Datasheet

15
Chapter 1: Getting Acquainted with Linux
Who’s in charge of Linux anyway?
As an open-source project evolves, various people emerge as leaders. This
leader is known as the project’s benevolent dictator. The benevolent dictator
has probably spent more time than anyone else on a particular problem and
often has some unique insight. Normally, the words democratic and dictator
are never paired in the same sentence, but the open-source model is a very
democratic process that endorses the reign of a benevolent dictator.
Linus Torvalds is still considered the benevolent dictator of the Linux kernel
(the operating system’s core). He ultimately determines what features are
added to the kernel and what features aren’t. The community trusts his
vision and discretion. In the event that he loses interest in the project, or the
community decides that he has gone senile, a new leader will emerge from
amongst the very competent people working with him.
Einstein was a volunteer
Someone who is a volunteer or donates time to a project isn’t necessarily
providing a second-rate effort (or only working on weekends and holidays).
In fact, any human-resources expert will tell you that people who choose to
do a job of their own free will produce the highest-quality products.
The volunteers who contribute to open-source projects are often leaders in
their fields who depend on community collaboration to get useful work done.
The open-source concept is no stranger to the scientific community. The
impartial peer-review process that open-source projects foster is critical in
validating some new feature or capability as being technically correct.
Those who paint the open-source community as copyright violators and
thieves often misunderstand — or outright ignore — these vital issues.
Open-source programmers are very proud of their work and are also very
concerned about their own copyrights, not wanting their work to be stolen
by others — hence licenses such as the GPL. This concern creates an atmo-
sphere with the greatest respect for copyright. Bandits who claim that
they’re “just being open-source” when they steal other people’s hard work
are grossly misusing the term to soothe their own consciences.
Many have also pointed out that if copyright is violated in open source, it’s
easy to tell. Watch the news and notice how often large software corpora-
tions are convicted of stealing other people’s code and incorporating it into
their own work. If the final product is open-source, it’s easy for anyone to
look and make sure nothing stolen is in it. As you might imagine, tracking
down such copyright violations is much more difficult in a closed-source
scheme.