Bill Joy (b.1954,) fully William Nelson Joy, is an American computer engineer and entrepreneur. He is the originator of Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD) UNIX operating system and a co-founder of Sun Microsystems.
Born in Farmington Hills, Michigan, Joy attended the University of Michigan and the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he developed a version of the UNIX operating system, Berkeley UNIX, that used the TCP/IP networking language. His innovation placed UNIX servers at the vanguard of the internet revolution and the open-source movement.
Joy co-founded computer manufacturer Sun Microsystems in 1982 with Scott McNealy, Vinod Khosla, and Andy Bechtolsheim. He served as Sun’s chief scientist until 2003 and, during his tenure, co-designed the Java processor architecture, and coauthored the Java programming language.
Joy’s WIRED magazine essay “Why The Future Doesn’t Need Us” (2000) expressed grave concerns over the development of modern technologies.
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Bill Joy
Sometimes the easiest way to get something done is to be a little naive about it.
—Bill Joy
We have to encourage the future we want rather than trying to prevent the future we fear.
—Bill Joy
My father said whoever tells the longest story is always the liar. The truth isn’t that complicated.
—Bill Joy
Topics: Rationality
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