John Goerzen
IS Development Manager, Hustler Turf Equipment

Website

I have been working with Linux and other Open Source technologies since 1995. I enjoyed both the quality of the software, the cost, and the ability to work with the source code to learn and contribute.

In 1997, I joined the Debian GNU/Linux project as a developer. My ties to the community grew over the years; in 2004, I was elected President and Chairman of the Board of Software in the Public Interest, Inc., the nonprofit legal parent organization of Debian.

I also have written several books about Linux and programming. My most recent ones include the Linux Programming Bible and Foundations of Python Network Programming. I am currently working on Real-World Haskell for O’Reilly with two fabulous co-authors. This project is at www.realworldhaskell.org.

Since 2002, I’ve worked in IT for Hustler Turf Equipment, Inc. (Yes, we got the name before Larry Flynt). We make professional and residential lawn mowers, employ about 500 people, and have been growing rapidly for the last six years. We are a heavy Linux shop, running Linux on the majority of our desktops, servers, and even some handhelds. I led the deployment of Asterisk (Open Source PBX) for our phone system, Linux for our ERP system, and Linux plus OpenOffice and Firefox for our desktops. We’re at www.hustlerturf.com.