Pieter Hintjens
Born 1962 · Age 63
Belgian software developer, CEO, open-standards advocate, author and community builder; co-founder of ZeroMQ; past president of the FFII; author of multiple books and essays, notable for "A Protocol for Dying".
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Congo (Léopoldville)
Pieter Hintjens was born in Congo-Léopoldville (now Kinshasa), 3 December 1962.
Began programming
Hintjens began programming at age 17 (he later referenced being a programmer since age 17).
Activism: President of the Foundation for a Free Information Infrastructure (FFII) (past)
Hintjens served as president of the FFII, an association that fights software patents (Wikipedia lists him as a past president; exact tenure years not given).
Designed the original AMQP protocol
Hintjens was the author/designer of the original Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP).
CEO of iMatix (active)
Hintjens served as CEO and chief software designer for iMatix, the firm behind Xitami, OpenAMQ, Libero, GSL and ZeroMQ (he was CEO while founding ZeroMQ).
Founded the ZeroMQ project (with Martin Sustrik)
While CEO of iMatix, Hintjens founded the ZeroMQ high-performance asynchronous messaging library with Martin Sustrik.
Named one of 50 most influential people in IP
Managing Intellectual Property magazine nominated Hintjens as one of the '50 most influential people in IP'.
Publicly warned of a 'patent bubble'
In October 2007 Hintjens warned that patents could become a third economic bubble after mortgages and consumer debt.
Developed RestMS and COSS model for DSO
Hintjens edited RestMS (a RESTful messaging protocol) and helped develop the peer-to-peer, share-alike 'Consensus-Oriented Specification System' (COSS) for the Digital Standards Organization (DSO).
Named founder of the Digital Standards Organization (DSO)
Hintjens is credited as a founder of the Digital Standards Organization, which worked on COSS/RestMS.
Diagnosed with bile duct cancer (surgically removed)
In 2010 Hintjens was diagnosed with bile duct cancer; it was successfully surgically removed at the time.
iMatix product portfolio noted
iMatix (where Hintjens was CEO) produced or maintained free software such as ZeroMQ, OpenAMQ, Libero, the GSL code generator, and the Xitami web server.
Ended role as CEO of Wikidot, Inc.
Hintjens served as CEO of Wikidot Inc. until February 2010 (end of tenure).
Published 'Culture and Empire: Digital Revolution'
Published the book 'Culture and Empire: Digital Revolution' (2013).
Published 'ZeroMQ: Messaging for Many Applications' (O'Reilly)
Hintjens authored the O'Reilly book 'ZeroMQ: Messaging for Many Applications' (2013).
Published 'Code Connected Volume 1'
Published 'Code Connected Volume 1' (2013).
Announced EdgeNet (building on ZeroMQ)
In November 2013 Hintjens announced EdgeNet, a project building on ZeroMQ to create mesh networks and a secure, anonymous peer-to-peer alternative to the internet.
Organized FOSDEM IoT Devroom (beginning of 3-year stretch)
Hintjens organized the Internet of Things (IOT) Devroom at FOSDEM; FOSDEM notes he organized it for the last three years (2014–2016).
Published 'The Psychopath Code'
Hintjens published 'The Psychopath Code' (2015).
Organized FOSDEM IoT Devroom (year 2)
Continued organizing the FOSDEM Internet of Things Devroom as part of a multi-year effort (2014–2016).
Authored blog post 'Five Years, Five Wishes'
Posted 'Five Years, Five Wishes' on 10 December 2015 (referenced in accounts of his health and wishes).
Organized FOSDEM IoT Devroom (final year)
Final year organizing the IOT Devroom at FOSDEM (part of his recent conference and community work).
Authored multiple later works and in-progress book
In 2016 Hintjens produced writings including 'Social Architecture', 'Confessions of a Necromancer' and had 'Scalable C' listed as in progress.
ZeroMQ community stewardship and projects
Hintjens authored and maintained several ZeroMQ-related projects (CZMQ, zproto, Malamute) and was known as founder/benevolent dictator of the ZeroMQ community.
Credited with authoring 30+ protocols and distributed systems
By the end of his career Hintjens was described (FOSDEM) as having written over 30 protocols and distributed systems.
Cancer returned — diagnosed terminal cholangiocarcinoma
In April 2016 Hintjens announced the cancer had returned; he was diagnosed with terminal cholangiocarcinoma (metastatic disease).
Chose successor for ZeroMQ ('Somech')
In his final days (documented in 'A Protocol for Dying') Hintjens identified and chose 'Somech' as his successor for ZeroMQ stewardship.
Reddit AMA while terminally ill
Hintjens participated in an IAmA (Reddit AMA) describing his life, work and terminal cancer while answering community questions.
Published 'A Protocol for Dying'
Published the widely-read essay 'A Protocol for Dying' on 21 April 2016 describing his terminal diagnosis, preparations, and reflections.
Interview on 'Software Engineering Daily' — 'Death and Distributed Systems'
About four months before his death Hintjens appeared on the 'Software Engineering Daily' podcast in an episode titled 'Death and Distributed Systems'.
Died by voluntary euthanasia
On 4 October 2016 Hintjens underwent voluntary euthanasia in Brussels after his terminal cholangiocarcinoma diagnosis.
FOSDEM 'Pieter Hintjens In Memoriam' talk
FOSDEM hosted an 'In Memoriam' talk in 2017 remembering Hintjens' work on ZeroMQ, standards and activism.
Key Achievement Ages
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