Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary

The story of the open source movement

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. The Cathedral & the Bazaar: Musings on Linux and Open Source by an Accidental Revolutionary launched in 2015; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   The Unsplash Book▲107

   The world's first 'fully' open source book

   2015 · kickstarter.com · its alternatives →

2. 2
   Startupland▲118

   The story of Zendesk: From idea to IPO

   2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

3. 3
   The Misfit Economy▲68

   Lessons in creativity from pirates & hackers

   2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

4. 4
   The Art of Community▲70

   Awesome open source book to manage communities in general

   2016 · artofcommunityonline.org · its alternatives →

5. 5
   RancherOS▲59

   A minimalist distribution of Linux

   2015 · rancher.com · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Without Permission▲147

   Lessons learned from reddit, hipmunk & YC - in book form!

   2014 · withouttheirpermission.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   Valley Speak▲94

   Deciphering the jargon of Silicon Valley

   2016 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Startup Rising▲60

   Inspiring stories from unlikely sources in the Arab world

   2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

9. 9
   Fosshub▲79

   An open source for free and open source tools

   2015 · fosshub.com · its alternatives →

10. 10
    Laverna▲153

    An open source Evernote alternative

    2017 · laverna.cc · its alternatives →

11. 11
    Discourse▲43

    New open source discussion platform from Jeff Atwood.

    2014 · discourse.org · its alternatives →

12. 12
    How Music Got Free▲67

    The end of an industry and the patient zero of piracy

    2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

13. 13
    Fog Creek - The Problems with Open Source ▲70

    And how to fix them with Justin Searls

    2015 · soundcloud.com · its alternatives →

14. 14
    Design Noir: The Secret Life of Electronic Objects▲60

    Conceptual products & alternate narratives of gadget culture

    2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

15. 15
    Memoire En Code▲82

    An autobiography told through a series of interactive games

    2015 · alexkalopsia.itch.io · its alternatives →

16. 16
    Coders at Work: Reflections on the Craft of Programming▲70

    Interviews with the 15 most interesting computer programmers

    2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

17. 17
    Platform Revolution ▲79

    How networked markets are transforming the economy

    2016 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

18. 18
    Developer Ipsum▲110

    Lorem for nerds

    2021 · developer-ipsum.netlify.app · its alternatives →

19. 19
    ReadMe.io▲39

    A Developer Hub for your open source software

    2014 · readme.com · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Eve▲79

    Better tools for thought

    2015 · witheve.com · its alternatives →

21. 21
    Hardware Hacker▲63

    Adventures in Making and Breaking Hardware

    2016 · nostarch.com · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Frankly▲101

    A dashboard of issues and PRs across GitHub repositories.

    2016 · github.com · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Design for Hackers▲78

    Visual design, deconstructed

    2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Mythical Man Month▲68

    Essays on Software Engineering

    2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →