LinuxPlanet: From the Desktop: Tom LaStrange Speaks! | Linux Today

LinuxPlanet: From the Desktop: Tom LaStrange Speaks!

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Feb 6, 2001

“‘I sat down at my monochrome Sun 3/50 and typed vi twm.c and
then opened the X11 documentation. twm was my first X program.
About six months later, I convinced my manager to let me send a
copy to the comp.windows.x newsgroup,’ LaStrange related.”

Regardless of how the aesthetic value of twm is perceived by
LaStrange and many others, I pointed out to him that twm has had a
significant effect on the overall development of X window managers.
He grudgingly conceded this point and related an example.”

“‘I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time with
something that a bunch of other people found useful,’ LaStrange
explained. ‘I exchanged some e-mail with the Enlightenment
developers about a year ago. It turns out the ugliness of twm
inspired them to write Enlightenment–much like the ugliness of uwm
inspired me….'”

“‘Not only don’t I work on window managers anymore, I haven’t
really used a UNIX system in a significant way for about four
years,’ he explained. ‘I’m sure some of the Linux users out there
are thinking ‘he’s old, he’s sold out, and he’s lost touch with his
open source roots.’ That’s OK, I have some younger co-workers that
think the same thing….'”

Complete
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Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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