Michael Tiemann is a true open source software pioneer. He made his first major open source contribution more than three decades ago by writing the GNU C++ compiler, the first native-code C++ compiler and debugger. His early work led to the creation of leading open source technologies and the first open source business model.
In 1989, Tiemann's technical expertise and entrepreneurial spirit led him to co-found Cygnus Solutions, the first company to provide commercial support for open source software. During his ten years at Cygnus, Tiemann contributed in a number of roles from President to hacker, helping lead the company from fledgling start-up to an admired open source leader. When Cygnus was acquired by Red Hat in 2000, Tiemann became Red Hat's Chief Technical Officer (CTO) before becoming its first Vice President of Open Source Affairs. In that role Tiemann provides technology, strategy, and policy advice to executives in the public and private sectors.
Tiemann graduated from the Moore School at the University of Pennsylvania (Class of 1986) with a BS CSE degree, and later did research at INRIA (1988) and Stanford University (1988-1989).
Tiemann has served on a number of boards that have been instrumental in establishing Open Source as a leading development and commercial practice in the software industry. He joined the board of the Open Source Initiative in 2001 and served as its President from 2005-2012. Tiemann was also a founding board member of the Embedded Linux Consortium, the Eclipse Foundation, and an advisor to the GNOME Foundation. Tiemann provides financial support to organizations that further the goals of software and programmer freedom, including the Free Software Foundation and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
He was also a Trustee of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and a founding member of the Board of Advisors for the Center for Environmental Farming Systems (2006-present). Tiemann has also remained active in the Creative Commons community, as both a sponsor of projects and promoter of the cause.
Authored Comments
Tarus,
Welcome to the club! As an open source entrepreneur myself (see <a href="http://oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/tiemans.html">my article</a> in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Open-Sources-Voices-Revolution-OReilly/dp/1565925823">Open Sources: Voices from the Open Source Revolution</a>), I love seeing success stories like this. And welcome, too, to opensource.com!
I think that the key to your success was the key to my sucess as well: identifying a real business need, finding a robust solution to today's problem that also has the adaptability to solve tomorrow's problems. Many people mis-read the theory of Charles Darwin and believe that his theory of evolution is about "the survival of the fittest", but that's too myopic. How did the fittest become the fittest? By being the most adaptable. True, multi-generational survival is about adaptability, not fitness at a moment in time.
Your story speaks to the wisdom of open source as a model of perfect adaptability, and your success is a result of your willingness to adapt. And it's good to see that our capitalistic system still can pay rewards to those who are willing to adapt rather than trying to lock in the status quo.
Steve,
Thanks much for your kind words! After 20 years of doing open source software (ten of which have been devoted more to commentary than code), I have some pretty thick skin. But it's nice to feel a pat on the back every now and again.
But I should not take all the credit. I've read some really amazing books in the past 5-10 years that have, by themselves, perhaps taught me more than I learned in four years of college. Or, put another way, used the mental fertility I gained from my liberal arts education, and then brought forth richer fruit than I could have imagined. I have not had time to write reviews for all the books I've ever read or would ever commend, but I have noted a few and do commend them to you on my Amazon.com <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/cdp/member-reviews/AZB0GPW0QHYU6/ref=cm_cr_dp_auth_rev?ie=UTF8&sort_by=MostRecentReview">profile</a>. I encourage you to dig in the fields that have been so productive for me!