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Unsung Heroes of Open Source Software?

Posted by Cliff on from the those-deserving-recognition dept.

Yaztromo asks: "Sometimes, as an Open Source Software developer, I wonder if anyone out there is actually noticing the contributions I make to the software they're running. This got me thinking today -- how many Open Source Software packages am I running without knowing or applauding those who toiled in the background to developed them? We all know about personalities like Richard M. Stallman and Linus Torvalds, but there are a lot of unsung heroes of Open Source out there whose names may not be on the tips of everyones tongues. But perhaps they should be. They may be wizard coders, or amazing project administrators, or they provide fantastic support. Maybe they do all three, and more. Or maybe they're the person in your organization who pushed an Open Source solution in the face of an entrenched closed-source solution, and won. Or the one who printed up a whole spindle of Knoppix CD's and handed them out at a user group meeting. So here's you chance: who is your favorite unsung hero of Open Source Software, and why?"

29 of 601 comments (clear)

  1. Al Gore by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Inventor of the internet... 'nuf said

  2. Bill Gates... by inkdesign · · Score: 5, Funny

    Thanks for making it necessary buddy!

    1. Re:Bill Gates... by Billly+Gates · · Score: 3, Funny

      Why thank you.

      I had that planned all along. You dont think I actually use my own products do you?

      Now thanks to FreeBSD and Linux I can finally kill my aging Xenix and Openserver installations. Sco took the bait.

      --
      http://saveie6.com/
  3. CowboyNeal, of course! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    CowboyNeal, of course!

    dumb question.

  4. Unsung sexy helpers! by garcia · · Score: 4, Funny

    All those random people that have single lines in software changelogs... Take this for example. There's a project that helped get support for a popular USB camera out into the wild.

    Look all the way at the bottom. There's one guy there that did a TON for the community ;-) I hear he's really sexy too!

    1. Re:Unsung sexy helpers! by Cat_Byte · · Score: 3, Funny
      Thanks to Razvan Surdulescu for kicking me back into action.

      I wanna be thanked for kicking people too!

      --
      Two roads diverged in a wood, and I - I took the one the bus load of girls just went down.
  5. A True Open Source Hero is... by vfc · · Score: 2, Funny

    Bill Gates, for encouraging thousands of people, including myself, to look towards open source...

    1. Re:A True Open Source Hero is... by armyofone · · Score: 4, Funny

      Q: You do know what irony is don't you?
      A: Well sure, it's like silvery or goldy but it's made out of iron.

      *** rimshot ***

      Thank you. Thank you. I'll be here all week.
      Tip your waitresses and bartenders - they're working hard for you!!

      --
      "A revolution without dancing is... a revolution not worth having"
  6. Heres to you! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Papa John, Dominoes, Pizza Hut, and the #1 Super China Buffet delivery guy! They make it possible. As well as Corona. but i digress.

  7. Russ Nelson by Russ+Nelson · · Score: 4, Funny

    I hesitated for about two seconds before nominating myself. I mean, if I don't believe in myself, who else would, or should?
    -russ

    --
    Don't piss off The Angry Economist
  8. Re:Red Demon by irokitt · · Score: 3, Funny

    Do you mean Ceren?

    --
    If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
  9. too much freedom? by Doc+Ruby · · Score: 4, Funny

    Like it or not, RMS is a sung hero of OSS.

    --

    --
    make install -not war

  10. Bram Moolenaar... by kahei · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...the author of vim.

    I have no idea what kind of software that 'Stallman' fellow has written, although I wish him luck -- maybe his project will catch on.

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
  11. Re:Donald Becker by BeesTea · · Score: 5, Funny

    And only 4 that contain no vulgarity =)

    --
    2b2b2b415448300d
  12. Re:Donald Becker by kaszeta · · Score: 4, Funny

    This guy is the ethernet driver guru. And the co-founder of the Beowulf project, without which we would've never had the "imagine a Beowulf cluster of these" comments that we soooo love.

  13. Re:Gene Spafford by the+endless · · Score: 4, Funny
    before most people could even spell I-n-t-e-r-n-e-t.

    Ha! The idiot can't even spell 'intarweb'.

  14. wtf? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    dmesg |grep Donald Becker

    Is Donald Becker connected to yor computer as a peripheral device?

  15. Re:The Samba Team by j-pimp · · Score: 2, Funny

    Hell Yeah!!! I've been using samba since the 2.0 days and its great. From serving mp3s to my fellow college students to accessing windows file shares from my linux and mac boxes, to eventually replacing the windows PDC here at work samba is great. Truely the gateway drug of open source.

    --
    --- Justin Dearing http://www.justaprogrammer.net/ We're just programmers.
  16. Steve Balmer for by Man+in+Spandex · · Score: 2, Funny

    showing us that even big IT guys can get jiggy with it!

  17. Re:The Samba Team by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Well, maybe if you ask politely...

  18. Darl McBride by Laebshade · · Score: 4, Funny

    Because, after all, some of the code SCO wrote is in Linux. Now Darl, don't be modest, show us what you've contributed!

  19. Re:Steve Jobs by Lord+Kano · · Score: 2, Funny

    The topic is " Unsung Heroes of Open Source Software", all of the verbal fellatio that Mac zealots heap upon him has permanently disqualified him from that characterization.

    LK

    --
    "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
  20. No one has mentioned... by KillaKen187 · · Score: 2, Funny

    SCO yes SCO for making a complete idiot of themselves and suing IBM for a product (Linux) that they don't even own. Also for other such hilarious comments as Linux doesn't exsist, Linux is just Unix, and we no longer offer Linux to our customers

  21. Aww by 955301 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Sometimes, as an Open Source Software developer, I wonder if anyone out there is actually noticing the contributions I make to the software they're running.

    Does somebody need a hug???? Come'er! We'll give you one, but it'll be sloppy, overwhelming, we'll argue the whole time we're giving it, and then we'll vanish.

    --
    You are checking your backups, aren't you?
  22. whoever first put porn on the internet by maxpublic · · Score: 4, Funny

    Without that guy, and all the porn-meisters who followed him to cash in on geek sexual frustration, the internet would still be nothing more than a curiosity.

    Thank god for porn!

    Max

    --
    My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
  23. Shouldn't we mention John McCarthy?... by Zx-man · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...(What (would (you (do))) (without) (such (a (remarkable language))) as LISP?)

  24. Re:Donald Becker by Alien+Being · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Donald Becker ... numerical constants everywhere"

    Rikki Don't Lose That Number.

  25. Re:The Samba Team by pizza_milkshake · · Score: 5, Funny
    • Colin Wood
    • ------------------
    • Fred Bacon

    aw c'mon, ------------------ gets his share of credit, i see his name is source code all over the place

  26. ROFL by kikta · · Score: 2, Funny
    My mum knows who Linus Torvalds is.

    Ok, no fair! Anyone besides Alan Cox. :-D