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Williams, Sam

"Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software"

" The
paper drew its name from Raymond's central analogy. GNU
programs were "cathedrals," impressive, centrally
planned monuments to the hacker ethic, built to stand
the test of time. Linux, on the other hand, was more
like "a great babbling bazaar," a software program
developed through the loose decentralizing dynamics of
the Internet.
Implicit within each analogy was a comparison of
Stallman and Torvalds. Where Stallman served as the
classic model of the cathedral architect-i.e., a
programming "wizard" who could disappear for 18 months
and return with something like the GNU C
Compiler-Torvalds was more like a genial dinner-party
host. In letting others lead the Linux design
discussion and stepping in only when the entire table
needed a referee, Torvalds had created a development
model very much reflective of his own laid-back
personality. From the Torvalds' perspective, the most
important managerial task was not imposing control but
keeping the ideas flowing.
Summarized Raymond, "I think Linus's cleverest and most
consequential hack was not the construction of the
Linux kernel itself, but rather his invention of the
Linux development model.


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