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Geek God – Mark Shuttleworth

Posted on 20. Oct, 2009 by Jake.

Thanks to the Ubuntu declarations a few weeks back, this week I decided to go local and find you a homegrown example of a Geek God. It is perhaps a tad ironic that the most famous South African geek who springs to mind, Mark Shuttleworth, is actually based in London now, but I suppose, like Charlize Theron or Dave Matthews, we need to claim him as one of us, no matter how many years he spends out of the country. As a massively successful uber-geek he is an inspiration to South African geeks and, having made the transition from developer to filthy rich entrepreneur, he reminds us that there is no reason for us not to think big.

The man could not be described as an underachiever. He set up his first business, which specialised in Internet Security, in 1995, and had sold it for 3.5 billion by 1999. He has since helmed two similarly successful businesses, not to mention becoming the first African in Space, where he got to chat to Nelson Mandela via radio. And, believe it or not, he was born in Welkom. He has undoubtedly come a long way.

While he is now best known more for making a ton of money and visiting space, Shuttleworth’s geek credentials are formidable. As a student at UCT, in the early nineties, he was involved in setting up the varsity’s first residential internet connection at his res, Jan Smuts house. Proving he has skills over and above his obviously strong business sense, he was one of the developers of the Debian operating system. And, from 2001, he has championed the Open Source revolution, first through the Shuttleworth Foundation and then, in 2005, as the founder of the now internationally famous Ubuntu.

He seems like a good guy, too. His mission into space wasn’t a selfish one, and his time spent at The International Space Station included his participation in experiments relating to AIDS and stem-cell research. While he was in space, he found time to chat to Michelle Foster, a terminally ill 14 year old Cancer patient who has since passed away (she asked him to marry her, and he responded by politely changing the subject). And, proving he has a sense of humour, his title at Ubuntu, rather than CEO or director, is Self-Appointed Benevolent Dictator for Life.

Coming from Southern Africa, where the dictator who gets the most mentions in the news is far from benevolent, we need all the good PR we can get. So Shuttleworth is ours, even if he does insist on setting up camp in the land of grey weather and fish and chips.

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