Public Software Fund's First Project

Russ Nelson writes "The Public Software Fund's first project has been funded for two months worth of development. Tom Jennings (of Fidonet fame) will be writing software to do peer-to-peer file sharing of free software RPM packages, improving the existing free software packages up2date, /current/, and BitTorrent. This will keep new distro releases from being slashdotted."

Comments

Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[corebreech]

Story I submitted that got rejected follows. Yeah, it's off-topic. Bite me.

The New York Times tells us (after we register for free) that Gnutella developer Gene Kan has committed suicide. Let's see, he was young (25) and just over a year ago saw the company he started bought by Sun Microsystems. It would be wrong to jump to conclusions here. It would also be wrong to not start asking questions.

Re:Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[Anonymous Coward]

It's really no surprise that such a person would choose to commit suicide. Many criminals are seriously troubled souls. Many of these turn to alcohol and become the bums you see on the street. Others turn to drugs and street crime. Others like Kan turn to pursuits like criminal hacking because being able to control the computer gives them a sense of God-hood and exhilaration.

People who have these criminal thoughts always seem to turn inward eventually. Some find spirituality, others find nothing. Kan found nothing and that's what we have today. Sometimes there is something to be said for early identification and mandatory treatment for those who exhibit criminal behavior. It would save us all a lot of heartbreak.

Re:Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[buzzbomb]

It would be wrong to jump to conclusions here.

What if I have a mat specifically built for this purpose?

Re:Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[ceejayoz]

Asking questions? About what? Suicide is, unfortunately, not an unusual occurance. What, do you think RIAA had him assassinated? They may be one bastard of an organization, but killing people is pretty damned far-fetched.

Re:Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[Anonymous Coward]

There has been much speculation over on the Free Republic that the MPAA or the RIAA might have had him whacked. Or perhaps one of the Hollywood moguls had him whacked.

I seriously doubt the kid really killed himself. I believe it was murder.

Re:Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[Anonymous Coward]

Yeah, you're right. Nobody has ever killed anybody over dollars before.

Especially not billions and billions of dollars.

Only crackheads kill for personal gain.

Re:Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[rob-fu]

For anyone who is interested, the link to Kan's weblog is here.

Re:Peer-to-peer pioneer kills self

[Cryptnotic]

This is Funny(+1) if you've seen Office Space. On the other hand, it is definately Offtopic(-1). But it is definately NOT a Troll(-1).

CNN has story on this as well (with pic)

[Anonymous Coward]

This be it.

Re:CNN has story on this as well (with pic)

[CProgrammer98]

So does Gnutella but they didn't mentioned he shot himself.

Very Very sad.

Re:Tom Jennings

[Anonymous Coward]

No kidding. They already called him a British mathematician.

How rendundant can you get?

Re:Wait til the RIAA hears about this!

[gazbo]

Yeah. But it's not a patch on her more experimental '-ac' work ...

Why doesn't she create an account?

Why so many offtopic mods?

[shepd]

Some of the more inquisitive than offensive posts have clearly been modded offtopic by someone who can't stomach the slightest questioning into someone's unusual death.

Why is that? I find that just as insulting as some of the comments desgined to be mean-spirited.