Revolution OS, a Documentary

Revolution OS is a 2001 documentary film that traces the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, open source, and the free software movement.
Directed by J. T. S. Moore, the film features interviews with prominent hackers and entrepreneurs including Richard Stallman, Michael Tiemann,Linus Torvalds, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, Frank Hecker and Brian Behlendorf.
The film begins with glimpses of Raymond, a Linux IPO, Torvalds, the idea of Open Source, Perens, Stallman, then sets the historical stage in the early days of hackers and computer hobbyists when code was shared freely. It discusses how change came in 1978 as Bill Gates, in his Open Letter to Hobbyists, pointedly prodded hobbyists to pay up. Stallman relates his struggles with proprietary software vendors at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, leading to his departure to focus on the development of free software, and the GNU project.
Torvalds describes the development of the Linux kernel, the GNU/Linux naming controversy, Linux's further evolution, and its commercialization.
Raymond and Stallman clarify the philosophy of free software versus communism and capitalism, as well as the development stages of Linux.
Michael Tiemann discusses meeting Stallman in 1987, getting an early version of Stallman's GCC, and founding Cygnus Solutions.
Larry Augustin describes combining GNU software with a normal PC to create a Unix-like workstation at one third the price and twice the power of aSun workstation. He relates his early dealings with venture capitalists, the eventual capitalization and commodification of Linux for his own company,VA Linux, and its IPO.
Brian Behlendorf, one of the original developers of the Apache HTTP Server, explains that he started to exchange patches for the NCSA web server daemon with other developers, which led to the release of "a patchy" webserver, dubbed Apache.
Frank Hecker of Netscape discusses the events leading up to Netscape's executives releasing the source code for Netscape's browser, one of the signal events which made open source a force to be reckoned with by business executives, the mainstream media, and the public at large.[1] This point was validated further after the film's release as the Netscape source code eventually became the Firefox web browser, reclaiming a large percentage of market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
The film also documents the scope of the first full-scale LinuxWorld Summit conference, with appearances by Linus Torvalds and Larry Augustin on the keynote stage.
Much of the footage for the film was shot in Silicon Valley.

Screenings[edit]
The film appeared in several film festivals including South by Southwest, the Atlanta Film and Video Festival, Boston Film Festival, and Denver International Film Festival; it won Best Documentary at both the Savannah Film and Video Festival and the Kudzu Film Festival.

Quotes[edit]
I bumped into him (Craig Mundie of Microsoft) in an elevator. I looked at his badge and said, "Ah, you work for Microsoft."
He looked back at me and said, “Oh yeah, and what do you do?”
And I thought it was some kind of tad dismissive, here is a guy in a suit looking at a scruffy hacker. . . so I gave him a thousand yard stare and said, "I am your worst nightmare!"
—Eric S. Raymond
Giving the Linus Torvalds award to the Free Software Foundation is sort of like giving the Han Solo award to the Rebel Fleet.
—Richard Stallman
. . . and I realised he had read my document and understood it, and was now telling the press about this. Now, if you're like just a guy on the net who's not doing this for a job at all and you sort of write a manifesto and it spreads out through the world, and a year later the Vice President of Microsoft is talking about that, you'd think you were on drugs, wouldn't you? But that's what really happened.
—Bruce Perens
Think of Richard Stallman as the great philosopher and think of me as the engineer.
—Linus Torvalds

Reception[edit]
Every review noted the historical significance of the information, and those that noticed found the production values high, but the presentation of history mainly too dry, even resembling a lecture. Ron Wells of Film Threat found the film important, worthwhile, and well thought out for explaining the principles of the free software and open source concepts. Noting its failure to represent on camera any debate with representatives of the proprietary software camp, Wells gave the film 4 of 5 stars.[2] TV Guide rated the film 3 of 4 stars: "surprisingly exciting", "fascinating" and "sharp looking" with a good soundtrack.[3] Daily Variety saw the film as "targeted equally at the techno-illiterate and the savvy-hacker crowd;" educating and patting one group on the head, and canonizing the other, but strong enough for an "enjoyable" recommendation.[4]
On the negative side, the New York Times faulted the film's one-sidedness, found its reliance on jargon "fairly dense going", and gave no recommendation.[5] Internet Reviews found it "a didactic and dull documentary glorifying software anarchy. Raging against Microsoft and Sun. . .", lacking follow-through on Red Hat and VALinux stock (in 2007, at 2% of peak value), with "lots of talking heads".[6] Toxicuniverse.com noted "Revolution OS blatantly serves as infomercial and propaganda. Bearded throwback to the sixties, hacker Richard Stallman serves as the movement's spiritual leader while Scandinavian Linus Torvalds acts as its mild mannered chief engineer (as developer of the Linux kernel)."[7]
To Tim Lord, reviewing for Slashdot, the film is interesting and worthy of viewing, with some misgivings: it is "about the growth of the free software movement, and its eventual co-option by the open source movement. . . it was supposed to be about Linux and its battle about Microsoft, but the movie is quickly hijacked by its participants." The film "lacks the staple of documentaries: scenes with multiple people that are later analyzed individually by each of the participants" (or indeed, much back-and-forth at all). Linux itself and its benefits are notably missing, and, "[w]e are never shown anyone using Linux, except for unhappy users at an Installfest." The debate over Linux vs Windows is missing, showing the origin of the OS only as a response to proprietary and expensive Sun and DEC software and hardware, and its growth solely due to the Apache web server. And Lord notes that the film shows, but does not challenge Torvalds or Stallman about their equally disingenuous remarks about the "Linux" vs "GNU/Linux" naming issue.

