The Cathedral and the Bazaar is an essay written by Eric Steven Raymond in the 1990's. In the essay he talks about two different styles of development called the "Cathedral" and the "Bazaar" style. The closed style or "Cathedral" is a style of development that is probably completed by a major companies similar to that of Microsoft with its Windows operating system. It takes multiple years for a new version to come out on the market and is professionally tested by a tight group with allot of money. I think personally myself I would consider Red Hat or Fedora developed through the "Cathedral" style of development. In the Linux world it is more peer to peer based. Different versions of Linux have a shorter release time because since it is an open source software, and receives allot of customer feedback anybody can mold the software to their needs and feel it should be released to others with the possibility of the same need. This simulates a "Bazaar" or open style because anybody can get involved and make any modifications they would like to see.
Mr. Raymond and I have something in common. Beer, Parties, and Women!
