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A small anecdote in memory of Ian. When he joined Docker it was to help us make the platform more open and community-friendly. He died before completing his pro

by shykes 9y ago

A small anecdote in memory of Ian. When he joined Docker it was to help us make the platform more open and community-friendly. He died before completing his project and we've done our best to continue it in the way he would have wanted. We finally launched it, over a year late, under the name Moby. That name was Ian's idea too. We initially wanted to publicly dedicate the Moby launch to him, but decided against it, because we didn't want to give the impression that we were cynically using his name to help our launch succeed. It makes me very happy that this release of Debian is dedicated to him. It's hard to describe the shock of losing a colleague so brutally in the middle of a mind meld, when you're so intensely focused on building something together. It still haunts me.

newscracker 9y ago
> We initially wanted to publicly dedicate the Moby launch to him, but decided against it, because we didn't want to give the impression that we were cynically using his name to help our launch succeed. I get what you're saying, but my guess is that most people would've seen it differently, especially if you had also mentioned everything that Ian had contributed to before joining Docker. I believe Docker lost an opportunity, with this decision, to connect with people who're still around.
- shykes 9y ago
  Yes, that possibility is often on my mind. When we made the decision, Docker was the target of loud and vitriolic criticism in parts of the open-source community. In our experience the vitriol, even if it comes from a small minority, can spoil the discourse for everyone else. We didn't want to risk dragging Ian's name into that. I have no doubt that we missed an opportunity, but it just didn't seem worth the risk. Maybe at some point in the future, when Docker is no longer as polarizing (something we're actively working on ), we will revisit the issue.
  - ridruejo 9y ago
    I agree, people always find a way to misinterpret things. It is a really nice thought and speaks greatly of you

by shykes 9y ago

newscracker 9y ago

> We initially wanted to publicly dedicate the Moby launch to him, but decided against it, because we didn't want to give the impression that we were cynically using his name to help our launch succeed. I get what you're saying, but my guess is that most people would've seen it differently, especially if you had also mentioned everything that Ian had contributed to before joining Docker. I believe Docker lost an opportunity, with this decision, to connect with people who're still around.

shykes 9y ago
Yes, that possibility is often on my mind. When we made the decision, Docker was the target of loud and vitriolic criticism in parts of the open-source community. In our experience the vitriol, even if it comes from a small minority, can spoil the discourse for everyone else. We didn't want to risk dragging Ian's name into that. I have no doubt that we missed an opportunity, but it just didn't seem worth the risk. Maybe at some point in the future, when Docker is no longer as polarizing (something we're actively working on ), we will revisit the issue.
- ridruejo 9y ago
  I agree, people always find a way to misinterpret things. It is a really nice thought and speaks greatly of you