Softpanorama: (slightly skeptical) Open Source Software Educational Society
May the source be with you,
but remember the KISS principle ;-)
Softpanorama: (slightly skeptical) Open Source Software Educational Society
| News | See also | Counterview | Propaganda | More or less realistic | Old classic |
| Collaborative Development | Microsoft | Unix History | Academic Community | Related reading | Etc |
I wrote a couple of papers about open source where I tries to oppose "open source mythology" or Raymondism as I called it. I think that open source cannot be understood without understanding Microsoft role as an important (negative) mobilizing force behind open source. It's funny that this way Microsoft with its Midas touch produced yet another bunch of millionaires including Linus Torvalds ;-)
I strongly recommend to read NetSlaves and High Stakes, No Prisoners : A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glory in the Internet Wars before reading any open source propaganda books like The Cathedral and Bazaar. See also my OSS page.
Nikolai Bezroukov
If you did not read the books listed in our Classic Books
You can use Honor System |
|
by Glyn Moody
 Pobody's Nerfect, March 14, 2003
If you're still with me, however, this book is absolutely plagued by the disease known as "technical writing". It's long been known that those who deal with computers and electronics on a day-to-day (hour-to-hour?) basis are not often the most linguistically inclined individuals. This "urban legend" is manifested predominantly in the work, taking its form through constant usage errors, many spelling errors, excruciatingly awkward prose (at times), and, although this is more of a non-issue considering the subject matter, just a little too much bias in one direction. Just to show that I'm not making this up, Glyn Moody frequently refers to "X Window", rather than "X Windows" (even though that's technically incorrect), "XFree86", "X11", or the "X Windowing System". Other similar, subtle annoyances occur throughout the book, but make no mistake: they don't obscure Moody's points indecipherably, they just annoy. One of the sentences that forced me to question Moody's bias was from Chapter 11: "If the history of Microsoft shows anything, it is a dogged determination to improve its often inadequate first attempts at writing software, and Internet Explorer is no exception." This sentence, inserted just after describing Microsoft's assertions to the U.S. Department of Justice as "shameless", leaves the reader no choice but to second-guess Moody's intentions. |
by Linus Torvalds
Our Price: $20.80Hardcover - 288 pages (May 8, 2001)
Harperbusiness; ISBN: 0066620724Too glossy a picture. Eric Raymond probably exclaimed "Who stole my cheese?" when he saw the title ;-)
A very disappointing book, July 8, 2001
I really wanted to hear Linus' story, in his own words. Unfortunately, this book showed very little organization aside from chronological; there was no underlying *story* there. Just a bunch of disjointed facts presented in chronological order. The personal anecdotes, while interesting, shed very little insight about Linux. I was hoping to get some real insight into Linus the person and how he is reflected in Linux the operating system. To this end, the book failed to deliver.
Reviewer: jlam@iunknown.com from Toronto, Ontario Canada However, I was interested enough in his story to slog through the awful writing in this book. Large sections of text (pages on end) are presented in italics, which make it extremely difficult to read. I don't blame Linus for this abomination of a book: that blame clearly lies with David Diamond since that was *his job*.
For folks who really want to read a good book about Linus the person and Linux the operating system, make sure that you read Rebel Code by Glyn Moody. That is a well-written book and thoroughly researched book that places Linux within the context of the open-source movement.
The Business of Books How the International Conglomerates Took Over Publishing and Changed the Way We Read by Andre Schiffrin
Our Price: $18.40
Hardcover - 208 pages (August 2000)
Verso Books; ISBN: 1859847633 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.79 x 7.81 x 5.64
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 2,163
Popular in: New York, NY (#17)
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Number of Reviews: 5
A Must for Those Who Care about New Ideas and Reading!, September 19, 2000
Reviewer: Donald W. Mitchell (see more about me)a coauthor of The Irresistible Growth Enterprise from Boston
Mr. Schiffrin has used the benefit of 40 years of publishing experience to develop a powerful argument that society is being denied access to important new ideas through books. This is occurring because of changes in ownership (and management philosophies) in the publishing industry, and similar effects in book retailing.Along the way in telling this story, you will read many interesting stories about publishing now-famous authors like Gunnar Myrdal (later winner of the Novel Prize) and Studs Terkel.
The former economic concept of a publisher was to earn an adequate income overall, and to operate as frugally as possible. Editors were paid like academics, and physical plant was modest. Profits above what was absolutely needed could be plowed back into books that presented important ideas, but might not earn their keep, and books that would require time to develop an audience.
Books that challenged the conventional wisdom were often best sellers in this environment. That kind of public opinion shift seldom happens today through books.
Mr. Schiffrin uses his own publishing experiences as a microcosm of these issues. Pantheon, which his father founded, was sold to Random House in 1961, and mr. Schiffrin joined to work in marketing. After Random House was bought by RCA, financial discipline was brought in to require that each book seek to earn a profit from its own activities in the near term. That began a process of trimming and redirecting lists.
Later, Random House was sold again, this time to S.I. Newhouse. Plans were soon afoot to greatly reduce Pantheon, and the staff eventually resigned en masse to protest just as the ax started to fall. Mr. Schiffrin left, also, and began a search for funding to start a new publishing house, The New Press. He was able to launch this independent publisher with the help of several foundation grants and W.W. Norton being willing to distribute the books. Random House, meanwhile, did not grow its profits very much and was sold to Bertelsmann in 1998.
