An old publication more relevant now than ever - The Cathedral and the Bazaar. A comparison of software practices in the early 2000s with some retrospective to how great software is built.
I think much of the writing can be applied to today's federated content models.
In particular:
- The Mail Must Get Through
- Necessary Preconditions for the Bazaar Style
- The Importance of Having Users
He went from a let-and-let-live, free-loving libertarian; to a more "kooky" libertarian. IMO, he was more palatable 20 years ago than now; though it's hard to top the fall-from-grace Stallman has had...
This is something that makes me sad. Stallman and Raymond were heros to me when I was starting out 20 years ago. I guess it goes to show that people are flawed no matter how talented.