This document summarizes Eric Raymond's 1997 work "The Cathedral and the Bazaar" which used the Linux development process to illustrate how open source software development works in a decentralized and collaborative manner. It discusses key principles like egoless programming and motivations for participation. It also examines how the bazaar metaphor and understanding of open source may need reexamining after 10 years as the model has faced challenges and commoditization affects open source projects.

1. 10 Years of The Cathedral and the Bazaar Little Black Rabbit 小兔黑黑

8. Q1: Are these sources of motivation powerful enough?

10. "For me it is," said one developer. "If I don't like something I either don't use it or make it work for me. Yes it's an elitist view, but hey, you did not pay for us to do this, we were nice enough to even let you download it. Last time I checked we did not have a guy in a dragon suit chasing you down forcing you to install KDE ;)" KDEvelopers on KDE users (Powell, 2002)‏

11. "I certainly agree with it," wrote another. ". . . No one's paying me, so I'll do whatever I feel like, whether that be hacking Kopete, or doing something completely aimless. If you believe this is a bad point of view to be taking, email me off-list, and we can discuss my attractive rates and conditions." KDEvelopers on KDE users (Powell, 2002)‏

12. " . . . People who do not donate code and just complain about our lack of focus are not welcome here. . ." said another, who added in a later post, "I can say though that I put pride in the work I add to KDE. Pride that I feel makes KDE a good DE in my mind. If others like it cool, if not, sucks to be them. Until I get paid to do software for them I dont think they are a very high priority in my hobby." KDEvelopers on KDE users (Powell, 2002)‏

13. "Since I don't get paid to work on KDE, that is certainly my view," said a fifth. "I'd be fairly pissed of if someone came critiscising work I do in my free time because I enjoy it." KDEvelopers on KDE users (Powell, 2002)‏

14. Q2: Ego-boosting or Egoless?

15. Q3: Does the Bazaar, a metaphor obtained from the Linux development process, an adequate representation of Open Source?

16. "BSD builds up a core system which is uniform, whereas Linux distributions takes pre-existing pieces and pretty much puts them together helter-skelter. Naturally, the BSD method is far more amenable to keeping things ordered, while the Linux method practically necessitates utter chaos. That's not to say that chaos is inherently bad, or order inherently good. They're just different environments." BSD vs Linux: Design Philosophies (Fuller, 2004)‏

17. "The differing focus of each of the 3 groups leads them not only to different solutions, but also to different problems. When one of the other projects discovers a similar problem, they have "prior art" to consider in formulating their own solution. " (Loli-Queru, 2003)‏

18. "In many cases, the code and ideas are shared, in some cases new solutions are attempted. The reasons for this can vary from the original solution not fitting well into the second system to wanting to create an independent solution to see if anything can be learned from the experience, or a better solution found." (Loli-Queru, 2003)‏

19. Q4: After 10 years, do you need a new and better explanation for Open Source?

22. The End

23. Q?: Is Brook's Law Weakened?