Hall of Fame Voting For Computer Museum of America

An anonymous reader writes "Public voting has opened for the Computer Museum of America Hall of Fame, which is looking to add 5 more members to the roster via a public vote. Previous inductees include Sid Meier (of Civilization fame), and among this years list of nominees is Linus himself. The full list, along with the voting area itself is over at HomeLAN."

Comments

William Gibson?

[tsunamifirestorm]

Sorry if this sounds like flamebait, but the other people invented acutal products while all he did was "Coined the phrase "cyberspace" in the novel "Neuromancer" (1984)"

Re:William Gibson?

[rsborg]

He's considered by many to be one of the pioneers of cyberpunk, and Neuromancer certainly did help popularise the genre. And that definitely is something.

Well, Gibson may have popularized it, but Philip K Dick "wrote the book(s)", as it were... and he's nowhere on the list.

Honestly, I don't see either of them, as belonging on this list, as they're just meme-creators. People like Vint Cerf, Ken Thompson, and Dan Briklin actually created the infrastructure or killer apps that make what we're doing today possible. Kudos to the real mccoys, I say.

Why aren't these people already in?

[cynicalmoose]

The really shocking thing is the people who aren't already there!

John von Neumann - considering he started off the base design for the logic interaction systems we use today, he is often known as the father of computing - so why are we voting for him now?

Linus Torvalds - I don't need to say who he is - but why isn't he there either.

Those are two particularly egregious omissions, but I reckon more than 5 need to get added.

Re:Why aren't these people already in?

[kscguru]

Let me add one thing to Linus' list of accomplishments that the Excel team hasn't matched: he has successfully guided the continuing evolution and improvement of a software project for over ten years. I honestly can't think of a single (modern) piece of software that hasn't been stagnant, at least in terms of core features, for a good chunk of that time (well, maybe apache?), nor any project that has evolved so fast without major forking issues.

Really, Linux is the poster child for a successful open source project, and Linus runs the personality cult behind it. I don't think Linus' programming and architecting exploits are enough for this sort of recognition, but his overall vision should be more than enough.

Someone else might point out RMS or ESR as visionaries... but here's the difference: Linus has an extremely successful, widely adopted, and still evolving project to back up his vision. The others... well, what was the last non-cosmetic change to Emacs, or fetchmail? Those projects are done, dead, and in maintainence. Sorry guys, but while you are talking the talk and reminiscing about the glory days, Linus is busy walking the walk - and for that, he deserves credit.

No Fred Brooks?

[beavis88]

"Mythical Man-Month" anyone? Father of modern software project management (although admittedly, this may be a dubious honor)? I mean I guess it's great that Larry Ellison is up there and all, but I'd prefer to see actual computer scientists on the list as opposed to "business people".

Re:No Fred Brooks?

[southpolesammy]

Actually, Brooks ought to be recognized for his No Silver Bullet article from the 80's as it provided a very large foundation for what we know as software engineering, but the mythical man-month is notable as well.

Either way, you're right -- he should be listed here, and especially instead of business folks. Brooks was a true Computer Scientist, whereas Ellison and others simply commercialized computing.

Linus Himself?

[dknight]

Let me start out saying that I love Linux. I use it only nearly all of my boxes at home, and reccomend it whenever it is reasonable to do so.

Having said that, is it just me, or are we coming frighteningly close to deifying Linus? I mean, he did a great, amazing, generally wonderful thing... but come on people. Does he deserve to get in to the hall of fame? Absolutely. Does he deserve his own religion? Probably not.

Missing Options

[sosume]

Amongst quite a few, here are some names who should have been considered for this list:

- Edsger W. Dijkstra, the man who considered GoTo statements harmful....
- Bill Gates, the man who truly commercialized software
- Dennis Kernigan, the man who invented C (tho' not alone)
- CmdrTaco, the dude that started Slashdot

What the Hell?

[Anonymous Coward]

There are some people on this list who should be in way before anyone like Sid Meier should ever have been considered. Konrad Zuse, John von Neumann, Ken Thompson, Bjarne Stroustroup and Linus Torvalds were my picks. Without Neumann, who knows when we would have had general purpose computers. Just about everything I have ever learned about computer architecture is traced back to Neumann. This is sort of like inducting Duran Duran into the Rock and Roll hall of fame before Buddy Holly. Zuse had one of the earliest functional electromechanical computers running. Meier, or some of this years nominees, the guy that founded C|Net, Paul Allen, John Warnack, etc. indeed! lol

Claude Shannon not even nominated?

[Nakito]

Claude Shannon's theories underlie almost every aspect of the digital computer and digital communications. His master's thesis (1938) established that logic circuits can be simplified mathematically rather than by trial and error. His mathematical theory of communication (1948) established the entire field of information theory, making possible digital communications (modems, networks). In terms of his importance to the field, he is miles beyond most of the people on the list and most of the people already inducted.

Missing / Embarrassing / Stupid

[Anonymous Coward]

I need to rant on this.

Perhaps I misunderstand the point of the site - is it to promote major manufacturers? Then what is Turing doing up there?

Is it to promote scientists? Then what the hell is Gates doing up there?

People missing from the list:

Donald Knuth, Richard Stevens, Dennis Ritchie, Ken Thompson, Claude Shannon, Von Neumann

And if you look at the dates, Gates got inducted in 1998, Turing in 2000. Doesn't this strike anyone as mildly....no...scratch that blatantly stupid and obsequious? If a museum of computer use of human civilization honors "innovators" like Michael Dell before Turing and Babbage, then it is run by a bunch of industry sycophants, and, in actually, represents rather well the sad state of affairs in the computer world.

Jon Von Neumann

[Zabu]

He isn't in the hall of fame yet? WTF?

didn't he invent address modifications?
For those who don't know this lead to function calls.
IAS theoretical computer

I would nominate...

[buckeyeguy]

Phil Katz, creator of the ZIP compressed file format. Widely used, and in some ways fundamental to personal computing. Sadly, it'd be a posthumous nom, since, according to a Wall St. Journal article (whose text was copied in the following link), he died in a cheap hotel with a bottle of peppermint schnapps in his arms.

Missing nominees

[mabu]

• Monte Davidoff - co-author (along with Gates and Allen) of Microsoft/Altair BASIC
  
  
• Richard Stallman - Pioneer of open software movement/GNU
  
  
• Niklaus Wirth - PARC researcher responsible for Algol, Pascal, Modula-2, Laser Printers, and more
  
  
• Marvin Minsky - Built the first neural net AI in 1951
  
  
• Seymour Papert - Developer of LOGO and another AI pioneer
  
  
• Tommy Flowers - Built one of the earliest electronic computers, with the practical application of codebreaking during WWII
  
  
• Donald Knuth - Regarded by many as the "Father of Computer Science".
  
  
• Edsger Wybe Dijkstra - The guy leading the way to abolish the GOTO statement is surely a hall-of-famer!
  
  
• Konrad Zuse - Another early computer pioneer that due to politics and circumstances beyond his control was never able to be fully-recognized.
  
  
• Jeff Raskin - Creator of the Macintosh and pioneer in computer-human interfaces.