New Book, After the Software Wars

Hi;
I've just written a book I think you will find interesting!

Here is the start:
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Given the technology that's already available, we should have cars that
drive us around, in absolute safety, while we lounge in the back and sip
champagne. All we need is a video camera on the roof, plugged into a PC,
right? We have all the necessary hardware, and have had it for years, but
don't yet have robot-driven cars because we don't have the software. This
book explains how we can build better software and all get our own high-tech
chauffeur.

The key to faster technological progress is the more widespread use of free
software. Free versus proprietary (or non-free) software is similar to the
divide between science and alchemy. Before science, there was alchemy, where
people guarded their ideas because they wanted to corner the market on the
means to convert lead into gold. The downside of this "strategy" is that
everyone would have to learn for themselves that drinking mercury is a bad
idea. The end of the Dark Ages arrived when man started to share
advancements in math and science for others to use and improve upon. In
fact, one way to look at history is to divide it between periods of progress
and stagnation.

Computers are an advancement whose importance is comparable to the invention
of the wheel or movable type. While computers and the Internet have already
changed many aspects of our lives, we still live in the dark ages of
computing because proprietary software is still the dominant model. One
might say that the richest alchemist who ever lived is my former boss, Bill
Gates. (Oracle founder Larry Ellison, and Google co-founders Sergey Brin and
Larry Page are close behind.)
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The book talks about why Microsoft is toast, implications for Google, why
software is unreliable today, the Java mess, patents and copyright, Ubuntu,
remaining challenges for free software, and many other things.

I'm a former Microsoft programmer of 11 years, and I'm one of a few people
who've studied the MS and non-MS worlds.

The book is available on Lulu for a free PDF download right now, or a paper
copy: http://www.lulu.com/content/4964815

Kind regards,

-Keith