Eric Raymond

See also: Hackers

Acronym: ESR (for Eric S. Raymond)

(yes, he has his own acronym)

Home Page: http://www.catb.org/~esr/

Eric maintains a number of Projects, of note:

• A FAQ collection – such as How To Become A Hacker
• Jargon File Resources
• Writings

Eric is of great interest to us here at iA certainly because of his past efforts, but also because of his future interests. For example, as shamelessly stolen from his Projects page:

Cooperative distributed open-source development

I think the Linux development project is an exciting model for what is possible in the way of decentralized cooperation on the Internet. I would like to help develop tools to assist in network-distributed software development, version control, and documentation support.

Developing incentive structures for encouraging open source

For a couple of years, I have been thinking about trying to set up a series of formal awards for achievement in open-source software, to recognize the people who make the Internet culture work. These (which I have tentatively named the Netbuilder Awards) would be awarded by a committee of prominent Internet hackers and funded by people who make money from open-source software.

Promoting PGP and other technologies for digital privacy

I have been a member of the cypherpunks list and will rejoin when I free up some time. I am very interested in technologies that promote individual freedom by making it difficult for governments and corporations to control or monitor network activity.

Related

• Slashdot – Eric Raymond’s Homebrew SCO Poison – stand-up-and-cheer kind of writing

TakeDown.NET -> “Eric-Raymond”