While the GP is completely off-base with their analogy, the Wikipedia summary is so simplified to the point of missing all the arguments made in the original essay.
>No quiet, reverent cathedral-building here—rather, the Linux community seemed to resemble a great babbling bazaar of differing agendas and approaches (aptly symbolized by the Linux archive sites, who'd take submissions from anyone) out of which a coherent and stable system could seemingly emerge only by a succession of miracles.
> The fact that this bazaar style seemed to work, and work well, came as a distinct shock. As I learned my way around, I worked hard not just at individual projects, but also at trying to understand why the Linux world not only didn't fly apart in confusion but seemed to go from strength to strength at a speed barely imaginable to cathedral-builders.
It then goes on to analyze why this worked at all, and if the successful bazaar-style model can be replicated (it can).
If you're a software developer and especially if you're doing open source, CATB is still worth a read today. It's free on the author's website: http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/cathedral-bazaar/cathedral...
From the introduction:
>No quiet, reverent cathedral-building here—rather, the Linux community seemed to resemble a great babbling bazaar of differing agendas and approaches (aptly symbolized by the Linux archive sites, who'd take submissions from anyone) out of which a coherent and stable system could seemingly emerge only by a succession of miracles.
> The fact that this bazaar style seemed to work, and work well, came as a distinct shock. As I learned my way around, I worked hard not just at individual projects, but also at trying to understand why the Linux world not only didn't fly apart in confusion but seemed to go from strength to strength at a speed barely imaginable to cathedral-builders.
It then goes on to analyze why this worked at all, and if the successful bazaar-style model can be replicated (it can).