Open Source Software: A History

In the 30 years from 1970-2000, open source software began as an assumption without a name or a clear alternative. It has evolved into a sophisticated movement which has produced some of the most stable and widely used software packages ever produced. This paper traces the evolution of three operating systems: GNU, BSD, and Linux, as well as the communities which have evolved with these systems and some of the commonly-used software packages developed using the open source model. It also discusses some of the major figures in open source software, and defines both “free software” and “open source software.