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
Wow! Excellent to see what NCSSM is doing, in so many ways! The education program, the students, the challenges, the public benefits possibilities...they are firing on all cylinders!
Scott, you ask some great questions. One possible answer to the question "Why does Red Hat seem to be the leader?" comes down to the fact that when Red Hat acquired Cygnus (and gained an order of magnitude more OSS expertise and experience than any other company at that time), it became the undisputed leader in an otherwise highly disputed category[*]. But that was just a one-time event. Since then, Red Hat has invested in that leadership position, strengthening our teams, acquiring other companies, creating not only new products, but sometimes new market categories. I think we are leaders today because we started as the leader, and because we have been successful building upon that lead every day since then.
As to the question about why some companies struggle to become profitable...that I cannot say. Profitability is as simple as having more revenue than expenses. Perhaps some companies are focused on markets where there simply is not the revenue to sustain their expenses. Perhaps others are spending far more than their revenues justify. A great executive team manages both the top and bottom lines while investing in the future, and I think Red Hat's performance, measured both financially and in terms of market position and creation speak volumes about the quality of our team.
[*] Back in the days when OSS was more like WTF?!