Unsung Heroes of Open Source

Yosef writes "Jon Udell uses his experience from using and hacking the free software BitPim to say that developers of such less-known projects are the true heroes of open source: 'For solving a host of vexing problems with quiet competence, and for doing it in ways that invite others to stand on their shoulders, I salute them all.'"

Comments

So true...

[VegetableMatter]

When it comes to open-source, Mozilla and Linux get all the glory. But it's this guy and his amazing SEPY text editor that make my life the joy that it is!

Making technical information available

[Husgaard]

The interesting point he is making here is that FOSS people not only write software - they also make obscure technical information available and accessible.

Life is easier due to them

[SunFan]

I remember using gnuplot to make great EPS (encapsulated PostScript) graphs for papers in college. I'm not sure of a better way to put nice charts into LaTeX documents. Even the developers of LaTeX modules for things like rotated charts with regular headers and footers deserve a share of credit.

Just one example?

[Anonymous Coward]

BitPim is the only example in that story? I was expecting to see a top 10 list of unsung heroes, but he just writes about one niche piece of software he found useful. You can find more in the average Slashdot article's comments.

Absolutely true

[robertjw]

While I think that many of us do owe these big names like Linus, etc... I know that personally I owe much more to many of the 'unsung heros'. Guys like:

• Alexei Vladishev
• Francesco
• Gerbier Eric
• Jerome Couderc

and many others. The big projects help us get things done, but the small projects make the big projects barable.

ob quote: the out-of-work ex-leper

[Avishalom]

"what, one Shekel for an unemployed ex-leper"
"well i guess there's no pleasing some people"
"that's just what he said, bloody do-gooder"

Re:Where are they all hiding?

[Zarf]

I would guess that a great number of OSS projects are driven by people who need things for work, but whose work isn't exclusivley demanding ownership of their code. Small shops that need probelms solved that are very nearly solved already... and can spare a developers time to solve them... and won't be hurt by releasing the code. That's the idea I get in my mind.

For example, I'm considering making contributions to several projects myself. My contributions may be tiny but they may help to add up to a real finished product. It's all about the aggregate contributions of the many many tiny improvements people make adding up to make major differences... Open Source projects build up the same way civilisation does. Millions of small contributions over time.

I'm probably wrong but it sounds good to me...

So stop reading slashdot and go code something.

Duncan Booth

[rekrutacja]

Duncan Booth is supporting Nethack port for Psion computers (do you remeber them?) for years. Only small fraction of people (Psion users which are Nethack lovers too) will ever notice value of his work. But for us, Nethack addicts which happen to be also Psion users, he is an ultimate hero. Check it: http://www.suttoncourtenay.org.uk/duncan/Nethack.h tm

I'm sure you can find such people everywhere. Whatever obscure activity you undertake, or whatever strange problem happens to you, you sooner or later meet your hero. I mean - this is how free software works, isn't it?

So why don't we do something about it?

[jalefkowit]

The Slashdot audience is probably better positioned to recognize the true "unsung heroes of OSS" than anyone else.

So -- hey editors, you listening? -- why don't we have a monthly nomination for Unsung Hero of the Month? Let readers send in their candidates, along with a pitch for why they should be featured as an Unsung Hero; then have the editors pick the best pitch, and give that developer a front-page interview on Slashdot.

Heck, maybe even throw in some ad space for his/her project (we're all in this OSS thing together right?). You could probably even have a corporate sponsor pick up the tab for the ad space (the cost would be pretty low, and you could offer them naming rights -- make it, say, the "IBM Open Source Unsung Hero of the Month").

Then archive the interviews in a section of their own (just like "Developers", "Your Rights Online", etc.) so that once there's a bunch of these in the archives they can serve as a kind of Hall of Fame.

This would help introduce people to a whole range of great OSS projects they might otherwise never discover, and give the developers the "ego payment" that for so many folks is the only real reimbursement they get for their hard work...

My unsung hero

[Quattro Vezina]

Joe Allen, the creator of Joe's Own Editor (JOE), my favourite text editor.

It has the perfect balance of simplicity and power. Thank you, Joe!