During these intervening years, Newhouse actually lost lots of money seeking to improve profits in book publishing. Enormous losses occurred in unearned advances in seeking blockbusters. Overhead costs soared as salaries, marketing, and expense accounts were expanded enormously.
By seeking ever higher near-term profits, publishers have established a market test for new books that makes it more attractive to publish an offshoot of a new Hollywood movie than a book challenging the political orthodoxy. Books like the former have swelled while the latter have dwindled. Many publishers and imprints now publish in very few categories, with limited types of books in those remaining categories.
The industry has also become very concentrated. Ten publishers accounted for 75 percent of U.S. book sales in 1999. The publishing operations themselves are now small parts of large media conglomerates. Some of these publishing conglomerates seem to use book publishing as a way to curry favor for other parts of their businesses. Rupert Murdoch appeared to have done so in publishing a certain work while not publishing others, in a way that would be most appealing to Chinese politicians while trying to get permission to take Sky Broadcasting into mainland China.
Even university presses are under tighter budgets. This means that about 1 percent of the book publishing resources are available through independent, university, and religious-organization-connected presses to open the doors to unpopular ideas. He argues that this is a challenge to our very concept of a free society. I agree wholeheartedly.
The main countervailing force is the Internet. No one knows how this will play out, but it could change the economics of book publishing to allow independent publishers and self-publishing to flourish. If electronic publishing becomes more mainstream, fewer authors may feel that they need the traditional publishers. Stephen King's now-famous experiment of publishing his novella electronically is described. Time will tell how this will all turn out.
In the meantime, I have a suggestion for all readers. We should each take some sizeable percentage of our reading and dedicate it to reading works in subjects we would normally not consider, authors we do not know already and who are not well-known generally, and from publishers who are not in the top ten. This would encourage a greater diversity of ideas more than anything that publishers can do. I promise to be sure to do this with my reviews from now on to help you follow up on this idea and have successful reading experiences at the same time.
Overcome more stalled thinking through your reading!
Donald Mitchell (donmitch@irresistibleforces.com)
, University of California at Davis (#12) . See more
Important Insights Life in Cyberspace, July 28, 2000
Reviewer: mehrlich (see more about me) from
Rather than add to the volumes that have already been written regarding this important work, I'd note that despite the fact that Lessig thoughtfully covers vexing foundational constitutional issues regarding privacy, sovereignity and property rights etc.. in cyberspace, he does so in a manner that is straighforward, compelling and which inspires further thought and disucssion. In other words it was very readable.
I found myself often putting the book down to discuss a point made by the author with friends and colleagues, I'm thinking that's exactly what Lessig intended.
While I may have my differences on several issues, this book is fundamntal reading for those interested in the impact of our emerging cyber-society. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Conventional wisdom says that the Net is unregulable, and by its very nature is immune from government control. Lessig's book argues that this belief is wrong, and that code, not law, controls what values we protect on the Net. Code creates "architectures of control" and can either create an "intellectual commons," free from restrictive regulation, or a dark place of near perfect control. It's up to us (programmers, lawyers, policymakers, and citizens) to decide which eventuality will transpire.
The driving factor behind a regulable Net? Commerce. Commerce makes possible near-perfect control (regulation) through its requirement of identification and certification. The book is about that change and how we can prevent it.
In "real space" laws regulate through legal code. In cyberspace, for the most part, software code regulates. As the cost of violating our intellectual property and privacy decreases, the effectiveness of laws decreases while code increases. Or as James Boyle said more darkly, "Is freedom inversely related to the efficiency of the available means of surveillance? If so, we have much to fear." Lessig's thesis? On the Net, code is law. Code is a kind of constitution in cyberspace. How we write code determines in large part what values we protect. If cyberspace as we know it is to survive, we need a constraint on government's power to regulate through code.
Open source software provides that constraint by checking arbitrary power (transparent rules, changeable code), and functions as a type of "separation of powers in the American constitutional tradition." The Internet itself is based on open protocols, responsible for its rapid growth and innovation as others can tweak and improve open software. The World Wide Web is a prime example of an open system, with HTML, JavaScript, etc. a "view source" away from improvement.
But in the latter part of the 90's, closed application space code is emerging (Windows 95 bundling, etc.), so the balance between open and closed code is changing. Closed code is regulable (nontransparent), open code is not (transparent). To the extent that code is open, government's power to regulate is diminished. Open source rules.
Lessig acts as a kind of meme cracker, using stories to illustrate his main points about regulability, privacy, IP, and freedom of speech. As lawyers are wont to do, the book raises more questions than answers, but it is thought-provoking. The footnotes alone are worth the price of admission. Highly recommended.
A streaming audio interview with Lawrence Lessig is available.
Book Description
Provides the 'inside scoop' on Open Source issues and concepts. Offers unbiased insights into the whys, hows, dos and don'ts of the Open Source development model and movement.
Open Source refers to software developed by uncoordinated but collaborating programmers, using freely distributed source code and the communications facilities of the Internet. A field guide approach to providing company managers explaining the nuances of the Open Source industry, how to get involved, how to make money, how to contribute back to the community. Examines the benefits as well as the pitfalls of Open Source software development model and use. Open Source licensing explained and dissected.
