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Elements of Operating System and Internet History: A FreeBSD Rationale
![[Elements of Operating System and Internet History: A FreeBSD Rationale]](mgr_intro_title.jpg)
Contact the author directly with remarks or errata at brucem@cruzio.com.
Jacket text:
This book contains a non-technical introduction to the FreeBSD operating system, followed by elements of history relevant to FreeBSD. This book contains a rationale for adopting FreeBSD and an introduction to open source and open source licensing. This book can also serve as a survey of how operating systems and Internet engineering came to be the way they are today.
Preface
This book is divided into three parts.
Part I, FreeBSD: Executive Summary, can be read as a stand-alone document. It serves as an introduction to FreeBSD and provides a rationale for adopting FreeBSD, when appropriate. This summary is intended primarily for relevant decision makers who are unfamiliar with FreeBSD.
Part II, Unix History, Open Source, and FreeBSD, provides an abbreviated history of Unix, open source, and open source licensing. This material is presented from a FreeBSD perspective and is intended primarily to augment Part I with additional background material, developed in greater depth. Particular emphasis is placed on open source licensing considerations.
Part III, Historical Trivia Relevant to FreeBSD, contains a number of historical items selected to further illuminate some reasons why things came to be the way they are in contemporary operating system and Internet engineering. Although the FreeBSD perspective is again present, Part III can be read as a general history of operating systems, Unix, open source, and the Internet.
Although numerous people have contributed to this book in many ways, special thanks are due to Chane Fullmer and Brad Smith. Chane Fullmer first prompted me to collect very rough material into a form somewhat recognizable as a book. Brad Smith read and commented on a draft of the entire book. Thanks are also due to a number of students at UC Santa Cruz and IIT Kharagpur, who contributed to the motivation to develop this material.
Remarks
Have you ever needed a manager’s introduction to FreeBSD? Are you a grad student who has never worked with open source operating systems before and needs an overview of what this is all about? Are you a researcher wondering which license to use for your next research project? Are you attempting to convince your boss to adopt FreeBSD or another BSD operating system? Are you just interested in the history of Unix, the Internet, open source, software licensing, and FreeBSD? If any of these apply, you might want this book.
The first two parts of this book are likely of interest to anyone contemplating adopting an open source operating system or an open source license. This book takes an unabashed (but hopefully objective) perspective in favor of the BSD license. The first two parts of this book are intended to answer the question ``Why adopt FreeBSD?'' and ``Why use a BSD license?'' This argument is largely developed in historical terms.
The third part of this book contains many brief descriptions of the backgrounds of various items relevant to FreeBSD, operating systems, licensing issues, and the Internet. This part of the book can be considered a brief walk through the history of the field. This part is technically detailed and is likely of most interest to those with some technical understanding of operating systems and programming and with some interest in how technical details came to be the way they are today.
The historical stories in the third part of this book provide an introduction to many terms and concepts relevant to the operating system and networking fields. Students may find this part of the book of interest, in particular with respect to the development of older terminology. It has been said that there are 3 ways to teach mathematics: top-down from first principles, bottom-up based on exercise sets, or following the historical development of a field. The human mind seems to be rather good at following and remembering stories; for many people this is an effective approach. Furthermore, in some fields it is necessary to understand historical developments for the field as a whole to make sense. Students and others that favor the historical approach should find the third part of this book of interest.
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