“I was managing the HPUX desktop and we decided that having
GNOME, a free and open source desktop, on HPUX would be
advantageous for users. It was a platform with a vibrant community
and new features that customers wanted. The technical part turned
out to be the easy part. The harder part was explaining what open
source software was and how HP’s intellectual property would not be
compromised, and how free and open source software was changing the
software business. I ended up with a new job teaching people about
open source software and creating the Open Source Program
Office.”