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The 2000 Beanies

Category: Best Open Source Advocate 40

Posted by CmdrTaco from the inspiring-the-masses dept.
A few names always tend to crop up in a discussion of this nature. The advocates are the people who spread the message of Open Source outside of just the guys who read Slashdot and freshmeat obsessively. Who does it the best? Nominate the person you feel deserves it most.
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Category:Best Open Source Advocate More

Category:Best Open Source Advocate

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  • Larry Wall (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Larry Wall [wall.org]. He doesn't rant against anyone, tries to help everyone, and gives his code away for use by anyone, even Microsoft users. He doesn't restrict his good works to things that only benefit his friends. He doesn't preach, but lives by example.

  • Tom Christiansen (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    I would like to nominate Tom Christiansen because of his kind attitude and big heart. He always has something nice to say about Richard Stallman, and his work to further the spread of GPL'ed software is unparalleled.

    His contributions to Slashdot discussions are always mature, level-headed, and well-reasoned. He is a shining example of what Free Software advocates should be like.

    He is always very helpful on #Perl, and is patient with everyone who makes mistakes. This is exactly the sort of person we need as our advocate.
  • I must agree on this point.. Ballard never ceases to amaze me with the informativeness and level-headedness of his posts, a rarity on the modern Usenet. Reportedly, he's had experience in the field as a computing professional, and it shows.
  • I think you guys are missing the obvious here. Through the founding of the Linux OS and his constant advocacy w/out extremes Linus has probably done more good for Open Source than ESR and RMS combined (assuming all positives /and/ negatives, not just the positive things)
  • You're right. It is important not only to look at the good things somebody has said, but also at the negative 'karma' he generated. But one has to remain honest here.

    Most of those who shall remain unnamed did a awfull lot of good advocacy. The bad press they got and the riots they ignited were mostly internal. When RMS and ESR are discussed WE make a lot of fuss about it. WE flame eachother. WE make us seem like a bunch of anarchists. Are they wholly to be blamed for what WE do?

    just my 2 dutch cents

    Reinout

  • RMS (Score:1)

    by Signal 11 ( 7608 )
    I nominate Richard Stallman, simply because when everybody cried "put up or shut up!" he put up. Rather than talking about a community, he made one.

    I would also give ESR honorable mention - he's providing a necessary function to the "outside world" by journalling the goings-on inside the community.

  • I'd like to nominate Terry. Since I have been part of LinuxAus he has tirerlessly promoted OpenSource software. Between juggling University, work and a new family he has managed to preach the ideals in a way that make sense.

    Hell, he has gotten me to a stage where I am offering time to do work for GNU.org and soon LDP

    --darkewolf@cyberpunks.org [cyberpunks.org]

  • Not an "official" Open Source advocate per se; but R.E BALLARD does a really great job in my opinion in some Linux related newsgroups. I became interested in Linux by reading his posts. It will be a nice thing to give an award to anonymous person (although he his not really one). ESR, RMS, PERENS and others have already had plenty of distinctions.

    You can view some of Ballard posting history in Deja.com

    http://www.deja.com/[ST_rn=ps]/profile.xp?author =R.E.Ballard%20(%20Rex%20Ballard%20)%20%3c r.e.ballard@usa.net%3e&ST=PS
  • Well there is a problem with the link provided above, you can veiw Ballard history with this link.

    http://x33.deja.com/[ST_rn=ap]/dnquery.xp?search =word&defaultOp=and&query=%7ea%20(r.e.ball ard@usa.net)%20%26%20%7eg%20(comp.os.linux.advocac y)&svcclass=dnserver&ST=PS&CONTEXT=94691 2666.1329070124

    Regards
  • his homepage [hex.net]

    I don't personally know this guy, but this guy shows up everywhere (usenet, mailing-lists, even slashdot), and he always has something insightful to say. He's so eloquent, too.

    I'm surprised he hasn't been mentioned yet. Next to Ballard, I'd go with cbbrowne.

