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Thank you for visiting my software projects
web site.
Please note that this site is
still under construction -- 30-Apr-2004
I'm Tom Lord, best known these days as the author of
the Gnu Arch revision control system. (I've written a
short bio of myself in case you
are curious.)
On this page, you can find information about several of
my projects as well as about the product and service offerings I'm
assembling to support the users of my software. All of
these projects, like all of the software I develop, is Free Software.
Who would have believed when I released a
collection of shell and awk scripts in early 2002, the
original implementation of Arch, that within a mere two
years: Arch would be completely rewritten (in C, this
time); there would be hundreds of publicly accessible arch
archives; there would be dozens of code contributors to
arch -- some quite active; that a growing handful of
businesses and research labs would have adopted arch; that
there would exist a vibrant community of arch users and
contributors; ... on an on. Arch hasn't taken over the
world yet, but it's well on its way.
This happy success would not have occured if
Arch had depended on Research and Development investment
by any of the "major players" in the free software and
open source industry. For a variety of complex reasons,
not even the big boys in our industry are spending much
money for creative and truly innovated free software R&D
except in a very few, very narrow domains. So sad.
So, where does Arch come from? Or my other software
for that matter? Are these "after hours hobby projects"
or what? In fact, no -- since early 2002, these projects
are what I do. I didn't (until very recently) have
a day job that subsidizes this work.
Passing the Hat: The arch project and my
other projects were, until recently, financially supported
by generous contributions from the general public.
The need for me to pass the hat has, for the moment (and
hopefully for longer) passed!
Thank You everyone who helped financially and
sent good wishes. (I'll fix up these still-crude web
pages soonishly enough, I hope....)
Thank's for your interest in my software and
for your support.
Happy Hacking,
-t
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