Lesser known contributors, Vol. 9 Issue 2.

It’s time for another post where I introduce you, Constant Reader, to another Fedora contributor you may not know personally, but who deserves some recognition. With this post, though, I’m actually naming a whole crew instead of just a single individual: the Fedora Ambassadors of Italy!

I haven’t had the chance to meet these folks personally yet, but the amazing crew of Andrea Gnerre, Andrea Rossi, Sean Carlos, Francesco Ugolini, Giuseppe Pignataro, Marco Palazzotti, Mario Torre, Francesco Crippa, Elio Tondo, Gianluca Varisco, Luca Foppiano, and Lorenzo Villani have done inspiring work to make Fedora so popular in Italy. Their contributions really span the whole gamut from governance to daily hammer-and-nails work on the distribution.

Francesco Ugolini, for example, serves as the Chair for the Fedora Ambassadors Steering Committee (FAMSCo), which guides and empowers the worldwide community of volunteers who bring Fedora to the masses. Many of you may have seen the recent reports by Francesco Crippa debuting the new LiveUSB station they created and used at the liberaMENTE conference. One day, Max was tossing around the idea of how cool it would be to be able to burn Live images to people’s USB keys at a show booth, and practically the next, the Italian team had coordinated the creation of a big posterboard with beautiful art and a USB slot to make your own Fedora while you wait. It’s amazing to see random thoughts (“Wouldn’t it be cool if…”) turn into action through the ambition and dedication of some excited volunteers. And moreover, they plan for the future too — there’s a Fedora 9 version of their booth display on the way!

While I’m name-dropping his countrymen, I’d also like to give a much deserved shout of recognition to the incomparably efficient Francesco Tombolini (or “Tombo” as we affectionately know him). Tombo’s team is pretty much the fastest I’ve ever seen — I have NO idea how they get things done so fast. I’m sure he will credit many others, and they all have our gratitude, but thanks for rounding up such a great team, Tombo!

And thanks to all the Italian Fedora contributors, wherever you are — bravo!

And now, I return you to your regularly scheduled Time of Waiting for the big release of Sulphur tomorrow!