  • I'm going to nominate whoever has been the most influential/best at Loki Games. They have been successful in providing the one thing that Linux has lacked, an abundance of quality games. Sadly, this seems to entail that they be commercial.

    Chris Hagar
  • I'm only writing this comment because I really believe if a person deserves this prize it must surely go to Eric Raymond.
    With his great articles he showed to the world how the open-source model(the Bazaar) functions in contrast to the closed one(the cathedral). Without him the source code of Netscape probably wouldn't be released.
    Thanks ESR, for his contributions to us.
  • It's kind of like picking the best comedian of Monty Python. Get some five-sided dice, and make sure the contest lasts for at least five years.

    Really, I would hate to be the person that would have to pick between Linus, RMS, and ESR.

    As for the whole "controversial-so-we-shouldn't-nominate-them" thing, come on. Is there anyone who can sit around all day and talk about linux and not make about everybody mad? No. People that don't make people mad Aren't Talking About Everything. That's fine, but it doesn't necessarily make you a great advocate.

  • I absolutely agree.

    There are alot of deserving people out there, but I think this award should definately go to Bruce Perens.

    Besides, his last name looks sorta like the word 'Penguins'. Admit it, it does.

  • My vote's for Eric too, if it wasn't for him I might never have started using Linux at all. His essays are an inspiration to anyone who's interested in computers in any way.
  • Hear, hear! You beat me to this nomination.

    Without Microsoft to compare to, where would Open Source be? IBM and Sun aren't nearly evil enough.
  • Unlike many open source advocates who are "more talk than action," Tim O'Reilly has promoted open source in a way that others have not: by making it accessible. By publishing books documenting key open source programs such as Perl, Python, Apache, etc., O'Reilly has demystified these often poorly documented programs. His actions have had more to do with the success of open source than the demagoguery of, say, ESR or RMS. He gets my vote.

    --Brett Glass

  • Agree. Perens and RMS have both harmed the reputation of open source. To the rest of the world, they make it appear that its supporters are anti-business, anti-commercial zealots. They do not deserve to be rewarded for this behavior.

    --Brett Glass

  • for GPLing doom and quake, bringing quake3 for linux shrink-wrapped in the shops, promoting openGL vs. MS-directX
  • Here here! A great bloke. Sticks by his ideals, and manages to make a big difference even though he isn't the most vocal (read: ESR, RMS, Perens) in the community. Besides, it'd be nice to have someone besides the "obvious" (read: those that Slashdot readers think are God-like, which aren't btw - just people, with flaws like everyone else) chosen, wouldn't it?
  • Larry is diabolically nice and will probably conquer the world one day. Besides, who else could make a talk about Unicode fun? I doubt anyone discussed on this forum thus far could use the money personally. Most of the candidates will probably donate the money to a favorite charity in any case. Are there any candidates with legal problems who could use the money? Simplexton
  • He's done a lot of advocacy, while at the same time hasn't pissed off a lot of people, unlike some others that shall remain unnamed.

    I would, however, retract this nomination if maddog has already received an award for said advocacy.

  • Microsoft.

    Without the continuous unreliability of their earlier server products, many companies would not know to look for viable alternatives, including (but not limited to) the "Open Source" environments.

  • Some of our best advocates have managed never to put a foot wrong; I think the LWN writers are always bang on, for example. But hell, some of the best deserve to be forgiven their mistakes, they've made a lot happen and talked a lot of sense. I'll nominate Bruce Perens for this category; I think it's well deserved, and besides, ESR or Chris DiBona would lose $10,000 behind the sofa :-)
    --
  • Personally, I'd like to nominate the entire readership of Slashdot, the entire Linux community and the entire [Free|Open|Net]BSD community. There is -no- better advocacy than a satisfied* user. Anyone can talk the talk, but it takes being genuine to walk the walk.

    (*Satisfied, in this case, can include people who are unhappy with some aspect of the OS of their choice, but believe in it because they can fix whatever it is that's not so great.)

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