Essays
David A. Wheeler
April 16th, 2003
(Links to off-site article)
This paper provides quantitative data that, in many cases, using open
source software / free software is a reasonable or even superior
approach to using their proprietary competition according to various
measures. The author’s goal is to show that you should consider
using OSS/FS when acquiring software. The paper examines market share,
reliability, performance, scalability, security, and total cost of
ownership.
December 28th, 2002
A tutorial on the GNU GPL. What are the benefits of using the GPL as
your next license? The pitfalls? Is the GPL "viral"?
December 28th, 2002
Is Open Source good for your business?
April 19th, 2001
A letter regarding a hybrid design methodology (FCD) that is very
similar to the techniques used in my own Project Life Cycle methodology. This was published
in IEEE's Computer magazine. I've also included here a
description of some correspondence between myself and the authors of
FCD.
April 18th 2001
A lament about throwing away perfectly good technologies in favor of
the latest and greatest. Sometimes, the simplest solutions are best.
April 19th, 2000
This article was published on osOpinion.com. It's a bit of a rant
about HTML EMBED tags.
Dec 2000
Commentary on the Linux in the
Enterprise essay. People who didn't like the essay oughtta
love this... it's full of corrections and responses to reader
criticism.
Oct 2000
This essay first appeared on osOpinion in and I was immediately
deluged with responses, mostly positive, pointing out errors and
inconsistencies. Obviously, my goal is not to combat FUD with more of
the same, so I've placed the essay on my own website and I revised
it in the face of the criticism.
An account of the 4th Annual Linux Expo, held in Durham, NC,
A bit of reference material describing ancient Celtic alphabets.
A bit of reference material describing the differences between various
Greek alphabets, including a description of how numbers are
represented in Ancient Greek.