After the Software Wars

November 16, 2010
author |
Keith Cary Curtis
year published |
2009

Keithcu Press | Given currently available technology, we should already have cars that drive us around in absolute safety, leaving us to lounge comfortably in the back while sipping champagne. We have all the hardware — the video cameras, motion sensors and high powered computers — and we’ve had this technology for decades. So why don’t cars drive themselves?

The answer is that we don’t have the software. The software that will accomplish this vision will not be built by corporations like Microsoft and Apple, who are actually impeding technological progress — it will be built by the global community.

Free software is a bit like Wikipedia, which over 2.5 years grew from nothing into the world’s largest encyclopedia. Free software is better for the free market, as free speech is better for the free market. Programmers can make money and businesses can lower costs by using free software. After the Software Wars explains why this is true, what is still missing in this vision, and how everyone can be involved. This book puts technology in context and is a must-read for anyone who has Microsoft on their desktop or owns Microsoft stock.