This is a really great essay. I go back and read it every year or so. There is actually an 'updated' version, not done by Stephenson but with his blessing. It takes into account the rise of OS X (which Stephenson loves) and updates some of the other arguments. Here is the updated text http://garote.bdmonkeys.net/commandline/index.html
This is an incredible essay by one of today's leading techgnostic writers. It's the earliest writing I know of that talks about the commoditization of software regarding open source projects.
The "Halloween documents" (I and II) by Vinod Valloppillil and Josh Cohen were talking about it the previous year: they were written and leaked in 1998.
"This page originally continued with an anti-Microsoft jeremiad. On reflection, however, I think I'd prefer to finish by thanking the principal authors, Vinod Valloppillil and Josh Cohen, for authoring such remarkable and effective testimonials to the excellence of Linux and open-source software in general. I suspect that historians may someday regard the Halloween memoranda as your finest hour, and the Internet community certainly owes you a vote of thanks."
