Title: Open Sources 2.0
   The Continuing Evolution
Publisher: O'Reilly
Editors: Chris DiBona, Mark Stone,
   Danese Cooper
Edition: First, October 2005 
ISBN: 0-596-00802-3
Pages: 488  
Price: $29.95 US, $41.95 CA, £20.95 UK 

Somewhat Longer Review

Contents

• The Title
• About the Reviewer
• What You Get
• What I Like
• Gripes
• Who's the Book for?
• Final Thoughts

The Title

Open Sources 2.0: It's been about 6 years since the first O'Reilly Open Sources book. I expected that Open Sources 2.0 would give a picture of what has gone on since and also suggest where we may be going.

I figured the book would in some ways be similar to the earlier book, and more specifically that the book:

• would be a compilation of pieces by a variety of authors.
• would include many different perspectives.

The Continuing Evolution: For me the subtitle simply makes the significance of the 2.0 a tad more specific.

Does the title fit the book?: Yes. The book is, indeed, a compilation of essays by different authors with different perspectives. And the book does also give a picture of how Open Source has evolved in the last few years and the second part of the book, especially, gives some idea what may be next.

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About the Reviewer

Relevant Books I've Read and Reviewed: I've read and reviewed several books relevant to this book:

• the earlier O'Reilly "Open Sources" (1999) book
• "The Cathedral & The Bazaar" (2001)
• "Free as in Freedom" (2002)
• "Hackers & Painters" (2004)
• "We the Media" (2004)

I've also read and reviewed 4 compilations of User Friendly comics, which I think of as related to Open Source; hey, Columbia Internet, the setting of much of the action, is a Linux shop, and it seems clear that Illiad, the creator of the comic, favors Open Source.

O'Reilly Supporter: For many years I have considered O'Reilly to be easily the best publisher of technical books. More recently I have come to appreciate their non-technical books such as this one and the other ones mentioned in the previous paragraph.

Favorite Software Products: Here are my favorite software products in various areas:

• OS: Linux
• Computer Language: Perl
• Text Editor: vi
• Graphics Editor: Gimp

All the above are Open Source products.

Hangouts on the Web: I spend a lot of time on the web. The two places I spend the most time are:

• Google
• The O'Reilly User Group Program Wiki

Both are powered by Open Source products.

Open Source Advocate: I am an advocate of Open Source.

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What You Get

Short Essays: The book includes 23 relatively short essays; no essay is less than 10 pages and no essay is as much as 25 pages.

Self-Contained Essays: Each essay is a separate chapter. The essays/chapters are not dependent on each other.

Many Points of View: Many points of view are represented. All of the essays are by different authors.

Parts: The body of the book is divided into two parts:

• "Open Source: Competition and Evolution" (ch. 1-14)
• "Beyond Open Source: Collaboration and Community" (ch. 15-23)

In the first part you'll find essays on:

• Open Source software development process
• Open Source and business competition
• Open Source policy issues

Several of the essays in the first part have a geographical perspective.

In the second part you'll find essays on:

• the challenges that evolving Open Source and technology present to each other.
• Open Source principles of collaboration applied in other areas.
• the practices of collaborative communities.

Front and Back Matter: Among other things the book has:

• a forward by Kim Polese
• an introduction by the editors
• 3 appendixes
• an index

Themes: The essays are independent of each other, but that doesn't mean they are unrelated. There are a number of themes that cut across two or more chapters.

Here are some examples of such themes that are important to me:

• "Free" is ambiguous in English, but in many other languages there is a word for "free as in freedom" (e.g. "livre" in Portugese).
• Standardization and commoditization are natural phenomena as an industry matures. Open Source contributes to and benefits from them.
• The Internet makes possible new forms of collaboration in Open Source software development and also in many other areas (including non-technical ones).

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What I Liked Most

Broader Perspective of Part 2: I found the broader perspective of the second part of the book especially engaging. Hey, software isn't the only thing I care about.

I was fascinated exploring related forms of cooperation in areas other than software.

Themes: I found some of the themes that cut across essays to be fascinating. That includes all the themes mentioned as examples in the previous section.

Readable: I found the book easy to read.

For this subject matter, I really like having many relatively-short independent essays by many authors with many points of view. I particularly enjoyed that I didn't have to read the essays in order. In fact, I jumped around a lot. I finished all of the second part before finishing any essay in the first part.

Inspiring: After reading this book, I'm bubbling with ideas related to Open Source.

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Gripes

Clerical Errors: I encountered a number of what I'll call clerical errors while reading this book. Here are two examples:

• "developerd"
• "breakingthe"

Personally, I don't much care, but some people do.

Comparison to First "Open Sources": I preferred the first Open Sources" book. I found it compelling. This book I found quite interesting but not compelling.

But it's not a competition. The books are complementary.

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Who's the Book for?

Ideal Reader: This book would be ideal for someone who:

• has read the earlier Open Sources book.
• is an advocate of Open Source.

Not for: This book would be especially bad for someone who:

• is opposed to Open Source.
• prefers not to even think about Open Source.

Most others: If you haven't been following the Open Source movement carefully, I suggest reading the first O'Reilly "Open Sources" book before diving into this one. Actually, I think most people would get the most value by reading the first book first. Hey, you can read it free online.

For a bit more on the first "Open Sources" book, see First Open Sources under "Online Watch" in the left column.

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Final Thoughts

If you are still uncertain, I'd ask if you wish to continue to expand your awareness of Open Source. If yes, I'd go for it.

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