Some really rough notes. Suggestions welcome.
Notable people who use Linux (with additional notes on Emacs and TeX users), a first draft.My rough criterion for determining who counts as "famous": does the person have a Wikipedia entry?
Presumably many more can be added under "computer-related" (which is why I put it at the bottom). I'm only listing each person once, under most relevant/salient category (otherwise I could, for instance, list Shuttleworth also under an "astronaut" category).
See also: "The Setup / Linux" and "My Linux Rig" for more 'prominent' people and their Linux setups.
See also: "The Setup / Linux" and "My Linux Rig" for more 'prominent' people and their Linux setups.
Political
Rick Falkvinge, founder of Swedish Pirate Party [Wikipedia entry]
- Uses an Ubuntu Linux set-up [1]
Christian Engström, Swedish Pirate Party MEP [Wikipedia entry]
- Seems to use some sort of Ubuntu Linux set-up [1, 2, 3]
- Couple of pics with Richard Stallman from 2004 [1, 2]
Amelia Andersdotter, Swedish Pirate Party MEP [Wikipedia entry]
Vinay Gupta, geopolitical risk analyst [Wikipedia entry]
Writers
Cory Doctorow, blogger, journalist, & sci-fi/fantasy author [Wikipedia entry]
Charlie Stross, sci-fi/horror/fantasy author [Wikipedia entry]
- formerly the monthly Linux columnist for Computer Shopper
- uses Linux, but mainly for running server, otherwise Mac [1, 2, 3]
- position on piracy: "If you've downloaded unauthorized copies of my books, instead of hitting on a tipjar button, I urge you to buy a (new) copy of one of my books....Your typical book publisher is not like the music or movie industry; they run on thin margins, and they're staffed by underpaid, overworked folk who do it because they love books, not because they're trying to make themselves rich on the back of a thousand ruthlessly exploited artists. I think their effort deserves to be rewarded appropriately..." [1]
Piers Anthony, fantasy/sci-fi author [Wikipedia entry]
- switched to Linux in 2000 [1, 2, 3, 4]
- mentions using a number of different distros, including Ubuntu & Fedora [1]
- use of Linux seems at least in part principle-driven [1, 2]
- uses LibreOffice [1]
- concerns about piracy:
- speaks approvingly of Harlan Ellison's war on piracy (2002-4) [1, 2]
- complaints about piracy & Ebay (2010) [1]
- some recognition of danger of censoring internet: "THE WEEK had an item on Internet piracy of music, books, and movies, and efforts to stop it. I have discussed this here before, but it bears repeating: pirates are thieves who are destroying the ability of creative artists to make a living, myself included; a LOT of my works are chronically stolen. The pirates need to be stopped. The problem is how to do it without censoring free expression itself. I think there does have to be a law, but one carefully crafted to shut down only the pirates." (2012) [1]
Neal Stephenson, sci-fi/speculative fiction author [Wikipedia entry]
- fondness for both Mac & Linux [sources?]
- author of long essay "In the Beginning... Was the Command Line" (1999)
- used Emacs [1]
- for which novels? (Cryptonomicon? others?)
- stopped using Emacs [1]
- plans to start using Emacs (& Linux) again [1]
Actors & film-related
Stephen Fry, actor [Wikipedia entry]
Wil Wheaton, actor [Wikipedia entry]
Programmers & computer-related
Linus Torvalds [Wikipedia entry]
- creator of Linux
- used Fedora (2008) [1]
- switched to openSUSE at some point in 2012(?) [1]
- uses Apple hardware [1]
- uses an Emacs-like editor based on MicroEMACS, a customised version of uEmacs/PK
Richard Stallman [Wikipedia entry]
- used gNewSense, a fully-free GNU/Linux distribution in 2010 [1]
- founder of the GNU project (1983)
- founder of Free Software Foundation (1985)
- creator of Emacs (1976)
- co-creator of Texinfo, presupposing knowledge/use of TeX
- supports copyleft
- one (of many) talks on copyright issues: @ University of Calgary (2009)
- statement on copyright
- statement on worries about abolishment of copyright for copyleft (re: Pirate Party platform)
Mark Shuttleworth, programmer, entreprenuer, astronaut [Wikipedia entry]
- started the Ubuntu Foundation (2005) for Ubuntu Linux development
Donald Knuth, computer scientist & professor [Wikipedia entry]
- creator of TeX typesetting system (1978), upon which LaTeX, LuaTeX etc. are based
- uses Ubuntu Linux (as of 2008) [1]
- uses Emacs to edit TeX [1]
- friends with computer security researcher Jacob Appelbaum [1]
American McGee, game designer [Wikipedia entry]
- switched to Ubuntu Linux (from Windows) with plans to "stay switched" (2006) [1]
John "maddog" Hall, director of Linux International & professor of computer science [Wikipedia entry]
- runs different Linux distributions depending on employer [1]
Some Initial Ruminations
A number of the people above fall into two rough groupings: "technology/gadget-lovers" vs. "ideological-users". So Stephen Fry and Wil Wheaton would fall into the first category, as would perhaps Charlie Stross and even Linus Torvalds. On the ideological side are (of course) Richard Stallman, Cory Doctorow, Piers Anthony, and the Pirate Party MPs. Anthony's position in the latter grouping is interesting, given his position on piracy. Stallman's position is similar to the Pirate MPs in certain respects, but values the legal status of copyleft.
What about Free Culture proponents?
What computer setups do Free Culture proponents use? Particularly, I'm wondering about Lawrence Lessig, founding father of the Free Culture movement (largely based on Stallman's Free Software Foundation) and founder of the Creative Commons licences. Nina Paley is another prominent Free Culture activist, but I'm pretty sure she's largely (solely?) a Mac user.
Hattrick winners and other random notes
Amelia Andersdotter, Donald Knuth, and Richard Stallman take hattrick prizes for Linux-Emacs-TeX use. (For an extra bonus, Andersdotter also explicitly mentions use of org-mode in Emacs.)
Of course there are various connections between some of the characters mentioned above. For instance, Doctorow releases his novels under Lessig's Creative Common licences; Doctorow & Stross are co-writing a novel [1]; etc.
In terms of the general public, the actors are (unsurprisingly) probably the best known: I would guess Stephen Fry is the most famous person listed above.
In terms of the general public, the actors are (unsurprisingly) probably the best known: I would guess Stephen Fry is the most famous person listed above.
