| RE: David Stern Leaves RSI [message #28538] |
Wed, 19 December 2001 07:20  |
Ron Syml
Messages: 4
Registered: October 2001
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Junior Member |
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> ===== Original Message From david@dfanning.com =====
> Folks,
>
> I just received public confirmation of rumors I have
> been hearing this week that David Stern has finally
> cashed in his chips and has left RSI.
"Cashing in his chips" is a good way of looking
at this, after all, he already sold his sole.
This is yet another nail in the IDL coffin. IDL was
never about making a profit to people like David;
rather, it was about writing really cool scientific code.
Long hours and late nights were the norm, not the
exception and overtime pay was never even thought about.
Gone are the days when IDL programmers wrote
code on thier own just 'cause it was cool and fun.
You can still find that original sentiment in a few
of the regulars of this group and it abounds in Linux
development circles. Alas, it seems all but gone from
the core of RSI. It is a sad day. I no longer expect
bug fixes and feature requests in days (sometimes
hours)... I now simply pray they will make the next
minor version toggle. Perhpas this is just evolution.
There is, of course, life outside of software development.
David, goodbye and thanks for all the fish.
Ron
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| Re: David Stern Leaves RSI [message #28543 is a reply to message #28538] |
Wed, 19 December 2001 01:48  |
Jeff Payne
Messages: 2
Registered: November 2001
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Junior Member |
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William Thompson wrote:
>
> All of us IDL old-timers will miss him,
>
I'll echo that a thousand times Bill.
I recall his visits to RAL in the UK, to install IDL, or to add new
image display drivers and then afterwards enjoying a few beers
with him, down at the Anchor Inn in Abingdon.
I still have a copy of David's SOL manual , dated October 1 1975,
sitting
on the desk. SOL you will recall ran on a PDP 11 under RSX11/M and was
the precurser to IDL, using those still familiar commands like READI,
PLOT,
OPLOT, FFT, to analyse the data from the OSO range of spacecraft.
Thanks for IDL, David
Jeff Payne.
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| Re: David Stern Leaves RSI [message #28549 is a reply to message #28545] |
Tue, 18 December 2001 15:18 |
thompson
Messages: 584
Registered: August 1991
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Senior Member |
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David Fanning <david@dfanning.com> writes:
> Folks,
> I just received public confirmation of rumors I have
> been hearing this week that David Stern has finally
> cashed in his chips and has left RSI.
> David was the least likely CEO I have ever known,
> always unassuming and unfailingly modest. ...
Hear, hear!
I always found it startling in the early days to call up RSI, and
the CEO would answer the phone. I always found David Stern to be
a very friendly and easy person to talk to.
When we first got into the business of developing electronic
cameras in the lab, we bought a MicroVAX II, and identified an
imaging card we wanted to buy. The equipment was so new at that
time that the company making the video card didn't even have a
driver yet for the MicroVAX. We put the video card company into
contact with RSI, and David not only wrote an IDL interface for
the card, but wrote the VMS driver as well. And then he flew
over personally to install it for us. I was always impressed by
that.
All of us IDL old-timers will miss him,
Bill Thompson
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| Re: David Stern Leaves RSI [message #28612 is a reply to message #28538] |
Wed, 19 December 2001 17:02 |
gutmann
Messages: 11
Registered: December 2001
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Junior Member |
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As a relatively new IDL user (~2yrs) I hope that some of this spirit
will live on as this is one of the things that attracts me to it. I
suspect some of this spirit will continue, at least in the community
that has developed around it. Whether or not the company continues to
be a part of that community rather than just another company remains
to be seen I suppose.
> David, goodbye and thanks for all the fish.
so long and... ;)
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