Joe Barr

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Joe Barr (born October 19, 1944), a programmer for more than 20 years, is now a journalist covering the personal computing and free software/open source beats.

His programming career covered everything from microcomputers like the TRS-80 Model I to IBM mainframes with acres of DASD, writing code in more than a dozen languages, including RPG II, 370 ALC, COBOL, BASIC, TIBOL, MASM, and C. Much of that experience coming in his 13 years with Ross Perot's EDS.

As a writer, Barr first gained notoriety and -- according to Ziff-Davis's Spencer F. Katt -- a cult-like following for his zine, The Dweebspeak Primer [1].

Barr was also a central figure in the Steve Bartko incident [2], one of the earliest known examples of astroturfing. The incident involved a Microsoft exec on Will Zachmann's Canopus Forum pretending to be an ordinary user while bashing IBM and OS/2. Immediately after reading the first Bartko missive, Barr asked on the forum if Bartko wasn't really Rick Segal -- an MS exec -- in drag. Little did he know.

Barr began writing about personal computing in 1994, and primarily about Linux and open source in 1998, when he began writing for IDG's LinuxWorld.com.

The MPlayer project made him even better known by dedicating a derogatory page to him in their documentation after he wrote a piece entitled MPlayer: the project from hell [3]."

In 2001, Barr was awarded a Silver Medal by the ASBPE (American Society of Business Publication Editors) in the category of Best Web Commentary for his article entitled "Dumbing Down Linux." For the past several years, he has worked at OSTG, writing articles, columns, and commentary for NewsForge and Linux.com.

So far as is known, he is the only living author whose work has appeared in both the legendary hacker's zine Phrack (for his coverage of HoHoCon 94 and the IBM Personal Systems Journal.

When he is not working, Joe enjoys raising [4] miniature donkeys, [5] rescue puppies, and ham radio. If you tune to the 20 or 40 meter bands, you might hear him sending Morse code as K1GPL.

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