Jason "DBO" Smith

Who am I?

I am a software engineer currently employed by Canonical Ltd to work on the Unity interface for Ubuntu. I also was the primary author of Docky and have worked on GNOME Do, Compiz and Beryl. Additionally I have participated in the Ubuntu IRC channels for many years, at at one point was a channel operator for #ubuntu and its sister channels. I chose not to renew this status when Canonical hired me as I no longer had enough time to maintain that interest.

What have I done for Ubuntu so far?

• Active in the Ubuntu community since 2005
• Coded Docky with Ubuntu in mind as primary target
• Contributed to GNOME Do with Ubuntu in mind as primary target
• Participated as IRC Channel Operator for #ubuntu and sister channels on freenode
• Contributed to Compiz, the current default window manager in Ubuntu
• Coded BAMF Application Matching Framework for use in Unity
• Contributed to Unity as a core developer.
• Contributed to Ubuntu Netbook Remix
• Participated in Ubuntu Forums both asking and helping others (DBO)
• Participated on #ubuntu irc channels helping others

What will I do for Ubuntu in the future?

Code, Contribute, Love. Also thank James87 for letting me steal his wiki page setup. I'll probably be doing things that I can't imagine right now, but I know it will be fun!

Upstream Comments

Sam Spilsbury: I am surprised that Jason is not an Ubuntu member yet. He is one of the most considerate and helping people I have ever known and brings a lot of value to Ubuntu as a platform and Ubuntu as a community. The contribution that he has made to Ubuntu both as an employee of Canonical and before that time is immense and has seen benefit to a large number of people. In addition to his contributions as a coder, Jason is also one of those people who strives to serve other people in general. I have seen him day in and day out on #ayatana and #ubuntu-desktop answering support questions and general questions about the ubuntu desktop. In addition, he goes the extra mile to take special requests from others and donates his time to ensure that their needs are met.

Recommendations

Neil J. Patel (njpatel): Jason has made outstanding contributions to Ubuntu through his work on the Desktop Experience team at Canonical. This includes work from Karmic's Netbook Edition all the way through to Ubuntu Light and now on Unity. Before joining Canonical, he created one of the most popular applications for Ubuntu (Docky). Separately from his technical work, I have to agree with Sam and say his mentoring and supporting of new contributors to the platform through #ayatana has been fantastic. He's worked closely with Jorge Castro to lower the barrier of entry into developing patches for Unity, as well being ever-present to answer questions from would-be contributors.

Jorge Castro (jcastro): Jason's code contributions speak for themselves; however I would like to point out his work with Ubuntu users. He's participated in Ubuntu User Days, run his own "I'm a Unity Developer, ask me anything" on reddit, and participates in user discussions on the forums and on Ask Ubuntu. So not only is he developing Unity, but he's actively engaging with the user community, which is something we should be encouraging people to do. This cycle he's been mentoring new contributors to Unity, which has been quite successful.

Travis Watkins (amaranth): Jason has been involved with Ubuntu since at least 2006 both with programming and helping users and managing the IRC channels. This is a no-brainer, make him a Member.

Ted Gould (ted): Jason continues to impress with is work on Ubuntu and Ubuntu projects. He's continually available to answer questions and advocate for Ubuntu users in all forums, public and private, where ever there might be an issue that needs attention.

Didier Roche (didrocks): Jason is fully dedicated to Ubuntu and the FLOSS philosophy. He showed that with his upstream projects as well as in Ubuntu directly. He advocates the project for a long time already and help newcomers to contribute to Ubuntu through unity is particular. He is always welcoming, responsive, inclusive and really care about the whole community (see other advocates links for proving that). I strongly recommend him to be recognized as an Ubuntu Member.