Software, once a form of garnish
most hardware companies gave away to make their
expensive computer systems more flavorful, was quickly
becoming the main dish. In their increasing hunger for
new games and features, users were putting aside the
traditional demand to review the recipe after every meal.
Nowhere was this state of affairs more evident than in
the realm of personal computer systems. Companies such
as Apple Computer and Commodore were minting fresh
millionaires selling machines with built-in operating
systems. Unaware of the hacker culture and its distaste
for binary-only software, many of these users saw
little need to protest when these companies failed to
attach the accompanying source-code files. A few
anarchic adherents of the hacker ethic helped propel
that ethic into this new marketplace, but for the most
part, the marketplace rewarded the programmers speedy
enough to write new programs and savvy enough to
copyright them as legally protected works.
One of the most notorious of these programmers was Bill
Gates, a Harvard dropout two years Stallman's junior.
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