Meeting Patrick Volkerding
I've been using Slackware Linux
since November 1997, and it'll always have a special place in my
heart. It was the first distribution that I successfully
installed, and it took me six hours, but I was beaming when I finally
got that first login prompt. Today I use several different
distributions, but Slackware is still one of them. I like its
simplicity; it doesn't try to hide the underlying system from you in an
attempt at user-friendliness, which is especially welcome if you're
trying to learn Linux/Unix in-depth.
In August 2003 at LinuxWorld I got to meet one of my idols, Patrick
Volkerding, who has maintained Slackware Linux more or less
single-handedly since 1993. The day I met him I just happened to
be wearing my Slackware T-shirt, but didn't have my camera with me --
d'oh! Oh well, I knew better the next day and stalked him until I
had him cornered. He's a really nice guy and put up with my
bowing and groveling with surprising tolerance.
This will be a day long
remembered. Mr. Volkerding is on the left.