They became the
center of a tribal community dedicated to Grateful Dead
music. Over time, that tribal community became so large
and so devoted that the band shunned record contracts
and supported itself solely through musical tours and
live appearances. In 1994, the band's last year as a
touring act, the Grateful Dead drew $52 million in gate
receipts alone.See "Grateful Dead Time Capsule: 1985-1995 North
American Tour Grosses." http://www.accessplace.com/gdtc/1197.htm
While few software companies have been able to match
that success, the tribal aspect of the free software
community is one reason many in the latter half of the
1990s started to accept the notion that publishing
software source code might be a good thing. Hoping to
build their own loyal followings, companies such as
IBM, Sun Microsystems, and Hewlett Packard have come to
accept the letter, if not the spirit, of the Stallman
free software message. Describing the GPL as the
information-technology industry's "Magna Carta," ZDNet
software columnist Evan Leibovitch sees the growing
affection for all things GNU as more than just a trend.
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