
Review: Moody has done an excellent job of bringing to 'life' many of the key characters in this mini-revolution. He even stops and introduces aspects of their personal life that affect their work. He talks about many players including Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, Larry Wall, Guido van Rossum, Eric Raymond, Ken Thompson, Andrew Tanenbaum, etc. He touches on the hacker work ethic, the motives, the religious factors (both in a traditional sense and flame-war sense), and some of the great exploits of hacker lore. My only complaint is his presentation of the 'other side'. I think it would've have been interesting if his closing pages were expanded to include more possible road-blocks for the movement. Although I agree that the books focus was supposed to be biased. :-) Overall this book is just plain fun and informative. -Ali
Rating:
Summary: Gift for my father
Review: My father asked specifically for this title. He reports that it's very interesting.
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