What is Open Source? - Article Overview

Who: Steve Weber

What: What is Open Source and How does it work?

When: 2004

Where: Here

Gist: This is the who, what, where, and why of open source, detailing the many facets that go into creating open source software. This ranges from creation to maintaining


The Good:
-Showing the origins of what is probably the largest open-source project in the world
-Explaining the various solutions people have come up with to the variety of problems open source developers
- Help explain the reasoning behind why people go into making open source software.

The Bad:
- Fairly dense which makes it a little tiring to read in a single sitting
- Spends a large amount of time on points which could be spent better on furthering the point
- A little too in depth for just an introduction

Questions:
- Why is open source referred to as a bazaar if it really isn't?
- Who are some of the other big names in Open Source development?
- What are some of the other big open source projects?

In The End:
The "article" was on the whole fine and provided a fairly good summary of the history and process behind open source development. That said, it was fair bit longer than it needed to be, mostly due to going back to the same points over and over. While I found it a decent read, I can't really recommend it for anyone who isn't already interested in open source development. I give it 3/5 commits.