[OT] Who am I grateful to?

[Ivan Shmakov]

        Driving even more OT, I should probably thank the chair I've
        worked at since my second year at the university (doing some
        computer-related tasks as an unpaid volunteer at first, and
        working as an instructor currently), since it was the
        communication with the staff and the students there that has
        allowed me to develop my communication skills.

        Also, my work there provided me with an e-mail address, which
        I've then used to send my first bug report ever to Aubrey
        Jaffer.  And he was kind enough to accept a few of my patches to
        SLIB as well -- that was how my involvement in the free software
        development began.  I should also thank numerous people involved
        into the free software I've asked questions and discussed my
        ideas and patches with.

        Being one of the most experienced users of some of the software
        used at the chair, a kind of instructor to others, made me
        reconsider my attitude towards my learning at the university
        (``how could I expect interest in the field I'm fluent in from
        my colleagues should I ignore the fields they're working in?'',
        I thought), and, finally, my attitude to learning in general.

        I should thank my scientific advisor, too, who've introduced me
        to the remote sensing field, and whose persistence made me
        finish both my B. Sc. and M. Sc. theses, and whose advices I
        rarely really follow (though there's still some hope that I'll
        finish my Ph. D. thesis in time.)

        I should thank those who've helped me to familiarize myself with
        GNU/Linux back in 1999, without whose help I wouldn't be nearly
        as useful to the chair at my earlier years at the university.

        Last but not least, I should probably thank Metallica (which
        records I was introduced to c. 1996), without whose songs my
        English skills would've likely been non-existent, effectively
        closing the whole world of free software and the people involved
        in it to me.

        To conclude, with all the experience I've got over the last
        decade or so, I've got a firm belief that it isn't something
        like good documentation or a superior design which makes the
        work done -- it's the persistent people that do.

        They truely rule the world.

-- 
FSF associate member #7257