Talks at the International Computer Science Institute

The International Computer Science Institute
is pleased to present a talk:


A Brief History of Sendmail and Open Source Software

Eric Allman
Sendmail, Inc.

Monday, July 9, 2001
ICSI, Rm 607
4:00-5:00 pm

Abstract:

Sendmail is one of the oldest and best known examples of Open Source Software. Originally written at U.C. Berkeley in the early 1980s, before the Internet even existed, it has remained the dominant Mail Transfer Agent to this day.

In this talk I will talk about the early days of sendmail at Berkeley: how did it come to be, why did it succeed. In some very significant ways, sendmail succeeded for the same reasons that commercial software packages succeed: it worked, solved a real problem, and remained responsive to customer needs.

These lessons can be generalized to Open Source Software in general. Success is not based on being a bazaar, or having many people hack on the code. It is based on producing code that works, that solves users' (customers') problems, and in adapting to a changing world.

This talk will be held in the Main Lecture Hall at ICSI.
1947 Center Street, Sixth Floor, Berkeley, CA 94704-1198
(on Center between Milvia and Martin Luther King Jr. Way)
Click here for a map

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