Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary

I expected to enjoy this book, but I did not know I wouldbe unable to put it down. I didn't expect it to be_funny_ (which the first third or so was), nor did Iexpect it to talk about the meaning of life, or the way money changes people -- but somehow manages to do so without getting boring, which I think is a significant achievement. If you're looking for insightinto Linux, or technical information, you won't find much here -- get an O'Reilly book instead, or something. You also won't find a lot of software licensing evangelism. This book is neither of those things -- it is, however, a very entertaining read.

This book is in fact the "bio" of Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, an operating system (OS) that has been described as an "alternative" to Windows for PC users. In it, Linus describes his early years, how he mostly loved to play with computers, spending hours and hours on an old Commodore, and then a Sinclair PC, and so forth. After saving up to buy a better PC, he describes how he tried to install Minix, a form of the Unix OS on his machine and ran into so many frustrations he decided to create his own OS, which eventually became Linux. He describes that process, as well as his "flame war" over the Internet that he encountered with Andrew Tannenbaum, the Minix creator. Another thing I noticed from this book is how Linus doesn't look at himself as any kind of "hero" or "amazing person" just because he created something so many computer folk use as their OS of choice. Essentially, Linus comes off for the most part as just another average guy, even if this "average guy" created something quite amazing and became the most famous example of "Open Source software." Interesting story from the "Linux creator" himself, as to how Linux first came to be and what it is today, as well as about the man himself.

I thought this book was both a good biography and a good look at the "open source movement". How can you not like the story of Linus Torvalds who is not trying to do anything great or get rich or achieve fame. He just wanted some better software. His curiousity about low level programming and desire to build something better led him to create Linux. His desire to have others help him build better software led him to give it away free. But he is no rigid idealist either. He enjoys the money that he will make later and buys a nice house and toys (e.g., BMW Z3). His guiding principle is just to have fun. How can you not like the guy? Also the book gives a good look at the "open source movement". It provides some insight into how and why "hackers" are motivated to work on projects that don't directly lead to paychecks. The book does this without being fanatical about open source.

This book is great if your have some knowledge of Linux and the open source community. The best part is towards the end when you get Linus's moderate opinions of a variety of topics. I just started using Linux in the past few years and I always thought that Linus shared the same views as Richard Stallman. This is not the case at all, it turns out Linus has really practical views when it comes to open source software and IP in general. The first 1/2 of the book is a brief history of Linux. This book is a really quick read. It turned out to be much more entertaining than I originally thought it would be.