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This is a book about Free Software, also known as Open Source
Software, and is meant for anyone who wants to understand the
cultural significance of Free Software. Two Bits explains how Free
Software works and how it emerged in tandem with the Internet as
both a technical and a social form. Understanding Free Software in
detail is the best way to understand many contentious and confusing
changes related to the Internet, to commons, to software, and
to networks. Whether you think first of e-mail, Napster, Wikipedia,
MySpace, or Flickr; whether you think of the proliferation of databases,
identity thieves, and privacy concerns; whether you think
of traditional knowledge, patents on genes, the death of scholarly
publishing, or compulsory licensing of AIDS medicine; whether
you think of MoveOn.org or net neutrality or YouTubethe issues
raised by these phenomena can be better understood by looking
carefully at the emergence of Free Software.