Review
We can blindly continue to develop, reward, protect, and organize around knowledge assets on the comfortable assumption that their traditional property rights remain inviolate. Or we can listen to Steven Weber and begin to make our peace with the uncomfortable fact that the very foundations of our familiar “knowledge as property” world have irrevocably shifted. –Alan Kantrow, Chief Knowledge Officer, Monitor Group (20040508)Ever since the invention of agriculture, human beings have had only three social-engineering tools for organizing any large-scale division of labor: markets (and the carrots of material benefits they offer), hierarchies (and the sticks of punishment they impose), and charisma (and the promises of rapture they offer). Now there is the possibility of a fourth mode of effective social organization–one that we perhaps see in embryo in the creation and maintenance of open-source software. My Berkeley colleague Steven Weber’s book is a brilliant expl (more…)
#1 by Anonymous on June 30th, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars
The full history under Social Science view
I loved this book. It covers the history of Open Source and explain WHY people do open source and HOW they make it happen!
#2 by Bimo on June 30th, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars
Misleading title; great book
The Success of Open Source in a not a just wistful paean to Linux as the title would suggest. Rather, it is two books in one.
#3 by Page on June 30th, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars
designing exchange conversations in a new historical style
Steven’s book brings a rich articulation of the social practices innovations unleashed by the Open Source collective: a new understanding of private property that better fit the…
#4 by Odakota on July 1st, 2009
4.0 out of 5 stars
all the major players in open source
For the serious reader (and who indeed thinks open source is hilarious?), Weber provides a detailed history of how this idea developed.
#5 by Ryan on July 1st, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Real Page Turner
I’m a commercial software developer, and found the author’s history of the UNIX culture and the story of its evolution into what we now call Open Source to be fascinating.
#6 by Odele on July 1st, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars
A must read book to understand implications of Open Source
I bought this book out of curiosity, but it turned out to be an eye opener. The author analyses the topic from social science perspective and did a great job of doing that.
#7 by Anonymous on July 1st, 2009
5.0 out of 5 stars
Incredibly insightful overview of the meaning of Open Source
I sat down intending to write Steven Weber a fan letter. (I decided to say it to you all instead.) I loved this book.