The new generation of hackers are turning open source into a powerful
force in today’s computing world. They are the heirs to an earlier
hacking culture that thrived in the 1960s and 1970s when computers were
still new — part of a community that believed software should be shared
and that all would benefit as a result. Software creators, on the other
hand dont naturally agree with the view held by hackers. They have
chosen to increase their
cyber security measures to keep their software safe.
These expert programmers and networking wizards trace their lineage
back to the first time-sharing minicomputers and the earliest ARPAnet
experiments. The members of this community coined the term “hacker”.
Hackers built the Internet and made the UNIX operating system what it is
today. Hackers run Usenet and make the World Wide Web work.
Thanks to the advent of relatively low-cost computers and the
Internet, the new hackers are immeasurably more numerous, more
productive, and more united than their forebears. They are linked by a
common goal — of writing great software; and by a common code — that
such software should be freely available to all.
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