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Rare Jon 'maddog' Hall Video Interview
lisa 'lisah' h writes "Looking natty in a yellow Tux vest, Linux dignitary John 'maddog' Hall agreed to a rare video interview with Robin 'Roblimo' Miller after speaking at a conference in Jacksonville, FL. The two chatted about the mobile phone project OpenMoko, his volunteer work with Linux International, and beer."
Two tankards filled with a yellow brew,
Parched but my thirst was not limitless.
Twixt nectar choose, sweet honeydew?
In time, the colder one I drew,
And that was frosty pissness.
"Linux dignitary"? Is that like "MCSE"?
Ahhh, one of my favourite quotes from this guy:
Of course we had free software back in the '60s. But back then we called it "software".
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Whatever you do, don't mess with this guy and his beard of respectable size.
If you ever feel overly nerdy when using Linux, just give the men behind the OS a thought and you'll feel much better!
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
You're right, he's very laid back. A long time ago, I asked him why they call him maddog. He told me the story over beer and pizza. If I recall correctly, he was teaching at a community college at the time and became enraged by something the administration had pulled. He reacted accordingly and his students dubbed him "maddog." Perhaps somebody with a fresher memory can fill in the details (or correct me).
I'll tell you what though, I've never met a kinder, more generous, more patient man. He's the reason I got into Linux. He spent the time to help me get my PC running Linux (it wasn't easy back in '95), gave me a hard copy Linux manual and, by example, taught me what Free Software was all about. And at the time, he was in charge of the UNIX Software Group at Digital!