Our Price: $15.16
Paperback (February 1999)
Hoover Inst Pr; ISBN: 081799582X ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.70 x 9.02 x 6.06
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 18,532
Avg. Customer Review: 
Number of Reviews: 2
Bobos in Paradise The New Upper Class and How They Got There
by David Brooks
Hardcover - 284 pages (May 2000)
Simon & Schuster; ISBN: 0684853779 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.99 x 8.76 x 5.80
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 118
Popular in: New Jersey (#15) Wayne, PA (#3) . See more
Avg. Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 34Bobos in Paradise is a brilliant, breezy, and often hilarious study of the "cultural consequences of the information age." Large and influential (especially in terms of their buying power), the Bobos have reformed society through culture rather than politics, and Brooks clearly outlines this passing of the high-class torch by analyzing nearly all aspects of life: consumption habits, business and lifestyle choices, entertainment, spirituality, politics, and education. Employing a method he calls "comic sociology," Brooks relies on keen observations, wit, and intelligence rather than statistics and hard theory to make his points. And by copping to his own Bobo status, he comes across as revealing rather than spiteful in his dead-on humor. Take his description of a typical grocery store catering to discriminating Bobos: "The visitor to Fresh Fields is confronted with a big sign that says 'Organic Items today: 130.' This is like a barometer of virtue. If you came in on a day when only 60 items were organic, you'd feel cheated. But when the number hits the three figures, you can walk through the aisles with moral confidence."
Like any self-respecting Bobo, Brooks wears his erudition lightly and comfortably (not unlike, say, an expedition-weight triple-layer Gore-Tex jacket suitable for a Mount Everest assault but more often seen in the gym). But just because he's funny doesn't mean this is not a serious book. On the contrary, it is one of the more insightful works of social commentary in recent memory. His ideas are sharp, his writing crisp, and he even offers pointed suggestions for putting the considerable Bobo political clout to work. And, unlike the classes that spawned them--the hippies and the yuppies--Brooks insists the Bobos are here to stay: "Today the culture war is over, at least in the realm of the affluent. The centuries-old conflict has been reconciled." All the more reason to pay attention. --Shawn Carkonen
A Funny, Silly, but Seriously Flawed and Misguided Book, May 21, 2000
If the merit of a book were to be exclusively rated by virtue of readability and entertainment value, then this book is going to be a well-deserved and predictable best-seller. However, if one reads books s to become a more aware, better informed, and intellectually astute citizen, then this is a trite, superficial, and absolutely worthless tome. Like cotton candy, a sweet experience, but almost absolutely devoid of any substantive nutritional content.
Reviewer: Barron Laycock (Labradorman) (see more about me) from Temple, New Hampshire United States Brooks admits in the opening chapter that he considers his work an exercise in what he refers to as "comic sociology". Well, at least he got the comic part right. Please don't misunderstand me; he is obviously a talented, perceptive, and entertaining writer, and one finds the text quite readable and easy to follow and absorb. The problem here is that his analysis is too far superficial to be worthwhile. He admits, for example, that he is no Max Weber (a famous turn of the century sociologist and social theorist who was an astute and amazingly prescient critic of modern capitalist culture). Perhaps if he had read Professor Weber more closely (or at all?) he might have recognized the dangers of placing too much stress on one aspect of a complex social envionment and then overemphasizing its importance in the overall scheme of that particular cultural milieiu.
This is the theoretical mistake Herr Weber accuses Karl Marx of making with dialetical materialism; mistaking the observable fact of the progressive alienation of workers in 19th century manufacturing factories of being alienated for being the central motive force in history. What Marx didn't recognize, unfortunately, was that all participants in large modern industrial societies are by course of the organization of that society into social institutions ritually expropriated from the means of participation in it. Thus, individuals can express their talents and capabilites only though participation and cooperation with large-scale social institutions (read bureaucracies here).
Moreover, this is exactly what Mr. Brooks does, mistaking some colorful and paradoxical symptoms of the critical breakdown in the integrity and cohesiveness of modern society and its accompanying cultural ethos for a new culture ethos itself. Indeed, his choice of books for reference here is telling, all dated in the unusual and historically atypical period of the the Affluent society of the 1950s. He studiously ignores a plethora of more traditional and more recent and relevant monographs, such as "Technopoly", by Neil Postman, "The Power Elite" by C.Wright Mills, and "The Cult of Information" by Theodore Roszak.
In essence, Brooks seems amazingly ignorant of the fact that with the rise of a number of related cultural phenomena in the last forty to fifty years, the majority of urban and suburban Americans (especially those who are habitually electronically connected to the media) are deeply confused and disoriented in terms of their cultural orientation. In fact, most Americans feel no cultural constraint to be consistent in terms of what they believe in each of the various aspects of their lives, seeing them as completely disconnected and absolutely independent phenomena.
This is, in fact, the end-point of the alienation process predicted by Marx, Weber, and Durkheim long agao, and is often referred to in more recent terms as "individuation", or absolute cultural fragmentation, disintegration and dissipation into irrelevancy. In this manner we can say that these citizens don't have an integrated cultural ethos so much as they have a grab-bag of ideas, opinions, and views that they feel no need to better understand and integrate into anything approaching a coherent and intelligent world -view.
The main culprits in this evolution has been 1) the rise and domination of dissemination of public information by the electronic media, 2) the segregation of Americans by virtue of income and lifestyles, and 3) the progressive vitiation of all integration and meaning in our cultural values with the astounding confusion and disintegration of all our social institutions as a result of the ongoing changes associated with the technological revolution.
