Embracing Insanity: Open Source Software Development

Rating:
Summary: To the point - perhaps too much to the point
Review: For starters - this book is highly recommendable! Well written and a good introduction to OpenSource development.

I you decide to buy this book you might also consider the book "Open Source Development With CVS" by Karl Franz Fogel. In one of it's less technical chapters it accomplishes something this book does not.

I guess the lack of humour is one of the things I miss. I miss the fun! But to get the bare bone facts - this is definitively the bok for introduction to OpenSource-development.

Rating:
Summary: Where is the source for the book so I can correct the errors
Review: On the contrary to a review above I find the book amusing and full of humor, even though not intended by the author.

It is as good as any religion. The arguments are equally deep.

Only one question remains: where are the source for the book so I can correct the errors in it?

So go out and cooperate with your competitors and jointly develop one single product. Then the users wont have to chose which product to use because there will be only one available.

Rating:
Summary: Need to understand the Open Source & Linux Community?
Review: Russ' understanding of the do's and don'ts when trying to do business in the Open Source arena and his ability to explain them are excellent. This book touches on the reasons why Linux and Open Source are not fads, but rather true Paradigm shifts and explains away the FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt).

Anyone considering doing business within the Open Source community or relating to it should read this book.

I thought so much of "Embracing Insanity" that I obtained a copy for our CEO, and suggested that it be assigned reading for all our executives, as well as recommend it for new hires.

I've been waiting for this book to come along.

Rating:
Summary: Good presentation. Lacks depth.
Review: This book explains what the geek culture is, what are open-source software (o-s) and free software (free-sw) and their communities' values.
The book is divided in three parts. The first one 'talks' about the origins of o-s and why is it better than proprietary software. The second explains what the geek culture is and what is the o-s/free-sw community and how it works. It presents some mistakes that people make regarding o-s/free-sw. The third part of the book explains how we can participate in this community, how to make business and what are the main players (persons, institutions, companies). At the end the author presents a resume of the principal o-s/free-sw licenses.
This book is an easy reading, interesting and well written. The problem is that the subjects aren't presented with sufficient depth, especially when related to how to make business with this software.

Rating:
Summary: Good presentation. Lacks depth.
Review: This book explains what the geek culture is, what are open-source software (o-s) and free software (free-sw) and their communities' values.
The book is divided in three parts. The first one `talks' about the origins of o-s and why is it better than proprietary software. The second explains what the geek culture is and what is the o-s/free-sw community and how it works. It presents some mistakes that people make regarding o-s/free-sw. The third part of the book explains how we can participate in this community, how to make business and what are the main players (persons, institutions, companies). At the end the author presents a resume of the principal o-s/free-sw licenses.
This book is an easy reading, interesting and well written. The problem is that the subjects aren't presented with sufficient depth, especially when related to how to make business with this software.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Open Source Primer
Review: This book is an excellent primer on the history of the Open Source movement, it's social, political, and economic consequences, and what makes it's practitioners tick.

Buy this book for your mom, your freinds, or your boss, so that they finally understand what it is that you do late at night, and how you can 'give your work away'.

This book, while small, is fairly complete, and doesn't commit the cardinal sin of using jargon or technical terms that aren't defined.

Rating:
Summary: 200 different ways to say "Open source is cool"
Review: This book lacks depth badly. It might look nice from the cover and is actually interesting in the first 40 pages, but once you get the idea why open source is good - better code is produced, better philosophy etc - it gets very boring to read this idea again and again for 200 pages.

It feels like the author didn't have much to say after chapter 3 and tried to write some stuff such as comparing hackers to superheroes ("both have 'exceptional powers', but are not understood by society") or explaining the "importance of beer for the community" (no kidding!), just to fill the number of pages agreed with the editor. So for the second half of the book he spends pages and pages listing "useful sites" like freshmeat and sourceforge, some "important people" such as Linus Torvalds and Alan Cox, and, well, repeating how Linux is cool and "the community" is ultra-cool.

The author is an open-source evangelist so I expected some bias, but the fact he doesn't enumerate one single flaw on open-source development model is suspect. No methodology/philosophy is perfect.

Another point to ponder is that lots of "advantages" of open-source development he enlists also applies for any good software, no matter how it's produced, and some of the most common questions, such as "how do I get support?" are answered with "you have usenet and IRC for that" which is not exactly what people expect to hear (not to mention it also applies for traditional "closed" software)

Open source adepts won't have anything new to read on this book and people who don't believe on it won't be convinced after such a biased and superficial read. Those could actually misuse this book _against_ open source.

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