Candidacy - Raph Levien

[Raph Levien <raph acm org>]

I would like to take this opportunity to announce my candidacy for the
Gnome foundation board.

My name is Raph Levien. I've been involved in the Gnome project since
the beginning, and did a fair amount of Gtk+ and Gimp hacking before
then. My primary area of interest and expertise is 2D graphics. I
actively maintain Libart, a core part of the Gnome project, and have
contributed to Gnome-print, the Gnome canvas, rsvg (the SVG renderer
in Nautilus), and other components. I have recently taken over
maintainership of Ghostscript, and plan to improve its GUI
capabilities and Gnome integration.

I operate a one-man consulting operation, artofcode LLC. I've done
substantial consulting for Eazel, and now have a long term contract
with Artifex software for commercial licensing of future Ghostscript
development.

I have been programming computers for 24 years. My first machine was
an RCA Cosmac VIP with a 1-bit 1801 chip. I've also been avidly
studying computer science all this time. I have a Masters Degree in
Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a
PhD candidacy waiting for me to have time to finish my thesis. I
believe that my broad and deep command of computer science is one of
the strongest contributions I have to offer to the Gnome Foundation
board.

I also value highly the personal relationships that underly the Gnome
project, and feel privileged to consider myself good friends with a
great many people in the Gnome project. A large part of the motivation
for my launching the Advogato website was to strengthen these
relationships.

Gnome is going through a very difficult transition right now, from a
tiny independent project to a major component of the strategy of many
companies. This success is joyful to witness, but at the same time it
puts a great strain on the values that created Gnome. I believe it is
important for Gnome to continue to be fun. The Gnome project includes
lots of people just learning how to build modern GUI apps, and must
remain an appealing platform for these people. Building expertise is
where the true value of the Gnome project lies, and a large corps of
educated, experienced Gnome developers a few years out makes for many
exciting possibilities.

I'd like to use my seat on the Gnome Foundation board to make sure
that Gnome stays fun, while developing as much technical excellence as
possible. I can be relied on to advocate doing the Right Thing, even
if it goes against short-term corporate interests.

The biggest negative aspect of my candidacy is the numerous demands on
my time. I am balancing Ghostscript development, continued development
of Libart and other Gnome technologies, raising a family, and other
interests (I _do_ want to finish my PhD someday). The Gnome Foundation
board would obviously add to this. I would not be able to lavish time
and attention on it. Even so, I believe that my contribution would be
quite positive.

Raph Levien