Is our Community Really a Community? -- Linux as a Social Movement

The use of the phrase "Linux Community" has come to be well known and often used. Due to the widespread accessability and growing popularity of the Linux Operating System, the users, contributors, and enthusiasts who make up this community are diverse in most every way. With an ever-expanding following, comparisons of this social community to others– those that exist now, as well as those that came before– are unavoidable. Members have the ability to communicate regularly in ways that were not available just fifteen years ago, making the Linux Community one that challenges previously held notions of “society” and “community.” How do members stay connected, and how do they rely on one another? The aim of this research is to examine the Linux Community from a purely Sociological perspective, theorizing on the preceding questions while posing others, in order to illustrate Linux as a social movement.