I chose Bill Gates because he is my role model. He inspires me because he is a very successful business man. Also, he is a great leader for his Microsoft Company, and he is very generous. Gates is not selfish; he cares about other people who need help because they have diseases and they are very poor. This paper will explain his life, economic life, and his great leadership.

Bill Gates was born on October 28, 1955. He was born into a family with a rich history of business, politics, and community service. Gates’ great-grandfather was the state legislator and mayor, and Gates’ grandfather was the vice-president for the national bank. William H. Gates, Bill Gates’ father, was the prominent, Seattle defensive lawyer. Mary Maxwell Gates, Bill Gates’ mother, was the school teacher and the chairperson for the United Way Charity.

During his elementary school life, he surpassed all of his classmates, especially in Science and Math. As soon as his parents noticed his intelligence, they enrolled Gates to Lakeside School, private school. This school was known for its intense academic environment. Also this school first introduced Gates to the computers. Bill Gates said, “When I was thirteen, my school (Lakeside School) installed a teletype machine that connected in downtown Seattle. From that point on, my friends and I spent most of our free time writing programs and figuring out how to make the computer do interesting things.”

Later, Gates was accepted to Harvard University. On January 1, 1994, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates married. Currently, they have three children: Jennifer Katherine Gates (born in 1996), Rory John Gates (born in 1999), and Phoebe Adelle Gates (born in 2002). In Harvard, he met Paul Allen, who became Gates’ close friend. They got obsessed with the computers that they were late to some of their classes. They even skipped some classes to be in the computer lab. Unfortunately, their computer time finished after spring. However, they didn’t graduate in Harvard.

Allen and Gates had to leave to devote their energy full-time to Microsoft which later became a very successful and thriving company. They had a belief that the personal computer would be a valuable too on every office desktop in every home. Gates and Allen began developing software for personal computers. They collaborated together to make the language BASIC on the first microcomputer, and on 1975, they started the Microsoft Company.

Currently, Bill Gates is the chairperson of Microsoft Company which was made in 1975 with Paul Allen. The reason why they made this company is that they wanted to develop software for personal computers. Because of this company, he is a very wealthy man. He earns about thirty billion dollars annually. He continuously works hard to make his Microsoft company better and convenient for the people, not only just Americans, but the whole world. He made the new computer operating system called “Wow.” Obviously, this system is very successful like all of his other works.

You might think that Bill Gates is the richest person in the world. The reason is that he has given out some of his money to charity and people with diseases (such as AIDS) around the world. First, Melinda and Bill tried to find what could have been the biggest impact and they thought of the health issue. Bill Gates and Melinda Gates formed a charity company called Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 1994. This organization helps to cure diseases like AIDS and malaria. This focuses most its efforts on long-term global. According to the Washington Post, Bill Gates is the most giving person in the world. I think that other rich people should donate their money to charity more.

Although I will never be rich as Bill Gates, I wish I could help everyone around the world who is need. Doing things for others, instead of only being concerned about yourself makes a good leader. When he was interviewed by a reporter named George Stephanopoulos, Bill said, “Well, I don't care whether I'm remembered. I do think that empowering people with the Internet and PCs is my lifetime's work. That's my job; I'm thrilled about that and the new things we can do there. It's also neat in terms of giving all this money back, to take my position where I've been, maybe, the luckiest person and help the people who have been unlucky to have better lives. I feel very fortunate to have found that and [to] be able to get engaged and hopefully energize that field as well.” This answer electrified me and all I said was, “Wow.” Bill Gates doesn’t care if he is the richest man alive or famous, all he did was try to help others and he became very successful. He thought of ways of developing software for personal computers (concerning about others). After all of the hard working of making computers, he still finds ways to earn money to help the people who are in need. Bill Gates is the person who I think is the best leader and I will always think that way.