Philosophy

"The Cathedral and the Bazaar"
by Eric Raymond
This account of Raymond's first-hand experience developing an email app via the collaborative bazaar method is the undisputed classic of Open Source movement. At its best, the essay is a meditation on the necessary principles of OS -- "every good software starts by scratching a developer's personal itch," "if you have the right attitude, interesting problems will find you." In the middle, the paper gets bogged down somewhat in mechanics of programming ("...Getting the RFC 822 parsing right took me a remarkably long time..."), but rewards you with excellent concluding chapters.

Free Software Foundation
"Copyleft: Pragmatic Idealism"
"Why Software Should be Free"
"Some Confusing or Loaded Words and Phrases that are Worth Avoiding"
by Richard Stallman
Stallman is the rhetorician to Raymond's friendly mechanic. These three papers detail the Free Software Foundation's outright political objective of keeping code publicly available and keeping our language in line. Stallman is undoubtedly a rigorous, precise thinker and skilled at debunking people's assumptions and misapprehensions about free software. But he may be too abstract for most. At one point he quotes Václav Havel: "Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed." It's not something entrepreneurs will take to easily, but all movements need a Marx.

Journalism

Release 1.0
The Open Source Revolution
Written by Tim O'Reilly, Open Source proselytizer and publisher of the essential user manuals to Perl and other languages, this November issue from Release 1.0 does an excellent job of sketching out the history of Open Source and laying out the available business models. As esteemed as it is, Release 1.0 can occasionally seem flat and dry. O'Reilly, along with a handful of other contributors, has provided a lucid and brisk primer on the movement.

Salon Magazine
Out of everything we looked at, Andrew Leonard, the 21st section senior writer, has done an invaluable and expert job covering many aspects of Open Source. He is due some serious props.
"The Saint of Free Software"
This article offers a sympathetic and often amusing portrait of Richard Stallman, the genesis of the Free Software Foundation, and Stallman's tricky relationship with "open source."
"The Joy of Perl"
A profile of Larry Wall and the ascent of Perl.
"Apache's Free-Software Warriors"
A look at the history and popularity of the free software, Apache Web server.
"The Little Operating System That Could"
This piece considers the mainstream, commercial prospects for Linux, focusing on the development of a desktop interface for the average, non-techie consumer. Leonard looks at the success of companies like VA Research, which sells PCs pre-loaded with Linux, and Linux distributors like Red Hat and Caldera.
"You've Got Sendmail"
A feature on Eric Allman's decision to turn his sendmail server application into a commercial business.

Newsweek
"Code Warriors"
by Steven Levy
A breezy and polished piece on the movement, from one of the godfathers of tech journalism.

Forbes
"For the Love of Hacking"
by Josh McHugh
A good history of Linux, with fresh nuggets of information here and there. This issue, with Linus Torvalds on the cover, brought Linux to the attention of the business community for the first time.

Open Source Initiative
Halloween Documents
by Eric Raymond
These are the intra-Microsoft white papers on the threat of Linux and Open Source, exposed that last fall by Raymond. The multi-colored annotations can make reading them somewhat difficult, but definitely worth a look, if only for the aggressive honesty of the Voice of Redmond ("Blunting OSS attacks" and "Beating Linux" are titles to two chapter rubrics.) Raymond's extensive commentary is always illuminating.

Installation

Slashdot.org
"Descent into Linux"
by Jon Katz Part I, Part II
Katz, an author and ex-Hotwired alum, has faced harsh, criticism of his garrulous style from the readers at "news for nerds" site Slashdot.org (Often referred to as "/.") But you've got to give him credit -- he faces down the flames, easily admits his ignorances, and carries on regardless. These pair of essays are just the beginning of Katz's attempt at an install of Linux. But they offer a intimate, first-person account of the task.

Forbes Digital Tool
"Bill Doesn't Live Here Anymore" by Michael DeVonish
A more business-oriented article (given its origins), but resolutely determined to get Windows off the machine.

Salon
"User Friendly?"
by Andrew Leonard
Three trials and tribulations of getting Linux up and running.

Timelines

News.com
Freeware timeline from late 1983 up until January 1998

OpenSource.org
Timeline of Open Source effort, January 22 to November 1998

Forbes Digital Tool
Timetable of Linux Growth

Resources

Linux
Linux Weekly News
Linux Resources
Linux Gazette
Slashdot

General
Free Software Foundation
OpenSource.org

Applications
Apache
Perl
Sendmail
GIMP
GNOME

Companies

Cyngus Solutions
RedHat
O'Reilly & Associates