Jon "maddog" Hall joins SGI [LWN.net]

Subject: Announcement
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 12:05:13 -0700
From: Paul McNamara 

I am delighted to announce that Jon "Maddog" Hall has accepted a position
with SGI reporting to me. Maddog is one of the most influential thought
leaders in the Linux community today.  Linux Magazine puts it this way:
"'Maddog' Hall is the guy that companies like IBM and HP go to when
they want to find out how to do the right thing by the Linux community".
And Reuters News Service wrote: "You might assume the awe-struck young
man asking for 'maddog's' autograph is a pro-wrestling fan until you
remember this is a trade show for the Linux computer operating system,
not a knock-'em-sock'-em event.  But in this arena 'maddog' is a prime
promoter of open-source technology. And he is indeed a superstar".

Maddog is currently the President and Executive Director of Linux
International, the oldest and most respected Linux advocacy group in
the world.  He will continue in his duties with Linux International and,
in addition, will help SGI to sponsor and encourage a community-based
"Extreme Linux" movement around SGI's NUMAFlex architecture.

Among his many accomplishments Maddog is the author of the best selling
book "Linux for Dummies" and has published numerous papers regarding
Linux, Operating Systems, and programming methods.  He is a highly sought
after speaker at major international events and is called upon frequently
to advise business leaders and senior government officials regarding
Linux and Open Source policy.   Jon is a member of the Board of Director
of USENIX, Uniforum, Linux Professional Institute, and Metrolink, Inc.
He is also a member of the Advisor Board of IDG Worldwide and The Free
Standards Group, where he is the Chairman of the Linux Standards Base
Subcommittee.  Jon spent 15 years with Digital Equipment Corporation,
first as a principle engineer and later as the manager of DEC's Operating
Systems Product Management group.  He introduced Linux in DEC in 1994 and
was the guiding force behind the Open Source project that produced Linux
on DEC's Alpha platform.  Jon is also a past Chairman of the Computer
Science Department at Hartford State Technical College.  He holds a BS
in Engineering from Drexel University (my alma mater) and a Masters in
Computer Science from RPI.

Finally, Maddog is the holder-of-record of mug '0' at the Tied House.

Please join me in welcoming Maddog to SGI.

Paul F. McNamara
Vice President Products and Platforms
SGI

Thanks to Greg Roelofs.

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Jon "maddog" Hall joins SGI

Posted Oct 2, 2002 15:00 UTC (Wed) by discopete (guest, #5122) [Link]

SGI is Silicon Graphics, Inc. They make what could be called the best graphics rendering systems on the planet.

Jon "maddog" Hall joins SGI

Posted Oct 2, 2002 20:19 UTC (Wed) by tc-lx (guest, #5158) [Link]

SGI is building nice LCD-monitors - since V4.10 of XF86 useable without patchwork. ;)

Jon "maddog" Hall joins SGI

Posted Oct 2, 2002 11:39 UTC (Wed) by rknop (guest, #66) [Link]

I dunno-- that phrase sounds much more sinister to me. "Software engineer" = somebody who engineers software, so "principle engineer" sounds like somebody who engineers principles, i.e. shapes what is supposed to be moral and what is not. That's the kind of thing the media PR arms of fun people like Fritz Hollins, Hillary Rosen, and Jack Valenti are doing. In ten years, if they have their way, society is likely to consider it a pretty obvious matter of principle that the idea of programming a computer without a licence and without government oversight is a bit shocking. Already many people think that "intellectual property rights" are fundamental rights on par with freedom of speech, etc., rather than the compromise monopolies the framers of the US constitution were thinking about. That's the kind of principle engineering that scares me.

So I sort of hope maddog really *is* a principle engineer, so that somebody's effective at working against all the other principle engineers out there.

-Rob

Jon "maddog" Hall joins SGI

Posted Oct 3, 2002 16:13 UTC (Thu) by ncm (subscriber, #165) [Link]

Seems to me his title should be "principled engineer".