Seen in this way, reading this slim and silly volume is like spending an afternoon watching old Sylvester Stallone movies; entertaining but unconsequential in terms of what one learns from the time so spent. The real danger with watching such movies, of course, is that one may begin to believe that Sly's problem-solving approach as depicted in Rambo is an accurate model for how to conduct one's own life. Here the danger is that too many gullible bozos will read all about bobos and believe it is an accurate depiction of the cutting edge of America's upper class.
Shake off the demons, friend, and pass this one by. This book is, in my opinion, silly and specious nonsense written by someone so insulated in his experience and so lacking in socio-historical perspective that he has little or no idea of what he is talking about. No doubt, however that this book will become a smash best-seller and be the talk of the nation for the next several months. I expect to see Mr. Brooks on Oprah any day now. But then again, as our old amigo Arlo Guthrie would say, "That's America". Go figure!
Apt, entertaining, but not quite on target , July 26, 2000
Reviewer: Michael K. McKeon (see more about me) fromSeattle, WA USA
This work by Brooks's is hot because it is timely and depicts a self conscious group which enjoys being characterized, provided that it is being laughed with and not at. However, while Brooks describes significant, and conspicious, cohorts of the meritocracy his definitions are somewhat off the mark.It is inappropriate to depict this element as bourgeois bohemians; Brooks describes a decidedly bourgeois group of people. What seems to elude him (or perhaps is a part of his denial as a group member) is that anything bohemian in this life style is clearly an affection. This group of the affluent, highly educated assumes bohemian affections to demonstrate their extensive education and experience -- things attributable to affluence and bourgeois application. Their interest in developing cultures reflected in dress, diet, and material acquisitions is not indicative of some adoption of bohemian interests and mores; it is a means of indicating the breath of their cultural knowledge, and is often a pretext for demonstrating how well traveled they are. This is proven by the group's separation from anything untidy, unpredictable, or unpleasant inherent in peasant or working class culture. Occasionally they "slum" because it is chic. This isn't new, for example, many WASPs were devotees of the Harlem Renaissance.
Brooks also asserts, incorrectly, that the WASP upper crust has been displaced by a new, affluent, highly educated, multicultural meritocracy. This is hardly the case; the WASP upper crust has proved adaptable and is quite secure. It only surrendered that for which it has deemed not worth fighting. Brooks assumes that because WASPs are no longer the conspicuously dominant group in many managerial roles that they are in decline. What eludes Brooks is that a low profile and understatement are integral parts of WASP culture. As technology has increased the spotlight on most upper income careers traditional WASPs have sought the shadows. That the WASP role in American society remains secure is reflected by the aping by non-WASPs of many characteristics of white bread WASP culture (albeit, fortunately not the diet). This is reflected by their striving to attend citadels of WASP education -- prep schools and Ivy and little Ivy colleges and universities, as well marketing of Ralph Lauren, the resurgence of Brooks Brothers, and ironically everything sold by Renovation Hardware. "Newly" popular recreational pursuits he describes such as fly fishing, hiking, and mountain biking have always been elements of WASP leisure. The WASPs remain, their institutions are secure (if now accepting parvenue revenue), they are still proportionately overrepresented in most professions governing society, and entrance to their enclaves still remains elusive to those who are not members of their tribe.
The author's descriptions also seem to attempt to define this group as the new upper class. Instead, what he describes is the upper middle class in America, still a small percentage, however, of the total population. He also seems to view his own experiences as reflective of the entire meritocracy he attempts to describe, which is probably inaccurate. Wayne, Pennsylvania is hardly reflective of all highly educated, enlightened, upper income communities in the nation (at least one hopes). In conclusion, it is interesting that Brooks attempts to draw such a distinction between "yuppies" and his "bohos"; there seems to be no difference. Regardless, both are what for centuries have been called the nouveau riche, albeit a consistently well educated segment.
This is pretty weak book about Benchmark Capital the venture capitalist firm that financed Red Hat (as well as eBay and several other firms). See Sun World review Life inside a Silicon Valley venture capital firm for details:
Benchmark Capital is a highly successful albeit unusual venture firm. Most venture firms are hierarchies of partners, associates, and others in the pecking order, much like law firms and other professional service partnerships. Associates at venture firms, often MBAs fresh out of business school, are the gofers who pay their dues for a mere $150,000 a year while trying to make partner. Partners share in the loot the firm makes from a successful investment. Bigger firms have a hierarchy among partners as well: they can be junior, senior, or name, e.g., John Hummer at Hummer Winblad.
But Benchmark doesn't have a traditional structure. It's a firm of five equal partners (six by the time the book comes to an end and 10 at this writing), no associates, and some clerical staff. They make democratic decisions: when one partner brings in a proposal to fund a business, they vote on it together. Votes are from one to 10, and no one is allowed to vote five.
