Leaders of Open Source, Free Software Movement Support Endangered Apes.

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

LinuxWorld Conference & Expo

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 18, 2000

Open Source pioneers Michael Tiemann and Miguel de Icaza announced today that they are making charitable contributions to the Bonobo Protection Fund, a charity administered by the Georgia State University Foundation, Inc., a 501 (c) 3 charity. Other major Open Source figures have also committed to donate to the fund.

The Open Source computer movement focuses on the free distribution of software and operating systems, giving developers access to the programming code for updates and revisions. Tiemann is the original author of the GNU C++ compiler and a major contributor to many early GNU Open Source projects, including GCC and GDB. Tiemann, CTO of Red Hat, co-founded Cygnus Solutions, which is often credited as the world's first Open Source company. Red Hat acquired Cygnus in January 2000. De Icaza is one of the co-founders of the GNOME project, and founder and CTO of Helix Code, the first company to provide commercial support and development of GNOME software. Helix is privately held.

The bonobo is a rare and endangered ape, sometimes called "the Pygmy Chimpanzee." The little-known ape is unique from chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, and considered by scientists to be mankind's closest living relative. The bonobos unique communication abilities and social structure were the inspiration for the system of communication and organization of objects in GNOME. De Icaza says that although he playfully named the object model after the apes, he has since developed a serious interest in the endangered animals after learning more about the Bonobo Protection Fund.

"One might ask how free software can help these animals, and the answer is simple: make money and give some back," says de Icaza. "Michael and I are hoping that our contributions can inspire others to save these wonderful creatures."

To date, Tiemann and de Icaza have committed and secured contributions of more than $10,000 a year for the next several years to the Bonobo Protection Fund. They hope that additional contributions from the software development community can generate more than $100,000 in donations by the end of the year.

"The GNOME project was already two years old when I first heard Miguel speak about it. If I had not already been a convert to free software, I would have been converted that day," says Tiemann, CTO of Red Hat. "The combination of technology and vision was astounding. I was so inspired, I had to learn more, including the story of the bonobo object model."

The Bonobo Protection Fund (BFP) was established to advance bonobo conservation, focusing on preserving the great apes in their natural habitat of the Congo. The BFP is an extension of the work of Georgia State University's Language Research Center (LRC). For the past 25 years, scientists at LRC in Atlanta, Georgia have been studying and documenting the language ability of bonobos and other great apes. As reported in a recent feature in the London Times, Panbanisha, a 14-year-old bonobo at the LRC, has a vocabulary of 3,000 words and talks through a computer that produces a synthetic voice as she presses symbols on a keyboard.

For more information about the Bonobos Protection Fund, visit www.gsu.edu/~wwwbpf. For more information about Red Hat, visit www.redhat.com. For more information about Helix Code, visit www.helixcode.com.