After the Software Wars

Given the technology that's already available, we should have cars that drive us around, in absolute safety, while we lounge in the back and sip champagne. All we need is a video camera on the roof, plugged into a PC, right? We have all the necessary hardware, and have had it for years, but don't yet have robot-driven cars because we don't have the software. This book explains how we can build better software and all get our own high-tech chauffeur. Free Software Battle......Page 6 Free Software Army......Page 8 iBio......Page 10 Glossary......Page 14 Wikipedia......Page 15 Linux......Page 21 Distributed Development......Page 25 1. Refactored Code (Reliability)......Page 28 2. Uniform Codebase (Reliability, Maintainability, and Usability)......Page 33 3. Frequent Ship Cycles (Maintainability and Usability)......Page 34 4. Lower Development Costs (Maintainability)......Page 35 5. Security (Reliability and Functionality)......Page 36 6. Linux has learned from Windows......Page 38 Linux is Inexorably Winning......Page 39 Charging for an OS......Page 40 Complexity of License Agreements......Page 41 Free Software Only Costs PCs......Page 43 A Free Operating System......Page 44 Linux Distributions......Page 50 The Feature Race......Page 53 Deep Blue has been Deep-Sixed......Page 57 DARPA Grand Challenge......Page 58 Software and the Singularity......Page 63 Google......Page 65 Blogger......Page 69 Search......Page 71 Conclusion......Page 73 Free Software......Page 74 Software as a Science......Page 75 Definition of Free Software......Page 78 Not Expensive......Page 79 Is Copyleft a Requirement for Free Software?......Page 80 Why write free software?......Page 82 1. Laws of Supply and Demand Say So......Page 83 2. Lowers Hardware and Software Costs......Page 84 3. Services & Support......Page 85 4. Educational uses......Page 89 6. Fame......Page 90 7. Man's Surplus Energy......Page 91 8. Increased Demand for Content......Page 92 Video Games and New Media......Page 93 Pride of Ownership......Page 94 Where Does Vision Fit In?......Page 95 Governments and Free Software......Page 96 Should all Software be GPL?......Page 98 1. Windows + Office = $3......Page 99 3. Interop......Page 100 Just a Stab......Page 101 Patents & Copyright......Page 103 Software is math......Page 107 Software is big......Page 109 Copyright provides sufficient protection......Page 110 Conclusion......Page 112 Biotechnology Patents......Page 113 Openness in Health Care......Page 116 Length of Copyright......Page 118 Fair Use......Page 120 Digital Rights Management (DRM)......Page 121 Music versus Drivers......Page 125 The OS Battle......Page 127 IBM......Page 128 Red Hat......Page 130 Novell......Page 132 Debian......Page 133 Debian's Mistakes......Page 136 Ubuntu......Page 138 Should Ubuntu Have Been Created?......Page 141 One Linux Distro?......Page 146 Apple......Page 149 IPod and Digital Music......Page 150 Mac OS X Kernel......Page 152 Software......Page 155 A Free Macintosh OS?......Page 158 Windows Vista......Page 160 Tools......Page 164 Brief History of Programming......Page 166 Lisp and Garbage Collection......Page 170 Reliability......Page 173 Memory Leaks......Page 175 Buffer Overruns......Page 178 Portability......Page 180 Efficiency......Page 183 Maintainability......Page 187 Conclusion......Page 190 The Java Mess......Page 192 Sun locked up the code......Page 194 Sun obsessed over specs......Page 196 Sun fragmented Java......Page 198 Java as GPL from Day 0......Page 200 Pouring Java down the drain......Page 202 Let's Start Today......Page 204 Challenges for Free Software......Page 208 More Free Software......Page 209 Devices......Page 211 The Desktop......Page 213 Reverse Engineering......Page 214 PC Hardware......Page 215 Metrics......Page 216 Fix the F'ing Hardware Bugs!......Page 218 Must PC vendors ship Linux?......Page 219 Approachability......Page 220 Monoculture......Page 222 Linux Dev Tools......Page 225 Backward Compatibility......Page 226 Volunteers Leading Volunteers......Page 227 Cash Donations......Page 228 Standards & Web......Page 230 Digital Audio......Page 231 The Next-Gen DVD Mess......Page 232 MS's Support of Standards......Page 234 OpenDocument Format (ODF)......Page 236 Web......Page 242 Adobe Flash......Page 243 Web Etc.......Page 244 Hardware......Page 246 Phase II of Bill Gates' Career......Page 248 Space, or How Man Got His Groove Back......Page 251 The Space Elevator......Page 256 Carbon Nanotubes......Page 259 Why?......Page 261 How and When......Page 265 21st Century Renaissance......Page 268 Warning Signs From the Future......Page 270 US v. Microsoft......Page 272 Microsoft