Linux and Main: Men at Work: The Ximians in Their Aerie

“The tall art deco building in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood
could easily be a courthouse, or some other seat of power. Signs in
its windows proclaim “the awakening of the slumbering giant.”

“If power can be described as the encapsulation of energy, power
does reside there. And if the giant can be thought of as awakening
for the first time, it’s all perfectly consistent. For in this
renovated relic of the first half of the 20th century resides
Ximian, Inc.

“The offices are not as one imagines but instead as one dared
not hope them to be–almost movie-set hackerdom with such corporate
accoutrements as are absolutely necessary. Here is a big room,
plumbing and air ductwork covering much of the ceiling,
Brazil-style. In the third of it unencumbered by cubicle dividers
arranged to provide both private workspace and openness, there are
beanbag chairs, tall stools and cafe tables, and a couch, arranged
in no particular fashion. The lights are not on. (‘On Fridays we
have a group lunch, and one of the teams makes a presentation,’ the
visitor is told. ‘That’s why it’s dark.’) Here and there, wiring
that would be ceiling lights of some sort dangles from the
neo-industrial architecture above. They have no bulbs and,
strangely, look better that way…”

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