Andy Oram

http://twitter.com/praxagora

Editor

Areas of Expertise:

  • free and open source software
  • health IT
  • writing

Andy Oram is an editor at O'Reilly Media, a highly respected book publisher and technology information provider. An employee of the company since 1992, Andy currently specializes in open source, software engineering, and health IT, but his editorial output has ranged from a legal guide covering intellectual property to a graphic novel about teenage hackers. His work for O'Reilly includes the influential 2001 title Peer-to-Peer, the 2005 ground-breaking book Running Linux, and the 2007 best-seller Beautiful Code.

Andy also writes often for O'Reilly's Radar site (http://radar.oreilly.com/) and other publications on policy issues related to the Internet and on trends affecting technical innovation and its effects on society. Print publications where his work has appeared include The Economist, Communications of the ACM, Copyright World, the Journal of Information Technology & Politics, Vanguardia Dossier, and Internet Law and Business. His web site is www.praxagora.com/andyo.

Making Software Making Software
by Andy Oram , Greg Wilson
October 2010
Print: $44.99
Ebook: $35.99

Beautiful Security Beautiful Security
April 2009
Print: $39.99
Ebook: $31.99

Beautiful Code Beautiful Code
by Andy Oram , Greg Wilson
June 2007
Print: $44.99
Ebook: $35.99

Peer-to-Peer Peer-to-Peer
by Nelson Minar , Marc Hedlund , Clay Shirky , Tim O'Reilly , Dan Bricklin , David Anderson , Jeremie Miller , Adam Langley , Gene Kan , Alan Brown , Marc Waldman , Lorrie Faith Cranor , Aviel Rubin , Roger Dingledine , Michael Freedman , David Molnar , Rael Dornfest , Dan Brickley , Theodore Hong , Richard Lethin , Jon Udell , Nimisha Asthagiri , Walter Tuvell , Brandon Wiley
February 2001
Print: $29.95

Programming with GNU Software Programming with GNU Software
by Andy Oram , Mike Loukides
December 1996
Print: $39.95

Managing Projects with make Managing Projects with make
by Andy Oram , Steve Talbott
Second Edition October 1991
OUT OF PRINT

Recent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts

Andy blogs at:
http://beautifulcode.oreillynet.com/
http://radar.oreilly.com/data/
http://oreilly.com/blogs/

Small Massachusetts HIT conference returns to big issues in health care

February 06 2012

The real reason hospitals haven't joined health information exchanges, and other reports from the Massachusetts Heath Data Consortium's annual conference. read more

A discussion with David Farber: bandwidth, cyber security, and the obsolescence of the Internet

January 30 2012

I pumped Farber for big ideas about where the Internet is headed: how long it can last, slaying the bandwidth bottleneck, and waiting for the big breach. read more

Massachusetts Open Checkbook: running through the ledger of choices and challenges in open government

January 20 2012

A tour of the new Massachusetts spending site, accolades and critiques from leading open government advocates, and an examination of it takes to produce data you can query for useful information. read more

Medical imaging in the cloud: a conversation about eMix

January 16 2012

It's a situation crying out for networked transfer, but HIPAA requires careful attention to security and privacy. read more

What would you like policy-makers to know about computing? Brian Kernighan's solution

December 29 2011

Brian W. Kernighan has been working for years to see that policy-makers knos a thing or two about the Internet, and now he has written a book called D is for Digital: What a well-informed person ought to know about computers and and communications. read more

HealthTap's growth validates hypotheses about doctors and patients

December 10 2011

HealthTap has revealed two interesting and perhaps unexpected traits about doctors: they will take the time to post information online for free, and they are willing to rate each other. read more

Could closed core prove a more robust model than open core?

December 01 2011

The closed core model requires businesses to determine where their unique value lies and to be generous in offering the public extra code that supports their infrastructure but does not drive revenue. This model may prove more robust and lasting than open core, which attracts companies occupying minor positions in… read more

Intellectual Property Strategy: a book, a panel, and a movement

November 23 2011

The speakers, who included household names of the free culture movement such as Lawrence Lessig and Eric von Hippel, emphasized the culture shift that is breaking the seemingly iron grip of current policies that favor wealthy companies with portfolios of patents and copyrights. But I think even these speakers failed… read more

VoIP Drupal reaches out to the developing world

November 21 2011

The VoIP modules form a door through which Drupal can move into a vast world of touch tone telephones, smart telephones, and text messaging, and therefore toward integrating a huge range of users in developing regions who use those technologies instead of desktop or laptop computers. read more

Demoting Halder: A wild look at social tracking and sentiment analysis

November 01 2011

My short story, "Demoting Halder," was supposed to lay out an alternative reality where social tracking and sentiment analysis had taken over society. As the story evolved, I wondered if the reality in the story is something we're living right now. read more

Demoting Halder: A wild look at social tracking and sentiment analysis

November 01 2011

My short story, "Demoting Halder," was supposed to lay out an alternative reality where social tracking and sentiment analysis had taken over society. As the story evolved, I wondered if the reality in the story is something we're living right now. read more

On Dennis Ritchie: A conversation with Brian Kernighan

October 30 2011

I talked on Friday with Brian Kernighan about Dennis Ritchie, who sadly passed away two weeks ago at the age of 70. To a large extent, Ritchie completed what he started. read more

What's New in CFEngine 3: Making System Administration Even More Powerful

October 28 2011

CFEngine is a surprisingly flexible and fast tool for distributed configuration management. A new version was released this week. read more

