Gerald Combs was the original developer of Wireshark, the award-winning network protocol analyzer. Gerald started the project in 1998 (under the name Ethereal) while working at an ISP. Since then many bright and talented people have contributed to the project. He currently works at CACE Technologies, which sponsors Wireshark and WinPcap.
"In past lives I worked as a consultant for firms in a variety of industries, ranging from telecommunications to pharmaceuticals to finance. I've also been a system administrator, managing web sites for Apple, the Kansas City Chiefs, AT&T, Ditch Witch, and the Rolling Stones ... I have the good fortune to work with two amazing development teams: the guys at CACE Technologies (Pilot, AirPcap, TurboCap, and WinPcap), and as the lead developer of Wireshark."
Editor's Note - I have accomplished something that has never been accomplished in the past which is to get Gerald Combs to sit down, relax and talk about himself for 11 minutes and 27 seconds. For those who don't know Gerald, he is the creator (or what Gerald prefers to say, the lead developer) of Ethereal/Wireshark, the most widely used network analysis software, with about 300,000 unique downloads per month or 1.1 download every 10 seconds!!!
As far as I can tell, this is the first time that Gerald has appeared in an interview. And probably for millions who have downloaded his software and benefited from his creation for years, this is the first time that they are seeing him live. There is almost no personal information available on Gerald except for the following which is partly from Wikipedia.
Gerald Combs, a computer science graduate of the University of Missouri-Kansas City, is the creator and lead developer of Ethereal, now Wireshark, which was first released in 1998. Recently Wireshark was selected as the the winner of the 2007 BOSSIE (Best of Open Source Software) award for network protocol analysis. Combs worked for Network Integration Services (NIS) until mid 2006 when he moved to a new job at CACE Technologies. In June 2006, he created Wireshark from the Ethereal codebase ... In 2003, Gerald received the prestigious Alumni Achievement Award from his Alma mater.
In addition to this video, I have also uploaded a slightly edited Youtube version. Please feel free to visit and embed into your own blog and web pages. As I said at the end of the interview, all of us are grateful and appreciative of Gerald's technical contribution but also in awe of his integrity, humanity and generosity as a person. Let's make this the most popular Youtube video and bring visibility to our greater community.
Panel Discussion: The Future of Open Source Network Tools - a distinguished panel of industry experts in a lively discussion on the future of open source versus commercial network tools.
Panel Moderator: (standing) Mike Pennacchi, Network Protocol Specialists, LLC
Panel Participants: (sitting, right to left) Scott Haugdahl - CEO of BitCricket; Gordon Lyon (aka Fyodor) - Founder of insecure.org and Creator of NMAP; Mike Kershaw - Creator of Kismet; Gerald Combs - Creator of Ethereal/Wireshark; Michael Blonsky - VP of Field Operations of PacketTrap
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