Plucker Projects

Free as in Freedom interweaves biographical snapshots of GNU project founder Richard Stallman with the political, social and economic history of the free software movement. It examines Stallman’s unique personality and how that personality has been at turns a driving force and a drawback in terms of the movement’s overall success.

Free as in Freedom examines one man’s 20-year attempt to codify and communicate the ethics of 1970s era “hacking” culture in such a way that later generations might easily share and build upon the knowledge of their computing forebears. The book documents Stallman’s personal evolution from teenage misfit to prescient adult hacker to political leader and examines how that evolution has shaped the free software movement. Like Alan Greenspan in the financial sector, Richard Stallman has assumed the role of tribal elder within the hacking community, a community that bills itself as anarchic and averse to central leadership or authority. How did this paradox come about? Free as in Freedom provides an answer.

It also looks at how the latest twists and turns in the software marketplace have diminished Stallman’s leadership role in some areas while augmenting it in others. Finally, Free as in Freedom examines both Stallman and the free software movement from historical viewpoint.

Will future generations see Stallman as a genius or crackpot? The answer to that question depends partly on which side of the free software debate the reader currently stands and partly upon the reader’s own outlook for the future. 100 years from now, when terms such as “computer,” “operating system” and perhaps even “software” itself seem hopelessly quaint, will Richard Stallman’s particular vision of freedom still resonate, or will it have taken its place alongside other utopian concepts on the ‘ash-heap of history?’

Below are some quick screenshots of the Free as in Freedom book from O’Reilly Media, Inc.

The Plucker versions of this book can be downloaded below:

9bd8d0a01c3ed922884a5a52a67e5d11  High-resolution, color
96bc1db6057bcb4f6bfe9480c565e039  Low-resolution, black & white
68c171062daa1532bbadde791d508cb3  Low-resolution, color

If you’d like to see other examples or screenshots of this quality, let me know.

1. Creating XPCOM Components book in Plucker format
2. Subversion book converted to Plucker format
3. War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells in Plucker Format

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