Chapter 1. A Telephony Revolution

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.

—Mahatma Gandhi

When we first set out—nearly five years ago—to write a book about Asterisk, we confidently predicted that Asterisk would fundamentally change the telecommunications industry. Today, the revolution we predicted is all but complete. Asterisk is now the most successful private branch exchange (PBX) in the world, and is an accepted (albeit perhaps not always loved) technology in the telecom industry.