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It could also be argued that the personal computer movement in the Bay Area in the 1960s was anarchist-inspired. And lots of people consider Richard Stallman to be an anarchist. As for communists being influential on the development of the Internet, I just don't buy it. Chuck Munson Infoshop.org > http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/mydocs/computers/hackers.htm > > Some of the key pioneers in the personal computing revolution were not > driven by entrepeneurial greed. For example, the Community Memory > project in Berkeley, California was launched in 1973 by Lee Felsenstein. > The project allowed remote public access to a time-shared XDS mainframe > in order to provide "a communication system which allows people to make > contact with each other on the basis of mutually expressed interests, > without having to cede judgement to third parties." The Community Memory > project served as a kind of bulletin board where people could post > notes, information, etc., sort of like an embryonic version of the > Interenet. > > Felsenstein, born in 1945, was the son of a CP district organizer and > got involved in civil rights struggles in the 1950's. Eventually, he > hooked up with the Free Speech Movement at Berkeley and became a > committed radical. Lee's other passion was electronics and he entered > the UC as an electrical engineering major. > > Felsenstein then hooked up with another left-of-center computer hacker > by the name of Bob Halbrecht and the two went on to form a tabloid > called PCC "People's Computer Company". Among the people drawn to the > journal was Ted Nelson, a programmer who had bounced from one corporate > job to another throughout the 60's but who was always repelled by "the > incredible bleakness of the place in these corridors." > > Nelson was the author of "Computer Lib" and announced in its pages that > "I want to see computers useful to individuals, and the sooner the > better, without necessary complication or human servility being > required." Community Memory flourished for a year and a half until the > XDS started breaking down too often The group disbanded in 1975. > > The PCC continued, however, and played a key role in publicizing the > earliest personal computers. One of the machines that Felsenstein and > Halbrecht got their hands on was an Altair 8800, the first genuine > personal computer for sale to the public. > > So enamored of the idea of personal computing were Felsentsein and > Halbrecht that they then launched something called the Homebrew Computer > Club. The club drew together the initial corps of engineers and > programmers who would launch the personal computer revolution. Among the > participants were a couple of adolescents named Steven Jobs and Steve > Wozniak who went on to form the Apple Corporation. > > The hacker ethic which prevailed at the Homebrew Computer Club was > decidely anticapitalist, but not consciously pro-socialist. Software was > freely exchanged at the club and the idea of proprietary software was > anathema to the club members. There were 2 hackers who didn't share > these altruistic beliefs, namely Paul Allen and Bill Gates. When Allen > and Gates discovered that their version of Basic which was written for > the Altair was being distributed freely at the club, they rose hell. The > 19 year old Gates stated in a letter to the club that "Who can afford to > do professional work for nothing?" > > Another interesting example of the anticapitalist hacker ethic is > personified in one Richard Stallman. Stallman worked at the MIT > Artificial Intelligence Lab in the early 1970's and, no doubt influenced > by the spirit of the age, came to see the lab as the embodiment of a > philosophy which "does not mean advocating a dog-eat-dog jungle. > American society is already a dog-eat-dog jungle, and its rules maintain > it that way. We hackers wish to replace those rules with a concern for > constructive cooperation." > > Stallman developed EMACS, the most widely used Unix text editor, and > went on to form the GNU foundation which distributes EMACS and other > free software. When you press ctrl-x, ctrl-w upon entering EMACS, you > can read a statement of the GNU foundation which includes the following > words "If you distribute copies of a program, whether gratis or for a > fee, you must give the recipients all the rights you have. You must make > sure that they, too, receive or get the source code." Can one imagine > Microsoft Inc. issuing a statement such as this? >