Jack is Going, Going, Going...Gone!

[Colby Hoke]

Jack Aboutboul wrote:
> Hey Everyone,
>
> I think I told most people that I wanted to tell privately so it's 
> time to tell the list and out myself to the public.  August 14th will 
> be my last day at Red Hat and of temporary daily direct involvement in 
> the Fedora project.
>
> In 1997 I got my first taste of Linux, Red Hat Linux 4.2, to be 
> exact.  It was in the basement lab of the university that I was doing 
> research at during the second half of my freshman year in high 
> school.  It was at that point the most fun and challenging thing I had 
> ever done, struggling to get the kernel to work with the crappy Matrox 
> (I think) video card that was the only spare piece of anything in that 
> lab.  I aimlessly wandered down that path I had no idea that jumping 
> down the rabbit hole would lead to the 12 most pleasantly wondrous and 
> amazing years of my life.
>
> Over the last 12 years this love affair has grown stronger and I have 
> had the unbelievable good fortune to travel the world, see amazing 
> places, explore amazing ideas, meet and work with some of the planet's 
> greatest, smartest and most passionate people and play my part to help 
> turn Linux, Open Source, Red Hat, Fedora and the concepts of free open 
> and democratic commons of content and technology from relatively 
> unknowns into the great revolution of our age.  I have spent the 
> better part of the last 6 years working for Red Hat on Fedora and 
> Fedora-related projects in directed efforts to improve both the state 
> and awareness of those things I mentioned.  Red Hat has been a warm 
> home and family to me and I am as much glad as I am in awe of how 
> ferociously dedicated we have been to our noble principles of freedom 
> and truth, while having accomplished, ascertained and executed and 
> what I have been able to imbibe, about so many diverse concepts, over 
> these last few years. What niche and facet have we not touched?  What 
> direction or device have we not influenced?  What proclivity have we 
> not affected?  For this, I am proud.
>
> Fedora has been my brother since the day it was conceived.  The more 
> energy and time I invested into Fedora, to help it grow and mature, 
> the more it paid me back by proving to be the best platform for 
> innovation, and letting me be involved in that cause.  Starting a 
> community is no small order and keeping it going all these years take 
> passion on the part of those willing to undertake the task.  We have 
> learned what it means to be a community, to live, breathe, eat and be 
> true to community.  To provide, so that others can have, to build so 
> that others can build upon and to be selfless so that we can embrace 
> others and more importantly so that others can embrace us, virtual 
> strangers, and feel welcome.  It has been my distinct pleasure to work 
> with every single precious member of the Fedora community, from all 
> over the world to help build a very deep and intimate relationship 
> with the concept of community.  We have accomplished such great feats, 
> arising from a turbulent and tumultuous genesis and virtually 
> transformed and flipped the world and the hearts and minds of people 
> in a few short years.  We have become the paramount archetype of 
> community.  How many have communities emulated and continue to emulate 
> our success?  How many have our ideas spawned?  How many have been 
> lucky to be as true and real as we have?  For this, I am grateful.
>
> The best part has been the people.  I can't count on 100 sets of hands 
> the number and names of all the wonderful people that have affected 
> me.  When I was on the Fedora University Tour, my speech was called 
> "Crash: How a Billion Little Collisions Defines Everything," and it 
> was about how working in a community and in real life, we are the sum 
> total of the people we interact with.  I don't think one can find a 
> better metaphor and if I stick to my axiom then I can truly consider 
> myself rich.  Every person I met and spent time with in the office, at 
> a meeting, show, conference or elsewhere, and online has helped shape 
> my character, both personal and professional, for the better.  As a 
> lover of people I am both thankful for the interactions we have had 
> and excited for what the future holds.  I owe thanks to many, like I 
> said, even 100 hands can't count, but I will try and pay homage to 
> some of my closest, dearest and most influential friends over the last 
> few years.
> First and foremost, Tom "Spot" Callaway, for urging me to get involved 
> way back when things started and helping me score a gig at Red Hat. 
> Greg DeKoenigsberg, for being a friend, a mentor and a visionary; if I 
> can say one thing about Greg it's that he "gets it" when no one else 
> does, he can put it in words, and above all else, he's real. Max 
> Spevack, because I can write a whole book of reasons to thank Max, who 
> has been a dear friend, a true buddy, a team player and a team leader. 
> Karsten Wade, for being the most chillin guy you will ever find, and 
> for being my west coast trade show and conference booth buddy. Jim 
> Gleason, for being first a friend for 9+ years of NYLUG and then a 
> mentor and being someone who cares.
> Michael Tiemann, for being a genius, for always giving me something to 
> think about and someone to look up to.
> John Flanagan, for being my first manager at Red Hat and being an all 
> around great guy and Jeff Needle, for being the guy who would let me 
> wander into his cubicle and talk about nothing for hours on end.
> Mo Duffy, for being the best artist and designer in the world!
> The original Red Hat QA team, Ed Rousseau, Bill Peck, Marty, John, 
> John and Zack for letting me encroach on their cube area and steal one 
> when I was an intern. Jesse Keating, for being awesome, for being the 
> workhorse upon much of which the foundations of Fedora are built, and 
> for being a cool guy who I spoke to for almost 2 years online and 
> helped me with everything before I ever got a chance to meet him and 
> buy him a drink. Luke Macken, for all those games of Star Wars pinball 
> on the 3rd floor and for being the most uber hacker the world has ever 
> seen. Arlinton Bourne, for being a true friend and following my advice 
> to join Red Hat, where the hood at? Paul Frields, for being a great 
> leader and a real sweetheart while still secretly being 007.
> Yaakov Nemoy, for being my intern and not complaining and for being a 
> friend who will always listen to my crazy ideas.
> Arjun Roy and Mohammed Morsi, for being great interns as well and for 
> accepting offers to come to Red Hat as well.  Mo, real Red Hatters 
> wear Orange.
> Bill Nottingham, because I like him.
> Moshe Bar, for being my international hangout buddy and being an all 
> around great human being.
> The Red Hat Anaconda team, the Desktop team, Fedora kernel team 
> (a.k.a. Dave Jones), the Fedora Ambassadors, the Fedora Infrastructure 
> team including Mike, Dennis and Toshio, anyone who was ever been on 
> the Fedora board including Rex Dieter, anyone who ever volunteered to 
> help at an event or show, everyone in the Westford office, everyone in 
> the NYC office.
> The Fedora Marketing team including Steven Moix, David Nalley, Bob 
> Jensen, Jon Stanley,  Rahul Sundaram, John Rose and anyone else I'm 
> forgetting...we done good, real good.
> To the next generation of leaders in Fedora, Mel Chua, Ricky Zhou, Ian 
> Weller and crew.
> Last and certainly not least, to Matthew Szulik who believed in us and 
> led us finely as a teacher and friend and Jim Whitehurst, who keeps 
> the flame alive, the train running and still makes time to be a true 
> leader.
>
> Thanks everyone for an amazing time and ride.  As I move on to other 
> ventures, I wish everyone blessing and success and hope to keep in 
> touch.  I can be reached via email jack at jackfoundation.com, Freenode 
> IRC as themayor, and various and sundry social networks.
>
Sad news, Jack. I wish you well in the future - it was awesome to meet 
and hang out with you the few times that I got to!

Take care.

-- 

Colby A. Hoke

[ Producer ]
Brand Communications + Design
-----------------------------

"I've done the math enough to know the dangers of our second guessing.
Doomed to crumble unless we grow and strengthen our communication."
~tool