Nadia Eghbal

A great book on the process of developing open source projects, how contributors manage their open source projects, and the current transition from funding for projects to funding for individual creators. It presents a compeling argument on the similarity between content creators and open source programmers, arguing that the main force driving open source development is the scarcity of contributors' attention.

This was a great look at open source from a philosophical and practical perspective. I appreciated the distinctions made between the product - the code - and the people behind the code.

A sociology-like breakdown of the entities and people that make up open source, culminating in studies on sustainability and funding.

Most books on the subject were written in the 90s or early 2000s when open source (and the books themselves) were obnoxious and totalitarian. In contrast today open source is not itself the point, and fairness and kindness are core values.

This book focuses more on the last 10 years since the rise of Github as de facto platform for open source. But the periods show more (then and now) are contrasted well in the book. show less