Mac OS X In Science & Technology 

Who Is Who is John Martellaro? and What Is He Doing Here At OSXFAQ ??

My name is John Martellaro, and I'm very, very pleased to be joining the team at OSXFAQ. For quite some time, I have cast a favorable eye on this site because they, namely Scott Sheppard, did what I was hoping someone would do, become the world's best haven for Mac OS X UNIX geeks. (Of which I am one.) Well, they did it, and now I am part of that team.

This is a Good Thing.

So how did I get here?

Like many, I was born at an early age.

Well, let's skip over that part. I started life as an astrophysicist. B.S. in Astrophysics from Indiana University, M.S. in Physics from The University of Florida, and some Ph.D. work in Astrophysics (ABD, actually) at New Mexico State. But like many of my generation, the opportunities there were slim while the pay as a "rocket scientist" was substantial. I spent most of my career at Martin Marietta Astronautics - which later became Lockheed Martin. I also spent five terrific years at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, also operated by Lockheed Martin (back then), and that was essentially career "graduate school" in computer science. That's where I became a born again UNIX nut case.

Along the way, in earlier times, I worked as a summer intern two years at NASA Houston, wrote and sold an Apple II Space Shuttle simulator, founded and ran an Apple II magazine (Peelings II), and, many years later, ushered in my own Internet age by writing several hundred technical commentary columns from 1998 to 2000: Utopia Planitia at MacOpinion, The Event Horizon at (the former) MacOS Daily, and The Warp Core at Applelinks. In August 2000, Apple offered me a position as a Senior Marketing Manager for Science and Technology, and as a member of that team, we basically put Apple back in the game with scientists. But, alas, that job came to an end, and so I have moved on to new adventures.

Here's what we're going to do at OSXFAQ. If the site is the premiere resource for Apple UNIX enthusiasts, then I will add my efforts to make it the premiere site for scientists and engineers who are Apple and UNIX enthusiasts. To that end, I will keep you up to date with news, people, places, events, technologies, and software and hardware products of interest to the scientist using Apple computers. In time, everything you'll need as a scientist's reference site will be here or else we'll point to things we don't want to duplicate.

Another thing I hope to do is provide some occasional, intelligent commentary about events in the Apple universe. I won't pretend to lecture Apple or make suggestions. Apple does what they need to do, and their decisions are their responsibility. What I hope to do is provide you with insight and background, based on my experience, so that you can make good technical and purchase decisions. If you've read any of my stuff at the above Websites, you know you can expect to be highly entertained in the process.

I am also pleased to be working, once again, with Dr. Tim Hillman. Some of you may remember that we were colleagues at Matt Linton's now legendary MacOS Daily.

On a personal note, my wife and I live in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies at 2800 meters above sea level. (Some say the thin air is the source of my delusional, er, inspirational writing.) Our resident aliens consist of two cats, and my Ph.D. wife spends some of her time exploring the Antarctic on a research ship/ice breaker.

Well, that's enough about me. Now it's your turn. Send me feedback and your suggestions for my contributions to this site, and I will Make It So.

John Martellaro

October, 2002

If you have any questions or comments about this intro feel free to e-mail me john_martellaro@osxfaq.com