Brief Description: Co-founder (and former chief scientist) of Sun; main author of Berkeley Unix
Further Details:
Co-founder of Sun Microsystems in 1982 along with Vinod Khosla, Scott McNealy, and Andy Bechtolsheim, Bill Joy spent 21 years at Sun before leaving it in September 2003.
Once called the "Edison of the Internet" by Fortune Magazine, while at UC Berkeley Joy was the designer of the Berkeley version of the Unix operating system, now known as BSD, which became a foundation of the Internet.
At Sun he was leading designer of some of its key technologies, including Solaris software and Sparc microprocessors, and was a guiding light for the development of Java and Jini technologies.
"Bill will continue to be an inspiration to all innovators," said Scott McNealy, co-founder, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Sun, in a statement when Joy departed. "Bill's many contributions...have helped define Sun as one of the most innovative and inspired places on the planet. We thank Bill for the strong legacy of innovation that he leaves in the hearts and souls of every Sun employee."
Joy earned a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Michigan in 1975 and received a master's degree in electrical engineering and computer science at the University of California at Berkeley. He also served as co-chairman of the Presidential Information Technology Advisory Committee, appointed by President Clinton in 1997.
In April 2000, he published a much-debated article in Wired Magazine, called "Why the future doesn't need us." The article argued that some new technologies, including robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotechnology, could make humans an endangered species.
About Jeremy Geelan Jeremy Geelan is Sr. Vice-President of SYS-CON Media & Events. He is Conference Chair of the AJAXWorld Conference & Expo series, of the 3rd International Virtualization Conference & Expo and founder of Web 2.0 Journal, AJAXWorld Magazine and other major SYS-CON titles. From 2000-6, as first editorial director and then group publisher of SYS-CON Media, he was responsible for the development of all new titles and i-Technology portals for the firm, and regularly represents SYS-CON at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of "Power Panels with Jeremy Geelan" on SYS-CON.TV.
SUBSCRIBE TO THE WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL NEWSLETTERS
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR RSS FEEDS & GET YOUR SYS-CON NEWS LIVE!
Click to Add our RSS Feeds to the Service of Your Choice:
.gif)
