The holiday is named after a 19th-century English mathematician who is
considered by many to be the first programmer. Though generations
passed before her contribution was fully acknowledged, she was a
pioneer both as a scientist and as a challenger of rigid gender
roles. For this Ada Lovelace Day, we're profiling Lisa Maginnis, who
is the FSF's senior systems administrator.
As the leader of the technical team, Lisa is responsible for choosing,
configuring, and maintaining the FSF's office computers and
servers. She uses extensive knowledge of hardware, networking, and
electrical engineering to maintain a complex array of all-free
software. An alert system sends text messages to her OpenMoko if
servers have problems, and she's no stranger to urgent after-hours
trips to the office to get something back online.
Since the FSF is the organizational sponsor of the GNU Project, Lisa
also administers https://gnu.org and various GNU development repositories. GNU
is a central piece in the free software world, and Lisa plays a larger
role in keeping it running than many people know.
Lisa Maginnis
Lisa's life as a hacker started when she was thirteen, when her mother
tried to teach her C programming from a book. Frustrated by her
inability to compile the first exercise on Windows 95, she started
exploring the Internet and discovered GCC and Slackware
GNU/Linux. What followed was multiple weeks of Lisa downloading
Slackware over her 56k Internet connection and teaching herself how to
install it. By the end, she had not only successfully compiled and run
the book's first exercise, but discovered free software and left
Windows for good.
Self-directed and ambitious, Lisa dropped out of college when her
professors refused to let her use free software tools for her
projects. She put to rest any doubts about her decision when she
helped found two companies, and then settled at the FSF.
Lisa is not just an enthusiast, but a deep believer in the value and
importance of free software. Along with the need for freedom, she also
believes that free software is important to avoid duplication of
proprietary work, and to help developers "stand on the shoulders of
giants."
When she's not working at the FSF, Lisa finds the time to maintain
OpenCashier, a free software point of sale system. She's also
contributed to a medical records system called OpenEMR, and now
writes patches for software used by the FSF, like CiviCRM.
As an expert in free software and in computer hardware, Lisa also
advises the FSF's campaigns and licensing teams on technical issues --
it's common for her to review technically complex writings before they
are sent out. She even participates actively in campaigns and attends
conferences to promote the FSF.
Lisa combines technical talent and skill with a love of computer user
freedom. As a self-taught system administrator with a commitment to
freedom, her career has not been free of challenges, but she's turned
each struggle into an opportunity and climbed to an influential
position. She's a cornerstone of the FSF and an important resource for
the GNU Project. Thank you, Lisa for your contribution to free
software.
You can find Lisa on Freenode IRC as nully in the #fsf or #gnu
channels. The FSF is currently
looking for another system administrator, so if you've got the
chops, you can join her team!
To read more about more women in free software, check out our previous
Ada Lovelace Day posts:
