Age: 24.0
Location: Delft, the Netherlands
Profession: I'm busy getting a MSc degree in Microelectronics, and I work parttime for Procolix.
Homepage: http://geefmegeld.nl
Favorite Color: Blue

WebGUI

In what way(s) do you contribute to WebGUI or the WebGUI Community?
I made the first incarnation of the pluggable auth system and did stuff on an ancestor of the pagetree with Len, Leendert and Dan. The commerce subsystem is made by me. I also do a lot of custom WebGUI stuff for Procolix, and when there's something that other people also can use we release it to the community. Of course I also read the mailing list, and I hang out on the IRC channel.

When did you first hear of WebGUI?
Somewhere in the first half of 2002, I think between version 4.0 and 4.2.

How and when did you get involved in WebGUI?
At the time I worked as a replacement for the helpdesk woman who was ill. When she got back I thought my employment there was over, but I heard the institute where I worked needed an intranet. So I told them I could build that, and started coding right away.
Building CMS-like features is more time consuming as I initially thought however, and apart from the challenge it felt not very efficient to reinvent the wheel. Then one day Koen, Joeri and I were talking at the bar about what I was doing at my job and they told me about WebGUI, which they were using already in their company Procolix. I checked it out and except for SMB auth it did everything I wanted it to. So I hacked in SMB auth and rolled it out over there. Later that year the intranet was finished and I switched jobs to go to work for Procolix.

Are you paid to work on WebGUI?
Yes, Procolix pays me to do custom WebGUI stuff as well as bug fixing and adding features to the core.

How much time do you spend on WebGUI?
This varies heavily from week to week. I try to work at least 10 hours per week. Since most stuff I do involves WebGUI this means that I also spend about at least 10 hours a week on WebGUI related work.

What do you think is still missing from WebGUI or the WebGUI Community?
Probably better docs. I think this is keeping a lot of people from trying WebGUI longer than half an hour. If they even come to that phase, that is; installing WebGUI seems to be an enormous problem for many people.

What keeps you motivated to keep working on WebGUI?
I think WebGUI has a very nice community and most stuff I code for WebGUI is challenging and cool enough to be fun to do. Also the API is a pleasure to work with. Additionally it's my source of income, which is also a great stimulant of course =).

What's WebGUI's killer feature and why?
There are many, many good things about WebGUI, but its absolute killer feature - for me anyway - is its versatility, both on web and commandline.

What's WebGUI's greatest weakness and why?
The upgrade track, especially through the early 6.x realeases, can be a pain. Also I think that WebGUI should be faster, although a lot of improvement is made in that area.

What makes you work on WebGUI over the competition?
To be honest, I'm not that familiar with the competition since WebGUI does everything I want. Besides that, a definate plus is the ease of creating assets and other functionality. The code is very readable and, finally, it is my job.

What's your most brilliant WebGUI hack?
In terms of difficulty and size that would be the SQLForm. But very recently I made the TextImage macro that will convert images in your asset tree into ascii art. Roy told me building that thing would immortalize me, so I guess that must be my most brilliant WebGUI hack. Both can be downloaded from the Plainblack user contribution section, by the way.

Have you attended the WebGUI User's Conference?
All of them.

Personal Stuff

How would you describe yourself?
I'm a student Electrical Engineering and will continue to be one for at least a year and a half. I'd do lot's of stuff besides my study, I like to go out and watch bands but I'm not a dancing type, I do like Star Trek but I do not have Spock ears or spandex clothing, nor do I have any plans for obtaining those. One day I will slap the double base.

Are you married, dating, or otherwise involved?
Dating.

Do you have any kids?
Nope, and not planning any either.

Do you have any pets?
Nope. I'm not exactly what you'd call a pet person.

If someone visits your area, what's something they must see or do?
Delft has a lot of tourist attractions. So go watch those. Also, send me an email and maybe we can have a drink and talk WebGUI, or whatever. If you're in Delft anyway I'd recommend you also go to Amsterdam and Utrecht, both of which are only an hour by train and really nice cities.

What do you hate?
I do not hate a lot of things. Most of the time I try to not be bothered by stuff. However, if I have to name something, the nudie bar in Vegas where they didn't sell alcohol and the alcohol free beers were seven dollars, was not entierly to my liking. Writing documentation is definately in the necessary evil category.

What do you love?
Doing stuff at the Koornbeurs (http://www.koornbeurs.nl): being soundman for bands, going to the bar and genarally doing stuff there. I love rockabilly, psychobilly, punk, surf, ska and once in a while some jazz or honky tonk. I love Guinness, the Alps, food containig a lot of garlic, Murrays pomade, coffee and skiing. I'd love to finally get my drivers license. And of course I love my girlfriend, although she's of course more a 'who' than a 'what'.

What's the last book you read?
I don't read much. But the last book I read was probably during the summer holidays: a Tom Poes book by Marten Toonder.

What's the last CD/MP3 you bought?
I bought a record by DOA: 13 flavours of doom.

What's the last movie you watched?
The latest Harry Potter.

You're stuck on a train/plane for 6 hours and bored out of your mind, what do you do to amuse yourself?
Listen to music, doing some logic puzzles or read something.

Any last words?
To all Dutch WebGUI users and developers: attend the WOSSA drinks. It's a great way to actually meet the people that are involved in WebGUI. I'm not sure when the next one is but it will be announced on the list.