Revolution OS is a 2001 documentary which traces the history of GNU, Linux, and the open source and free software movements. This is the story of people who rebelled against the proprietary software model and Microsoft to create GNU/Linux and the Open Source movement. It features several interviews with well-known hackers and entrepreneurs, including Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman and many others.
On June 1, 2001, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said "Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches." Microsoft fears GNU/Linux, and rightly so. GNU/Linux and the Open Source & Free Software movements arguably represent the greatest threat to Microsoft's way of life. Shot in cinemascope on 35mm film in Silicon Valley, Revolution OS tracks down the key movers and shakers behind Linux, and finds out how and why Linux became such a potent threat.
Linus Torvalds is interviewed on his development of the Linux kernel as well as on the GNU/Linux naming controversy and Linux's further evolution, including its commercialization. Richard Stallman remarks on some of the ideological aspects of open source vis-á-vis Communism and capitalism and well as on several aspects of the development of GNU/Linux.
Companies such as Hewlett-Packard, IBM, Oracle, Wipro, Ogilvy & Mather, OSTG, and Dreamworks Animation have rented REVOLUTON OS for private theatrical screenings. It has also screened in numerous film festivals including South By Southwest Film Festival, the Atlanta Film & Video Festival, Boston Film Festival, and Denver International Film Festival. REVOLUTION OS won Best Documentary at both the Savannah Film & Video Festival and the Kudzu Film Festival.
REVOLUTION OS is available in the 35 mm motion picture format and runs 85 minutes. Now it is also shipping on DVD.
