RIP Ilya
Paw Prints: Writings of the maddog
I had heard, of course, of the Diaspora* project some time ago. It is a project to create a decentralized social network that would allow the users to have complete control over their data and their privacy. Started by four college students, they had the audacity to take on a project that would be daunting to programmers with many more years of experience and many dollars of corporate investment behind them.....reminding me of another young friend of mine who started a small project in 1991 called “Linux”....
When Diaspora* was first pointed out to me I received a login account, but the early functionality was not enough to keep me using it, so my account languished.
In July of 2011 I was at Campus Party in Mexico when one of the organizers pointed out that two of the developers of Diaspora* were at the event and were giving a talk on it. I went over to hear Daniel Grippi and Ilya Zhitomirskiy speak to the group, and felt the drive and excitement that they conveyed. To give you an idea of what the discussion was like, you would have to watch any movie of “Jay and Silent Bob” and you will have a good idea of the energy given off by this duo. They freely used terms like “awesome”, and sounded very “valley”. I immediately liked them.
After the conference, I received Diaspora* “sharings” from both Daniel and Ilya, as well as other people in the Diaspora* community.
Today I heard the shocking news of Ilya's death at the age of 22, and felt the huge disruption in “The Force”.
As readers of this blog know, this has not been a good year for me. The deaths of my parents (within a couple of months of each other), a friend in early March and Dennis Ritchie last month has taken its toll on my psyche.
The death of a person so young and so full of life as Ilya is very difficult to accept. I am just glad that I had even this very brief encounter with Ilya...a chance to know him just a little....even if it causes me more pain inside then I might have had otherwise.
Rest in Peace, Ilya.
comments powered by DisqusSubscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Juno Computers Launches Another Linux Laptop
If you're looking for a powerhouse laptop that runs Ubuntu, the Juno Computers Neptune 17 v6 should be on your radar.
-
ZorinOS 17.1 Released, Includes Improved Windows App Support
If you need or desire to run Windows applications on Linux, there's one distribution intent on making that easier for you and its new release further improves that feature.
-
Linux Market Share Surpasses 4% for the First Time
Look out Windows and macOS, Linux is on the rise and has even topped ChromeOS to become the fourth most widely used OS around the globe.
-
KDE’s Plasma 6 Officially Available
KDE’s Plasma 6.0 "Megarelease" has happened, and it's brimming with new features, polish, and performance.
-
Latest Version of Tails Unleashed
Tails 6.0 is based on Debian 12 and includes GNOME 43.
-
KDE Announces New Slimbook V with Plenty of Power and KDE’s Plasma 6
If you're a fan of KDE Plasma, you'll be thrilled to hear they've announced a new Slimbook with an AMD CPU and the latest version of KDE Plasma desktop.
-
Monthly Sponsorship Includes Early Access to elementary OS 8
If you want to get a glimpse of what's in the pipeline for elementary OS 8, just set up a monthly sponsorship to help fund its continued existence.
-
DebConf24 to be Held in South Korea
Busan will be the location of the latest DebConf running July 28 through August 4
-
Fedora Unleashes Atomic Desktops
Fedora has combined its solid distribution with rpm-ostree system to make it possible to deliver a new family of Fedora spins, called Fedora Atomic Desktops.
-
Bootloader Vulnerability Affects Nearly All Linux Distributions
The developers of shim have released a version to fix numerous security flaws, including one that could enable remote control execution of malicious code under certain circumstances.