Benchmark's partners are physically similar -- they're all well over six feet tall and athletic -- but their backgrounds are diverse. Three of the five had been venture guys (they don't call themselves VCs) elsewhere before joining Benchmark. Dave Beirne made his name as a headhunter who placed top executives at companies such as
Netscape, Microsoft, and Excite@Home. Because a big part of a venture capitalist's job is helping entrepreneurs find talent to build out their management teams, Beirne's was a fitting background. Kevin Harvey had been an entrepreneur who created a database software company and sold it to Lotus. The others -- Bob Kagle, Andy Rachleff, Bruce Dunlevie, and Bill Gurley -- came to Benchmark from other venture firms. EBoys tells stories about Benchmark, as it got involved with various companies. During the two years in which Stross observed the firm, Benchmark helped fund over 70 businesses. Stross chose to concentrate on the big names mentioned above and some lesser-known
companies to which unusual things happened. He combines actual dialog from Benchmark's partnership meetings with narratives about its portfolio companies and anecdotes about the firm's executives. The book is intelligently organized into chapters that read like installments in a long-running serial, in which Stross returns periodically to stories in progress (such as the rise of eBay) Other chapters stress a particular theme such as building successful management teams or going public.
...EBoys is also disappointingly short of the kind of analysis from Stross that made his The Microsoft Way an interesting read. In that book, Stross used his background as a historian to show precedents for monopolistic megawealth creation a la Bill Gates. EBoys includes very little such analysis, apart from a couple of pages of references to Alexis de Tocqueville and similar erudition.Maybe someone else will write an in-depth account of the business, filling in some of the substance behind the sizzle. Or maybe the venture business is just that shallow -- as shallow as the analysis that leads regular investors to bid Web stock prices up as high as they were before the recent crash. If that's true, the implications are pretty terrible to contemplate.
Authors Bill Lessard and Steve Baldwin neatly summarize the operating principle behind NetSlaves: "People are nuts, no matter what profession they're in, but people forced to work like dogs with the carrot stick of stock options and 'untold' wealth dangling under their noses are especially nuts." Far from the glamorous world painted by the few Internet winners, the authors contend, the business of technology is largely strapped to the four million or so backs of carpal-tunnel-prone freelancers and real-life Dilberts. To illustrate their point, they provide a guide to the new media caste system, which converts standard industry roles into a hierarchy of "garbagemen," "fry cooks" and "cab drivers." Case studies of disgruntled tech support operators and HTML code writers make for bitterly funny reading.
...These are the startups that never finish up, companies that hire hundreds of programmers and Web-site designers and techies of all stripes, then merge or downsize or go out of business before anyone can cash in. The authors take the reader on an anthropological expedition through what they call the New Media Caste System. At the bottom rung are the "garbagemen," the guys who have to get the server up and running when it crashes, who have to rush to help the digital morons who can't figure out how to open their e-mail. At the top, of course, are the "robber barons," the guys who really do get mind-blowing wealth and profiles in Wired magazine. For each level, the authors tell an instructive, cautionary tale of life in the new economy. They focus on the realities if the cyber-sweatshop culture of e-commerce, showing that most Internet careers are nasty, brutish, and short
- Prudloe Vensigian from Deep Run Mobile Home Park, Maryland , November 1, 1999
Baldwin and Lessard are combat veterans of the Net, both in terms of writing and personal experience. They are also long-standing Truth Tellers.
In addition to writing about computing for a number of magazines and websites, they also run the guerilla website NetSlaves, a running testimonial to real life for many in the hi-tech workplace.
"NetSlaves" is a terrific extension of the site, one of the few books to come off of a website that really works as a book. Lessard and Baldwin have a powerful story to tell, and they do it with a lot of punch. "NetSlaves" ought to be handed out to every graduate of every tech school, and given to every new employee of every Net company.
Baldwin and Lessard say their grand "pre-alpha" statement about the Nature of Net-Slavery is this:
"Technology has changed, but human nature hasn't. Whether it's the Gold Rush of 1849 or the Web Rush of l999, people are people. More often than not, they're miserable, nasty, selfish creatures, driven by vanity and greed, doing whatever they can to get ahead, even if it means stepping on the person next to them, crushing the weak, and destroying themselves in the process."
The authors don't have a particularly high regard for many forms of Net work, which they lambaste as the New Media Caste System, but they care about Net workers, and the book is curiously affectionate, even loving about them, as well as a hoot to read.
Both concede that one of their purposes in writing "NetSlaves" is to have the book serve as a quasi-historical, quasi-anthropological reflection of a particular moment in the culture.
Although the tone of "NetSlaves" is informal and funny, the point is pretty serious. "NetSlaves" has done what legions of reporters and authors have so far failed to do: paint a truthful picture of about the new nature of work in the techno-centered world.
For all of the media blabber about Net commerce and hi-tech startups, life in this fast lane can be brutal - insane hours, almost no employee-employer loyalty, greed and moral cowardice, help-desk geeks driven mad by enraged customers, back-stabbing, savage pressure, competiveness and the many resultant neuroses from all of the above.
Baldwin and Lessard make no pretense of objectivity. They write with almost ferocious authority and persuasiveness. They describe themselves as "two angry, cranky bastards out for blood" on behalf of their exhausted selves and the countless burnouts, geniuses, thieves, opportunists, workaholics and losers they've encountered along the way.
"NetSlaves" gives us a whole new language for the villains and back-stabbers who make up the hi-tech workplace. Particular venom is reserved for the "Fry Cooks," the "get it done at all costs" project people of the New Media Caste System. (There's also the "Garbagemen," the workers who have to get servers up and running when they crash).
My favorite chapter is about the "Cab Drivers," the haunted and hunted itinerant Web freelancers who design sites, followed closely by "Gold Diggers and Gigolos," a scathing portrait of the ambitious, night-crawling, hard-partying, butt-kissing movers and shakers and wannabees of hi-tech work world.