as a GPL Software Company......Page 274 The Outside World......Page 277 Powering a free society......Page 279 Education of a free society......Page 281 The Legislature......Page 283 Free Markets......Page 285 Free Press......Page 287 Barack Obama......Page 292 Conclusion......Page 296 How to try Linux......Page 297 Acknowledgments......Page 298 None Free Software Army iBio None None None Distributed Development Linux Kernel Superiority The Feature Race Linux is Inexorably Winning Charging for an OS Free Software Only Costs PCs A Free Operating System Linux Distributions None Deep Blue has been Deep-Sixed DARPA Grand Challenge Software and the Singularity Google Conclusion None Software as a Science Definition of Free Software Copyleft and Capitalism Is Copyleft a Requirement for Free Software? Why write free software? Should all Ideas be Free? Pride of Ownership Where Does Vision Fit In? Governments and Free Software Should all Software be GPL? Microsoft's Responses to Free Software Just a Stab None Software is math Software is big Software is a fast-moving industry Copyright provides sufficient protection Conclusion Biotechnology Patents Openness in Health Care The Scope of Copyright Length of Copyright Fair Use Digital Rights Management (DRM) Music versus Drivers None Brief History of Programming Lisp and Garbage Collection Reliability Portability Efficiency Maintainability Functionality and Usability Conclusion None Sun locked up the code Sun obsessed over specs Sun locked up the design Sun fragmented Java Sun sued Microsoft Java as GPL from Day 0 Pouring Java down the drain Mono and Python Let's Start Today None IBM Red Hat Novell Debian Ubuntu Should Ubuntu Have Been Created? One Linux Distro? Apple Windows Vista None More Free Software Cash Donations Devices Reverse Engineering PC Hardware Fix the F'ing Hardware Bugs! Metrics Volunteers Leading Volunteers Must PC vendors ship Linux? The Desktop Approachability Monoculture Linux Dev Tools Backward Compatibility None Digital Images Digital Audio The Next-Gen DVD Mess MS's Support of Standards OpenDocument Format (ODF) Web None Phase II of Bill Gates' Career Space, or How Man Got His Groove Back The Space Elevator 21st Century Renaissance Warning Signs From the Future None US v. Microsoft Microsoft as a GPL Software Company The Outside World None None Acknowledgments Computers are an advancement whose importance is comparable to the invention of the wheel or movable type. While computers and the Internet have already changed many aspects of our lives, we still live in the dark ages of computing because proprietary software is still the dominant model. One might say that the richest alchemist who ever lived is my former boss, Bill Gates. (Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page are close behind.) Human knowledge increasingly exists in digital form, so building new and better models requires the software to be improved. People can only share ideas when they also share the software to display and modify them. It is the expanded use of free software that will allow a greater ability for people to work together and increase the pace of progress. This book will demonstrate that a system where anyone can edit, share, and review the body of work will lead not just to something that works, but eventually to the best that the world can achieve! With better cooperation among our scientists, robot-driven cars is just one of the many inventions that will arrive -- pervasive robotics, artificial intelligence, and much faster progress in biology, all of which rely heavily on software. - Publisher I dropped out of the University of Michigan at age 20 to become a programmer at Microsoft, and worked there for 11 years writing code in many different groups. After leaving, I tried out Linux, saw the potential, and studied the problems. This is what I discovered... Given currently available technology, we should already have cars that drive us around in absolute safety, leaving us to lounge comfortably in the back while sipping champagne. We have all the hardware – the video cameras, motion sensors and high powered computers – and we’ve had this technology for decades. So why don’t cars drive themselves? The answer is that we don’t have the software. The software that will accomplish this vision will not be built by corporations like Microsoft and Apple, who are actually impeding technological progress – it will be built by the global community. Free software is a bit like Wikipedia, which over 2.5 years grew from nothing into the world’s largest encyclopedia. Free software is better for the free market, as free speech is better for the free market.