Greg Newby, CEO of Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, has died

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Role and Title Clarification

  • Several comments clarify that the deceased was CEO of the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, not founder or “CEO of Project Gutenberg” itself.
  • The foundation, started decades after Project Gutenberg’s founding, is described as crucial but distinct.
  • The initial mislabeling of the thread title prompted corrections and a side discussion about being precise with credit.

Impact of Project Gutenberg and Related Efforts

  • Many express deep gratitude for Project Gutenberg as a cultural treasure, often paired with IMSLP, and encourage donations.
  • Discussion emphasizes that copyright is not the only barrier: much public-domain material exists as unindexed scans; transcription, cleanup, and metadata are major bottlenecks.
  • Others argue that copyright still blocks access to many “high-value” works and that not all texts are fungible; prioritization matters.

Cultural Value and Popular Works

  • Debate emerges over what’s worth preserving: obscure instructional ephemera vs. widely influential fiction (e.g., modern fantasy series, classic novels, films).
  • One side stresses the enduring narrative and metaphorical influence of popular stories; another questions whether some blockbusters will matter in centuries.

Date Formats and “Long Now” Thinking

  • The use of leading zeros in years (e.g., 02000) spawns a tangent on Long Now–style dating and alternative epochs (Holocene/Human Era).
  • Some see this as a useful nudge toward long-term thinking; others view it as distracting or “trolling.”

Health, Cancer, and Screening

  • A subthread discusses the deceased’s cancer, sharing personal experiences with colon cancer.
  • Several strongly advocate colonoscopies over stool tests, citing missed tumors.
  • One commenter claims screening hasn’t improved life expectancy; others counter with references arguing study limitations and pointing to demonstrated value.

Standard Ebooks and Identifiers

  • One commenter credits the deceased’s support in launching a high-quality ebook project.
  • This leads to a technical argument over identifiers: URLs vs. numeric IDs/ISBNs vs. hashes.
  • Librarian-style users insist on human-readable, stable numeric identifiers; others argue that URLs or timestamps are sufficient and that the project need not conform to traditional cataloging norms.

Personal Remembrances

  • Multiple commenters share memories of the deceased as patient, kind, generous with time, and influential as a mentor, teacher, and organizer in supercomputing, Linux, and hacker/free-software communities.
  • Several note that brief encounters at conferences or internships had outsized, long-lasting positive effects on their lives.