Introduction and Early Life
00:00:05
Elisabetta Mori introduces the interview with Eric Allman. Eric shares details about his birthplace (Oakland, 1955), early childhood in El Cerrito and Berkeley, and his strong identification with Berkeley.
Family Background
00:01:45
Eric describes his parents' careers—his mother in education and his father in advertising and art criticism—and briefly touches on their divorce. He also talks about his sister Kat's contrasting personality and her later career at Google.
Family Life and Summers in Sebastopol
00:04:51
Eric reflects on his family life, particularly after his parents’ divorce, and shares fond memories of summers spent at his grandparents' rural home in Sebastopol.
School Years and Early Interests
00:06:15
Eric talks about his education through high school, emphasizing his strength in math and science and his unexpected love of theater tech, particularly sound design.
University at UC Berkeley
00:08:04
Eric discusses why he chose UC Berkeley, his academic experiences there, and the impact of realizing his sexuality while still in the closet during high school.
Ingress Project and Unix Exposure
00:12:05
Eric recounts his involvement with the Ingress database project at Berkeley, gaining early exposure to Unix and working in a dynamic research environment that shaped his future.
DeliverMail: A Practical Hack
00:16:38
Eric describes how he created DeliverMail to solve the email bottleneck on Berkeley’s machines, a solution born out of user complaints and technical curiosity.
Working with Eric Schmidt
00:20:12
Eric briefly reflects on working with Eric Schmidt, noting his early ambition and dual background in business and CS, predicting his future executive role.
Origins of Sendmail
00:21:02
Eric tells the story of how he developed Sendmail at Berkeley under Bill Joy’s guidance, as part of the larger effort to build internet infrastructure with DARPA funding.
Syslog: Quietly Revolutionary
00:26:17
Eric discusses the origin and significance of Syslog, a standardized logging utility he created that remains foundational in computing today.
ME Macros and Typesetting
00:28:28
Eric describes creating the ME macros for Unix’s text formatting tools and how they helped countless students format theses, including defeating the feared “Dragon Lady.”
Writing Trek and Meeting Steve Bourne
00:31:30
Eric shares how he rewrote a Star Trek game for Unix, which led to unexpected collaboration with Steve Bourne after Ken Thompson distributed Eric’s files.
Summer at IIASA in Austria
00:34:55
Eric talks about his 1981 summer at IIASA in Austria, building a graphics system in a palace, interacting with Soviet scientists, and reflecting on cultural understanding.
Working at Britton Lee
00:41:05
Eric recounts his time at Britton Lee, a relational database company, his first management role, and developing the graphical ADIT system before realizing the company undervalued software.
Neural Nets and ICSI
00:47:08
Eric discusses his brief tenure at ICSI working on early neural networks and custom hardware, noting how the role was too low-level for his liking but still educational.
Mammoth Project at Berkeley
00:50:57
Returning to Berkeley, Eric led the Mammoth project, which standardized computing infrastructure across the CS department, improving collaboration and research productivity.
InReference: A Misstep
00:56:16
Eric reflects on his disappointing experience at InReference, a poorly managed company with shifting goals and an unsustainable commute from Berkeley to Sunnyvale.
Founding Sendmail Inc.
00:57:50
After leaving InReference, Eric reconnected with Greg Olson and together they co-founded Sendmail Inc. in 1998, with a mission to commercialize and simplify Sendmail.
Running and Growing Sendmail Inc.
01:02:25
Eric shares experiences as CTO of Sendmail Inc., balancing tech and marketing, developing milter and DKIM, and ultimately scaling back after a cancer diagnosis.
Final Job and Return to Research
01:07:15
Eric discusses working with the Swarm Lab at Berkeley after trying to retire, regaining his programming confidence, and returning to meaningful research work.
Internet Hall of Fame
01:12:53
Eric recounts his unexpected induction into the Internet Hall of Fame in 2014, attending the ceremony in Hong Kong, and meeting old colleagues.
Long-Term Involvement with Usenix
01:14:14
Eric reflects on his decades-long involvement with Usenix, from conference attendee to board member and current role on the audit committee.
Publications and Impact
01:15:50
Eric discusses his various publications, including the Sendmail book and his most cited article on technical debt, reflecting on their unexpected impact.
Post-Retirement Activities
01:18:01
After retiring, Eric pursues tech hobbies like a wine inventory system in Python, serves on nonprofit boards, and co-founds a preservation fund for historic buildings.
Coming Out in 1976
01:21:08
Eric shares how coming out of the closet in 1976 dramatically improved his life and relationships, both personally and professionally.
Defiance in the Face of Hate
01:24:02
Eric recalls being targeted by a Christian fundamentalist group and the satisfaction of seeing Sendmail survive while their effort failed.
His Partner, Kirk McKusick
01:25:43
Eric talks about his husband, Kirk McKusick, a Unix file system pioneer, and how they maintain a healthy personal/professional boundary in their relationship.
Motivation Behind Open Source Support
01:31:02
Eric candidly explains that his main motivation for supporting open source is the joy of seeing people use his work and finding satisfaction in usefulness over profit.
What He's Most Proud Of
01:32:52
Eric highlights his coming out, Sendmail, Syslog, and the Mammoth project as major life accomplishments, emphasizing their positive impact over personal accolades.
Career Advice for the Next Generation
01:34:36
Eric encourages following one's passion over chasing money, citing examples like Jim Gray and warning against trendy career fads like jumping into AI just for money.
Closing Remarks
01:39:00
The interview wraps up with warm thanks from Elisabetta and Eric expressing that reminiscing was a pleasure, leaving room for a possible future conversation.