Revolution OS

infobox film
name = Revolution OS


caption = Promotional poster for two disc edition of "Revolution OS"
director = J. T. S. Moore
producer = J. T. S. Moore
writer = J. T. S. Moore
starring = Richard Stallman
Linus Torvalds
Eric S. Raymond
Bruce Perens
music = Christopher Anderson-Bazzoli
editing = J. T. S. Moore
released = 2001
runtime = 85 min
country = United States
language = English
amg_id = 261234
imdb_id = 0308808
website = http://www.revolution-os.com/

"Revolution OS" is a 2001 documentary film made in the United States, directed by J. T. S. Moore, which traces the twenty-year history of GNU, Linux, open source, and the free software movement.

It features interviews with prominent hackers and entrepreneurs (and hackers-"cum"-entrepreneurs), including Richard Stallman, Michael Tiemann, Linus Torvalds, Larry Augustin, Eric S. Raymond, Bruce Perens, Frank Hecker and Brian Behlendorf.

Synopsis

The film begins "in medias res", with glimpses of Raymond, a Linux IPO, Torvalds, the idea of Open Source, Perens, Stallman, then sets the historical stage in the early days of hackers and computer hobbyists when code was shared freely. It discusses how change came in 1978 as Bill Gates, in his Open Letter to Hobbyists, pointedly prodded hobbyists to pay up. Stallman relates his struggles with closed-source vendors at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, leading to his departure to focus on the development of free software, and the GNU project.

Torvalds describes the development of the Linux kernel, the GNU/Linux naming controversy, Linux's further evolution and its commercialization.

Raymond and Stallman clarify the philosophy of free software vs Communism and capitalism, and development stages of Linux.

Michael Tiemann discusses how he met Stallman in 1987, got an early version of Stallman's GCC, and founded Cygnus Solutions.

Larry Augustin describes combining GNU software with a normal PC to create a UNIX-like workstation which cost one third the price of a Sun workstation even though it was twice as powerful. He relates his early dealings with venture capitalists, the eventual capitalization and commodification of Linux for his own company, VA Linux, and its IPO.

Brian Behlendorf, one of the original developers of the Apache HTTP Server, explains how he started to exchange patches for the NCSA Web-Server daemon with other developers and how this led to the release of "a patchy" webserver, Apache.

Frank Hecker of Netscape discusses how it came to be that Netscape executives released the source code for Netscape's browser, one of the signal events which made Open Source a force to be reckoned with by business executives, the mainstream media, and the public at large. [ [http://www.openoffice.org/editorial/ec1May.html Community Articles: Interview: Frank Hecker] Openoffice.org. Louis Suárez-Potts, May 1, 2001. Retrieved 2007-04-22.]

The film also documents the scope of the first full-scale LinuxWorld Summit conference, with appearances by Linus Torvalds and Larry Augustin on the keynote stage.

Much of the footage for the film was shot in Silicon Valley.

Screenings

The film appeared in several film festivals including South by Southwest, the Atlanta Film and Video Festival, Boston Film Festival, and Denver International Film Festival; it won Best Documentary at both the Savannah Film and Video Festival and the Kudzu Film Festival.

The second DVD of the two-disc special edition from ThinkGeek, contains uncut versions of the interviews.

Quotes

quote|I bumped into him (Craig Mundie of Microsoft) in an elevator. I looked at his badge and said, "ah, you work for Microsoft."
He looked back at me and said, “Oh ya, and what do you do?”
And I thought it was some kind of tad dismissive, here is a guy in a suit looking at a scruffy hacker... so I gave him a thousand yard stare and said, "I am your worst nightmare!"|Eric S. Raymond

Reception

Critical reviews varied widely, from approval to dismissive – including Internet reviewers, the composite is neutral to negative. Every review noted the historical significance of the information, and those that noticed found the production values high, but the presentation of history mainly too dry, even resembling a lecture. Ron Wells of "Film Threat" found the film important, worthwhile, and well thought out for explaining the principles of the free software and open source concepts. Noting its failure to represent on camera any debate with representatives of the proprietary software camp, Wells gave the film 4 of 5 stars. [ [http://www.filmthreat.com/index.php?section=reviews&Id=1820 Revolution OS] "Film Threat". Ron Wells, February 21, 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-23.] "TV Guide" rated the film 3 of 4 stars: "surprisingly exciting", "fascinating" and "sharp looking" with a good soundtrack. [ [http://tvguide.com/movies/revolution-os/review/135794 Review - Revolution OS] "TV Guide.com." 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-22.] "Daily Variety" saw the film as "targeted equally at the techno-illiterate and the savvy-hacker crowd;" educating and patting one group on the head, and canonizing the other, but strong enough for an "enjoyable" recommendation. [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117917117.html?categoryid=31&cs=1&p=0 Revolution OS] Review. "Daily Variety". Scott Foundas, March 1, 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-22.]

On the negative side, the "New York Times" faulted the film's one-sidedness, found its reliance on jargon "fairly dense going", and gave no recommendation. [ [http://movies2.nytimes.com/mem/movies/review.html?_r=2&title1=&title2=Revolution%20Os%20%28Movie%29&reviewer=Stephen%20Holden&v_id=261234&pdate=&partner=Rotten%20Tomatoes&oref=slogin&oref=login Heroes and Villains on a Cyberbattlefield] "New York Times". Stephen Holden, February 22, 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-22] "Internet Reviews" found it "a didactic and dull documentary glorifying software anarchy. Raging against Microsoft and Sun…", lacking follow-through on Red Hat and VALinux stock (in 2007, at 2% of peak value), with "lots of talking heads". [ [http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1127195/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=1&rid=754925http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1127195/reviews.php?critic=columns&sortby=default&page=1&rid=754925 Revolution OS (2003)] "InternetReviews.com". Steve Rhodes. Retrieved 2007-04-22.] "Toxicuniverse.com" noted "Revolution OS blatantly serves as infomercial and propaganda. Bearded throwback to the sixties, hacker Richard Stallman serves as the movement's spiritual leader while Scandinavian Linus Torvalds acts as its mild mannered chief engineer (as developer of the operating system kernel)." [ [http://www.toxicuniverse.com/review.php?rid=10005579 Introduction to Linux 101] "ToxicUniverse.com". John Nesbit, April 07, 2004. Retrieved 2007-04-22.]

To Tim Lord, reviewing for "Slashdot", the film is interesting and worthy of viewing, with some misgivings: it is "about the growth of the free software movement, and its eventual co-option by the open source movement… it was supposed to be about Linux and its battle about Microsoft, but the movie is quickly hijacked by its participants." The film "lacks the staple of documentaries: scenes with multiple people that are later analyzed individually by each of the participants" (or indeed, much back-and-forth at all). Linux itself and its benefits are notably missing, and, " [w] e are never shown anyone using Linux, except for unhappy users at an Installfest." The debate over Linux vs Windows is missing, showing the origin of the OS only as a response to proprietary and expensive Sun and DEC software and hardware, and its growth solely due to the Apache web server. And Lord notes that the film shows, but does not challenge Torvalds or Stallman about their equally disingenuous remarks about the "Linux" vs "GNU/Linux" naming issue. [ [http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/19/1255213 Revolution OS Review] "Slashdot.org." Tim Lord "(timothy)", April 19, 2002. Retrieved 2007-04-22.]

References

External links

* [http://www.revolution-os.com/ Documentary home page]
*
* [http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/04/19/1255213 Revolution OS] Slashdot (20 April, 2002)
*
*