Ken Coar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ken Coar is a software developer and open development evangelist. He is probably best known for his association with The Apache Software Foundation and the ApacheCon series of user conferences.
He is currently a Senior Software Engineer in the Information Management division of IBM. He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is happily married and has been since 1984, and likes reptiles and felines. Ken refers to himself as an 'opinionist,' and he is widely recognised for his practice of strict candour. He is also well-known as being a 'geek's geek' for all the tools, gadgets, and gear he carries about with him. He is probably the sole user/holder of the title Sanagendamgagwedweinini (Ojibwe for 'difficult-question-asking-man').
He is known for being scrupulously fair, admitting when he is wrong, and apologising if he makes a mistake or unintentionally offends someone.
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[edit] Background
Coar attended the University of Massachusetts, majoring in computer topics, but left before completing a degree. He worked for the University itself for several years, and has since been employed by General Dynamics, Digital Equipment Corporation, and IBM, where he still works.
[edit] Open Source
Coar has been quite active in various open software open software projects, and enthusiastically lectures and educates internationally about open development methodologies and distributed collaboration. He has addressed numerous local groups, regional conferences, and government organisations.
[edit] Apache Project
Ken Coar is a member of The Apache Software Foundation and has been a Director on its board since its incorporation in 1999. His involvement with the organisation dates back to late 1996, and his major code contributions have been to the Apache HTTP server project.
Coar is also the Vice President and chair of the Apache Conferences project, and is responsible for the ApacheCon shows which have been held in North America and Europe since 2000. He was the initial chair of the Apache Commons project, which eventually shut down without actually having accomplished much. He agitated for and precipitated the creation of the Apache Incubator project.
In October 2005 the ASF board appointed Ken to be the Vice President and chair of the Apache Geronimo project.
A complete and current listing of Apache projects in which he is involved is available here: Apache Committers.
[edit] Open Source Initiative
In 2004 Coar was invited to join the board of the Open Source Initiative, and has served as one of the organisation's directors ever since. He has been instrumental in improving internal organisation, expanding the board's composition internationally, and extending the OSI bylaws to allow for the creation of new initiatives. He is very dedicated to expanding OSI's activities beyond software licence certification, and is currently leading the project to investigate the viability of turning the organisation into a grass roots membership structure.
[edit] Other Open Software Projects
Coar has made minor contributions to other projects, such as the PHP scripting language. In the late 1990s he was involved in IBM's efforts to get involved with the Apache HTTP Server project, and was instrumental in the development of a working relationship between the two. He has also been a key figure in a number of similar collaborations between Apache and IBM.
Ken is a great believer in transparency, and expends a lot of energy in facilitating communication.
[edit] Publications
Coar is the author of 'Apache Server for Dummies,' co-author of 'Apache Server Unleashed' and 'Apache Cookbook,' and has written articles for a number of publications including Linux Magazine, ACM Queue, Linux Today, and Apache Today.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Rodent's Burrow - Ken Coar's Web log (blog)
[edit] Bibliography
- Apache Server for Dummies (1999) ISBN 0-7645-0291-3
- Apache Server Unleashed (2000) ISBN 0-672-31808-3
- Apache Cookbook (2003) ISBN 0-596-00191-6
- The Sun Never Sets on Distributed Development ACM Queue, Volume 1, No. 9
