Samizdat (book) - Arguments of The Book

Arguments of The Book

Samizdat claims that Linus Torvalds used source code taken from Minix, a small Unix-like operating system used in teaching computer science, to create Linux 0.01, on the theory that no mere student could write an entire Unix-like kernel single-handedly.

The book also recommends that government-funded programming should never be licensed under the GPL, but under the BSD license or similar simple permissive licenses. It states that the US government should:

• "Work vigorously to create a true 'free source' code capability program at universities and colleges. This program should go to promote true open source projects, not hybrid source projects like the GPL and Linus . The federal government should support a $5 billion budget over ten years to produce a free source code project in partnership with the IT industry and other governments interested in promoting increased computers science research and development. This effort would be a benefit to academia, the private sector, and the IT economy."
• "Actively study the taxpayer return on investment (TORI0) from government funded governmental research and development at colleges and universities."
• "Increase the US Patent and Trademark Office budget to properly support the anticipated growth in intellectual property filings by the public as a result of the 'open source' program at colleges and universities."
• "Increase financial incentives for corporations to participate in an open source program at colleges and universities."