"Most Web sites are designed by itinerant, restless young people who have given up the constraints of working for one company in particular, in exchange for the self-determination of pursuing their own path. The rationale is that they can earn a higher hourly rate and pick and choose their projects.
"The reality, however," write Lessard and Baldwin, "is that these Cab Drivers have to constantly hustle for work and their passengers, or clients, who are also cash-crunched, are notorious for skipping out on their fares. Added to this is the lack of health benefits that Cab Drivers face - a plight which has forced many to simply neglect themselves." This is a world in which workers are terrified or despondent when forced to take a few weeks off, convinced they'll fall behind forever.
"NetSlaves" succeeds wonderfully in its goal to tell the truth about a particular culture at a critical juncture in time. It is, in fact one of the few telling looks inside the new kinds of workplaces springing up in the hi-tech, global economy. Workers beware.
Number of Reviews: 23| Not just for those who 'like to watch' |
Reviewer: petej  from Washington, DC February 12, 2000 |
| I am sure there are many who read these books and will never go near such deals or people. Being smack in the IT industry, and having built and sold a company, I was spellbound by the detail and sheer volume of info on how VC's, top tier vendors, and deal structures actually work. If you have been involved in the sale of an IT company, or will be, or even have significant stock options to dream on, this is as much a how-to book as it is a detailed chronical. Every time you finish a sitting with this book, you will find your teeth clenched, and you will be asking yourself if you're truly up for the fight...You will glimpse a world that both beckons and intimidates. |
| High Stakes, No Prisoners : A Winner's Tale of Greed and Glo | ||||
| Reviewer: Ken Kappel ken@webglobal.com from San Francisco February 5, 2000 | ||||
| Charles H. Ferguson has written an astonishing book, which operates on many levels. As Bob Metcalf, Ethernet inventor and founder of 3COM noted in his book jacket blurb, “…. Every would-be Silicon Valley entrepreneur should read this book.” Amen. With interest it is noted that Metcalf appears to be the only individual “brave enough” to contribute a book jacket blurb to this superb book. Hats off to Metcalf, and Ferguson, of course. Mr. Ferguson exposes the dirty dancing that takes place between many Venture Capital firms and their prey – unsophisticated Entrepreneurs with good ideas. If you’re writing a Business Plan … or about to … if you’re intrigued by the New Economy … if you want to understand what really happened to Netscape … if you want to stand back in awe and understand how Microsoft does it … BUY THIS BOOK, and read it before you do anything else. Beyond merely brilliant, penetrating and scholarly analysis, Ferguson bravely exposes his deeper and darker nature, and by doing so allows the reader to believe … certainly want to believe … in the validity of the shocking material regarding sharp business practice. Ferguson is un-relenting in self-criticism. Beyond his self-reported arrogance, and without crocodile tears he strongly implies to the reader that his passion, arrogance, tenacity, whatever one wants to call it, is required for an Entrepreneur to succeed against sophisticated players. Yet, this reader became convinced that he cares deeply about people and society at large. Finally, his PhD in Political Science from MIT, and obvious continuing deep interest and research in all matters relating to telecommunications comes through powerfully in the final chapter. He goes directly to the heart of a systemic US and International problem as no one has done before in print. Ferguson clearly and carefully documents the fact that the local telecommunications companies – telephone and cable -- are not only denying all of us the power of high bandwidth in the digital age, but, in so doing are literally damaging the overall economy. Here again Mr. Ferguson names names, and shocking as it may be in terms of recent political events, Presidential candidate John McCain is shown to be a water carrier and clear beneficiary of the extraordinary, if not unprecedented Cartel that blocks all of us from having high bandwidth. Buy the book for this chapter alone – if you want your bandwidth. Arguably, the only thing missing from Mr. Ferguson’s extremely well written book is a copy of the Business Plan he wrote to raise the original VC funding for Vermeer Technologies. On the other hand, if you allow Charles to invest in your startup, he’ll probably share that work. “Six Stars” Ken Kappel ken@webglobal.com | ||||
| 4 of 4 people found this review helpful. |
| |||
| Informative , Entertaining and Thought-Provoking! |
| Reviewer: Gregg D. Miller from Marshalltown, Iowa January 31, 2000 |
| I think I've read every single 'Tell-All' book about Silicon Valley/Alley and it's various characters...this one is a 'must-read'. I learned more here about how the system works and got more insight into it than from all the others combined. I especially appreciated Ferguson's glaringly open self-assessments. His appraisal of the current regulatory environment is well researched and quite good. I found this very enjoyable. |
|
|
|
Paperback - 256 pages Reprint edition (May 2, 2000)
Broadway Books; ISBN: 0767906039 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.76 x 7.95 x 5.20
Other Editions: Hardcover
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 2,042
Popular in: Los Gatos, CA (#17) J.P. Morgan & Co., Inc (#19) . See more
Not very interesting true tales of Silicon Valley, August 10, 2000
Reviewer: Travis A. Wise (see more about me) from
Sorry, but I had a hard time enjoying this book. The book consists of stories about various people in the Valley, some of whom might be described as movers-and-shakers, but most are people who were almost movers-and-shakers of the technological era. It is difficult to follow the stories, because the first half is not really broken up into chapters, but rather sections, which I found incredibly difficult to understand what the meaning was. This book was recommended to me as a way of learning about the behind-the-scenes of IPO's and corporate financing, and I will say that this book DOES satisfy that need - clearly the author was privy to some significant behind-the-scenes meetings and goings-on which are very interesting to learn about in terms of how start up companies get their funding and go public. But I can't help but think that there was a better way to present that information. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
| |
| |
|
by Jane Wood, Denise Silver (Contributor)
Paperback - 402 pages 2nd edition (February 1995)
John Wiley & Sons; ISBN: 0471042994 ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.76 x 9.20 x 7.50
Amazon.com Sales Rank: 20,585
Avg. Customer Review: 
Number of Reviews: 3
before than is a must.