Wrap-up from FLOSS Manuals book sprint at Google

October 21 2011

Mixtures of grassroots content generation and unique expertise have existed, and more models will be found. Understanding the points of commonality between the systems will help us develop such models. read more

Wrap-up from FLOSS Manuals book sprint at Google

October 21 2011

Mixtures of grassroots content generation and unique expertise have existed, and more models will be found. Understanding the points of commonality between the systems will help us develop such models. read more

FLOSS Manuals books published after three-day sprint

October 21 2011

Joining the pilgrimage that all institutions are making toward wider data use, FLOSS Manuals is exposing more and more of the writing process. read more

FLOSS Manuals books published after three-day sprint

October 21 2011

Joining the pilgrimage that all institutions are making toward wider data use, FLOSS Manuals is exposing more and more of the writing process. read more

Day two of FLOSS Manuals book sprint at Google Summer of Code summit

October 20 2011

As a relatively conventional book, the KDE manual was probably a little easier to write (but also probably less fun) than the more high-level approaches taken by some other teams that were trying to demonstrate to potential customers that their projects were worth adopting. read more

Day two of FLOSS Manuals book sprint at Google Summer of Code summit

October 20 2011

As a relatively conventional book, the KDE manual was probably a little easier to write (but also probably less fun) than the more high-level approaches taken by some other teams that were trying to demonstrate to potential customers that their projects were worth adopting. read more

Day one of FLOSS Manuals book sprint at Google Summer of Code summit

October 19 2011

Four teams at Google launched into endeavors that will lead, less than 72 hours from now, to complete books on four open source projects. read more

Day one of FLOSS Manuals book sprint at Google Summer of Code summit

October 19 2011

Four teams at Google launched into endeavors that will lead, less than 72 hours from now, to complete books on four open source projects. read more

FLOSS Manuals sprint starts at Google Summer of Code summit

October 18 2011

Four free software projects have each sent three to five volunteers to write books about the projects this week. Along the way we'll all learn about the group writing process and the particular use of book sprints to make documentation for free software. read more

FLOSS Manuals sprint starts at Google Summer of Code summit

October 18 2011

Four free software projects have each sent three to five volunteers to write books about the projects this week. Along the way we'll all learn about the group writing process and the particular use of book sprints to make documentation for free software. read more

BioCurious opens its lab in Sunnyvale, CA

October 16 2011

BioCurious has officially opened its first lab, with a mission of involving ordinary people off the street in biological experiments, using hands-on learning, and promoting open source hardware and software. read more

BioCurious opens its lab in Sunnyvale, CA

October 16 2011

BioCurious has officially opened its first lab, with a mission of involving ordinary people off the street in biological experiments, using hands-on learning, and promoting open source hardware and software. read more

lifeIMAGE and the quest for medical imaging exchange

October 15 2011

Medical imaging was one of the first areas of medicine to computerize. But the field still fails to capitalize on many of the advantages that other parts of the computer field take for granted: access anywhere, seamless integration, and (perhaps most important for a health field) clear enforcement of permissions. read more

lifeIMAGE and the quest for medical imaging exchange

October 15 2011

Medical imaging was one of the first areas of medicine to computerize. But the field still fails to capitalize on many of the advantages that other parts of the computer field take for granted: access anywhere, seamless integration, and (perhaps most important for a health field) clear enforcement of permissions. read more

OpenStack Foundation requires further definition

October 07 2011

The thinness of detail about the Foundation is probably a good sign, because it means that Rackspace and its partners are seeking input from the community about important parameters. read more

OpenStack Foundation requires further definition

October 07 2011

The thinness of detail about the Foundation is probably a good sign, because it means that Rackspace and its partners are seeking input from the community about important parameters. read more

Could Medical Devices in the Field Help Prevent Fraud?

September 26 2011

Evidence from devices could verify that a treatment was necessary, that it was administered, and that it was effective. read more

Could Medical Devices in the Field Help Prevent Fraud?

September 26 2011

Evidence from devices could verify that a treatment was necessary, that it was administered, and that it was effective. read more

David Blumenthal lauds incrementalism at forum on electronic health records

September 21 2011

The former National Coordinator spoke at a health care forum in Boston yesterday. The biggest plea from the audience was for more time with patients--a focus not on meaningful use but on meaningful contact. read more

Promoting Open Source Software in Government: The Challenges of Motivation and Follow-Through

September 19 2011

I have posted a prepublication draft of my article "Promoting Open Source Software in Government: The Challenges of Motivation and Follow-Through," published by the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. read more

Big health advances in small packages: report from the third annual Medical Device Connectivity conference

September 09 2011

At some point, all of us are likely to owe our lives--or our quality of life--to a medical device. Yesterday I had the chance to attend the third annual Medical Device Connectivity conference, where manufacturers, doctors, and administrators discussed how to get all these monitors, pumps, and imaging machines to… read more

Medical device experts and their devices converse at Boston conference

September 06 2011

The Medical Device Connectivity conference this week at Harvard Medical School covers interoperability, standards, regulations, wireless networks, and devices in practice. read more

Recent Posts | All O'Reilly Posts

Webcast: Crowdsourced news and professional journalists: pulling together to replace the tug-of-war
March 27, 2012
Duration: Approximately 60 minutes. Cost: Free This webcast covers both the threat and the promise presented to professional journalism by citizen journalism, social networking, and other crowdsourcing. We'll look at some of the proposals made by ...

Andy Oram