Free for All: How LINUX and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High-Tech Titans

A revolution is sweeping the software world – one that threatens to pull even the mighty Microsoft Corporation from its throne. Bill Gates and his company's rule over the software industry through their tight control of Microsoft Windows is facing their biggest challenge ever – a new competitor that can't be bought, coopted, or manipulated with any of the traditional tools of corporate power. Its name.

Linux.Free for All is the story of a group of dedicated software hackers from around the world who, in their spare time, created an "open" operating system that rivals and in many ways surpasses Microsoft's.

Peter Wayner, a writer whose coverage of technology appears frequently in the New York Times and Salon magazine, tells a fascinating tale of how a simple idea creating and giving away an "open" operating system that people can change and customize – sparked a grass-roots movement among programmers and revolutionized the software business.Free for All goes behind the scenes, telling us about the creators and users of Linux. Along the way you will meet the leaders of this revolution, including Richard Stallman, who founded the free software movement , Linus Torvalds, the coding genius and Stallman disciple, who became the master and coordinator of the evolving system (and named it after himself), and many others who aided and nurtured the growing free software movement. You'll learn how and why they gave their code away for free, threatening the Redmond, Washington, giant's hegemony and spawning a whole new industry of Linux-related companies and software.

You will also learn where the Linux movement is going and how it is likely to affect the high-tech industry and, ultimately, the computers you use at home and on the job. As fresh and exciting as today's headlines and tomorrow's IPOs, the story of Linux is just beginning. Here is Act I.