Pretentious and Shallow, February 12, 2001My point here is not to bash the earnest-but-misguided ESR. It's rather to warn you, the lay reader--this guy may have attained some sort of status in the open source community which needs such figures, but it doesn't mean that what he has to say is any good or even true. In his works (including "Cathedral"), Eric makes a very one-sided analysis of software engineering methodologies. It's a complete ra-ra piece which fails to seriously address the very many shortcomings of open-source development, including, most critically, the inability to scale timewise as well as commercial software (while not under the GNU licence, two years ago Raymond was predicting the success of the open-source Mozilla browser initiative, which is at this point a complete fiasco). Instead, he talks about obscure supporting sociological constructs such as that of "gift cultures" that would only convince the already converted. The whole "cracker/hacker" distinction is (and I say this as a 14 year IT professional, and linux user / kernel hacker and administrator since 1995) jargony and ultimately unimportant compared to the larger issues:
What people should be getting out of this book (or a book like this) is a balanced, informed view of open source vs commercial software, undertaken with sound research on various cost/effectiveness metrics and some case studies. What we have here is a bible for a community that desperately needs one, because, as Eric's whole thrust implies, it is largely ego driven. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Boring & Self-serving, May 25, 2000 Bazaar...is "bizaar" : worth skimming, but not by much, April 14, 2000
Reviewer: Paul R. Nash (see more about me) from
Other reviewers have pointed out that this is more analysis and less manifesto, but that doesn't make it great.
At best, this book is a useful introduction to open source community dynamics. At worst, it's a bunch of well-typeset pseudo-science horse manure.
Raymond does a decent job of putting together logically cohesive arguments in favor of his point, but he's so obviously and inextricably biased, that it's hard to accept these arguments with any of the scientfic merit that he seems to believe they deserve. I mean, come on, an anthropological and psychological analysis of why projects don't fork often? Really, it's a bit out there.
The book is a frozen-in-print form of Raymond's evolving online essays on Open Source. I bet you could get them for free on the web, and at that price, they'd be worth reading for sure.
The theories presented here are somewhat intriguing, but should not be taken as the gospel, despite the religious invocation of the word "cathedral." Change Bazaar to bizaar and the title becomes more accurate.
Nothing new..., March 15, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from
Well, I agree pretty much with the only negative review I saw here...Linux and FreeBSD have been around for a while now, they're only recently getting popular and moving in the mainstream and everybody is jumping on the bandwagon. Microsoft bashing isn't new either, but somehow it's become the cool thing to do. Some of the essays are well written but as with the other reviewer I don't see why the author is as popular as he is in the community. The book is a good primer for the latecomers who want to join the hype and the circus.
Open source is a joke..., March 7, 2000
Reviewer: A reader from
I don't see how or why this author is so big in the Open Source community. This collection of his opinions is uneducated and insufferable. Why should we take for gospel what he writes? The book's essays have no sense of cohesion (what's with the essay on how to be a hacker? If I were a programmer, I'd care, but I'm not so why is it in here?). His first few essays summarize the book: Hacker: Heroes of the Computer Revolution by Steven Levy. Was hugely disappointed that O'Reilly saw fit to publish this.
| |
| |
|
Simply a Masterpiece -- and Easy to Read, Too!, December 12, 1999This is Harvard professor book and as such is pretty suspicious. So be skeptical. See Linux.com review. The approach looks like technodarvinism to me and as such is not new. Here are several Amazon.com readers comments:
| Reviewer: Anthony Michael Tregre November 3, 1999 | |
| To begin this book in style, you will want to skip straight ahead to Richard Stallman's chapter, then read the rest at your leisure (or else you won't know anything about the truth behind all of this). Most of the people who wrote this book (not to mention those who read it) are in serious need of a clue-by-four. To begin, ``open source'' is just a buzzword created by ESR and others to seduce Big Business. The proper term is ``free software''. The Free Software Movement has been in effect for more than a decade. Also, Linus Torvalds is not the magical inventor of an OS that everyone makes him out to be. Linus wrote the first versions of a kernel (Linux) which was later placed into an operating system (GNU) in order to make it fully operational. GNU began loooong before Linux did (the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation were begun by Richard Stallman, and thus was born the Free Software Movement), and AFAIK, very little of the code in Linux was written by Linus at this point, relatively speaking. Thus, the extremely poor rating is due to the intense misinformation spread by the various authors and, indeed, the editors. Those that are already in the know about free software likely won't need this book, though it may prove interesting. For the intended audience, however, this book is a complete and total lose. |
This is a good, but overpriced($30 looks like overkill for a pretty thin little book) book that can be recommended for readers who are interested in the history of Unix.
