Werner Koch continues to work! GnuPG version 2.1.2 released
The release of the minor version of the GnuPG 2.1.2 program for encrypting mail and creating electronic digital signatures took place yesterday evening. It would seem, what is a special reason for joy? And he is. After all, this version, like all subsequent ones, could well not exist.
The fact is that the GnuPG cryptographic program for 17 years alone has been written by the German programmer Werner Koch (Werner Koch). The programmer lives in the town of Erkrath in western Germany, he is now 53 years old.
Last week, it became known that the author of the free GnuPG program is in distress and is forced to abandon the project in order to get paid work. It was sad news, because GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard) was a reliable and convenient encryption tool. It was used by Edward Snowden, thousands of other activists and specialists around the world.
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For 17 years, one person has been developing and supporting the project with little or no assistance. But lately he has come to the end of his livelihood and patience.
“I was too idealistic, ” he once said in an interview at a hacker conference in Germany. - In early 2013, I was completely ready to quit and go to regular work. But then all the events happened to Snowden, so the time was not right to leave. ”
Since 2001, Werner Koch has received only $ 25 thousand donations to support the free project. This was too little to fulfill his long-held dream - to hire a programmer and pay himself, having the means to provide for his wife and 8-year-old daughter.
In December, Koch launched a crowdfunding campaign, but in a couple of months she collected only $ 21,000, much less the required $ 137,000.
Everything changed after the publication of the article in the media , which attracted the attention of the community. The effect was lightning. In one day, they collected 120,000 euros of donations from citizens. In addition, the Core Infrastructure Initiative allocated $ 60,000 for 2015, Stripe and Facebook provided grants of $ 50,000 each. In the end, the charitable organization Wau Holland Stiftung collected 19,000 euros and 57 bitcoins for Koch.
Werner Koch thanked everyone who helped him and asked for help to other important Open Source projects that are often supported by volunteers for free and in their free time.
This is why the release of the minor version of GnuPG 2.1.2 is so joyful. Werner Koch feels fine and continues to work!
The fact is that the GnuPG cryptographic program for 17 years alone has been written by the German programmer Werner Koch (Werner Koch). The programmer lives in the town of Erkrath in western Germany, he is now 53 years old.
Last week, it became known that the author of the free GnuPG program is in distress and is forced to abandon the project in order to get paid work. It was sad news, because GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard) was a reliable and convenient encryption tool. It was used by Edward Snowden, thousands of other activists and specialists around the world.
')
For 17 years, one person has been developing and supporting the project with little or no assistance. But lately he has come to the end of his livelihood and patience.
“I was too idealistic, ” he once said in an interview at a hacker conference in Germany. - In early 2013, I was completely ready to quit and go to regular work. But then all the events happened to Snowden, so the time was not right to leave. ”
Since 2001, Werner Koch has received only $ 25 thousand donations to support the free project. This was too little to fulfill his long-held dream - to hire a programmer and pay himself, having the means to provide for his wife and 8-year-old daughter.
In December, Koch launched a crowdfunding campaign, but in a couple of months she collected only $ 21,000, much less the required $ 137,000.
Everything changed after the publication of the article in the media , which attracted the attention of the community. The effect was lightning. In one day, they collected 120,000 euros of donations from citizens. In addition, the Core Infrastructure Initiative allocated $ 60,000 for 2015, Stripe and Facebook provided grants of $ 50,000 each. In the end, the charitable organization Wau Holland Stiftung collected 19,000 euros and 57 bitcoins for Koch.
Werner Koch thanked everyone who helped him and asked for help to other important Open Source projects that are often supported by volunteers for free and in their free time.
This is why the release of the minor version of GnuPG 2.1.2 is so joyful. Werner Koch feels fine and continues to work!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/376451/
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