Casting the Net - From Arpanet to Internet and Beyond (Unix and Open Systems Series)
Reviewer: A reader fromdallas
The technological revolution should be causing a fundamental reevaluation of the government's role in the economy. Whether that reevaluation takes place, or government policy stays rooted in 19th-century understanding will be determined for some time to come by the Justice Department's case against Microsoft. For a accessible and lively account of the issues involved and what is at stake, I can think of no better book than Trust on Trial by Richard McKenzie. Is Microsoft a monopolist? The Justice Department says yes based on considerations that were thought relevant when the Sherman Antitrust statute become law in 1890. McKenzie makes a compelling case that these considerations no longer provide useful guidance to antitrust policy. Microsoft may have a dominant market share, but it certainly is not acting like a monopolist. Monopolists are suppose to restrict output and raise price, but Microsoft has done exactly the opposite. McKenzie explains how the network and "lock-in" effects that the justice department argues Microsoft are using to exploit consumers have rendered traditional notions of monopoly obsolete. Instead of these effects allowing Microsoft to exploit consumers, they explain why competition in the software industry, and other technology industries is more intense than ever and why this competition, which is enormously beneficial to consumers, leads to firms that temporarily dominate their industry. And the only hope these firms have for prolonging this dominance is by not behaving like a monopolist. In addition to providing powerful economic insights, McKenzie also points to the real motivation driving the Microsoft case, and it has nothing to do with protecting the consumer. The justication for antitrust action is to protect the consumer by protecting competition. Unfortunately, in reality the motivation has more often than not that of protecting competitors who find they can do better by influencing politicians than by satisfying consumers. This certainly seems to be true in the Microsoft case, and McKenzie pulls no punches when laying out the evidence. It should be emphasized that this book is not a puff piece for Microsoft. McKenzie has no financial or emotional stake in Microsoft's successes of failures, and he points to the blemishes and warts on Microsoft's behavior. McKenzie's motivation seems to be nothing more than a desire that sound economic analysis be used to determine what is best for the consumer--something that should be the dominant motivation of the Justice Department, but which obviously isn't. A great book. Enjoyable and informative.
for more information 
Lux et veritas revisited, September 18, 1997
Reviewer: dan.heaton@yale.edu from New Haven CT
A certain elite university boasts (literally) an endowment of $5.7 billion (yes, billion with a B)--or did as of Tuesday, 16 September; you should add a million or two per day to get the approximate sum on the day you read this. On that same date the university announced that it will embark on a $1 billion (with a B) program to renovate the buildings on its campus. Yet just eighteen months ago, this same anonymous university--by far the biggest employer in one of the most economically depressed cities in the nation--engaged in a no-holds-barred campaign to break the two unions that represent its nonacademic labor force. And just before that, the university crushed the latest effort by the graduate students' union, which was seeking, before anything else, simply to get the university to admit the self-evident truth that teaching assistants are employees and that, as such, they have the right to bargain collectively.
This institution fosters an extreme but not atypical example of the condition described in this book's subtitle. The academic labor force in the United States, from the celebrated professor to the undervalued custodian, faces an unprecedented crisis, a crisis deftly delineated in the seventeen essays of this book, roughly half of which focus on the labor struggles at the above-unnamed (but named in the book) elite university. That struggle brought support from labor's allies nationwide, but in the end it did little to change the workers' status from what frighteningly parallels--as Stephen Watt puts it in the book's most poignant metaphor--that of miners trapped in a "company town," where the perverted law of supply and demand means that the company supplies the work, so the company can demand whatever conditions are to its liking.
The book does not pretend to bipartisanship, and at times polemic detracts from persuasiveness. But the best of the essays--like Watt's, Kathy Newman's, and particularly Michael Bérubé's--back up their rousing calls to collective action with coolly logical evidence and solidly ordered argument. This is an important book for anyone who is concerned with the state of labor and/or higher education; these days, who can afford not to be?
Impact of Electronic Publishing on the Academic Community
by Ian Butterworth
The Academic Crisis of the Community College (Literacy, Culture and Learning Theory and Practice) good book, but needs more historical context., June 11, 1998
Reviewer: jbbole0@pop.uky.edu (see more about me) from Lexington Kentucky
Mcgrath and Spear do a decent job of summarizing what they feel are the problems of the community college. Although they argue their point in a concise manner and do an excellent jo at it, they sometimes seem to expect you to take them at their word. The problems they cite are very real. People who study community colleges will have little trouble seeing their points, it would still be refreshing to place the problems in community colleges in some sort of historical context. I would advise, however, that anyone who studies community colleges or works in one have this volume in their personal library.
The Academic Profession The Professoriate in Crisis (Contemporary Higher Education, 1)
Inside academia - new challenges for the academic profession
Copyright © 1996-2004 by Nikolai Bezroukov. www.softpanorama.org was created as a service to the UN Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) in the author free time. Submit comments
This document is an industrial compilation designed and created exclusively for educational use and is placed under the copyright of the Open Content License(OPL). Original materials copyright belong to respective owners. Quotes are made for educational purposes only in compliance with the fair use doctrine.
Standard disclaimer: The statements, views and opinions presented on this web page are those of the author and are not endorsed by, nor do they necessarily reflect, the opinions of the author present and former employers, SDNP or any other organization the author may be associated with. We do not warrant the correctness of the information provided or its fitness for any purpose.
Last modified: October 20, 2004
Based on 30 reviews. 