syslog

The most recent issue of Technology Review magazine announced this year's TR35 -- an annual list of 35 innovators under the age of 35 "whose new technologies seem most gloriously creative and most likely to expand human life". The list used to be the TR100, which named 100 innovators under 35 but it's recently been pared down; nonetheless, this year's list is full of hope. I look forward to the list every year because of the inspiration these scientists and engineers bring to diverse disciplines. This year's winners include a neurobiologist who has devised a way to make particular neurons fire at will, an electrical engineer who builds electronics that stretch like rubber bands, and a chemical engineer cleaning up toxic waste with nanoparticles. The complete list can be found on Technology Review's Web site here: http://www.technologyreview.com/tr35/

Some of these innovations are indistinguishable from magic to me, while others can be more easily comprehended. It's in the nature of good inventions, though, that they seem obvious once you see the need for them. In an article accompanying the list, Jason Pontin pondered how successful innovations come about. He says "successful innovators are famously untroubled by the prospect of failure". Pontin quoted Bryan Cantrill (2005 TR35 winner and inventor of DTrace; see "Learning DTrace -- Part 4: Solving Real Problems" by Chip Bennett in this issue) as saying, "People who have innovated once, and who say they are not frightened that they won't be able to repeat their success, are probably lying. The challenge is not to be crippled by fear, but allow it to drive you forward". Pontin says some innovators actually appreciate failure as an indicator that they're pushing the boundaries. Other innovators find inspiration in asking the big, really hard questions rather than more limiting ones, and still others find
success in applying knowledge across disparate disciplines.

One place to hear from innovators in the field of systems administration is, of course, within the pages of Sys Admin, but you can also hear from them in person at the upcoming LISA conference. The conference will be in Washington, D.C. December 3-8, and this year's presentations will include Richard Bejtlich on "TCP/IP Weapons", a keynote address by Cory Doctorow, and invited talks by Elizabeth Zwicky, Tom Limoncelli, and W. Curtis Preston. Full details are available at: http://www.usenix.org/events/lisa06/

Meanwhile, I invite you to reveal your innovations, describe your successes, and share your expertise by submitting an article to Sys Admin. We're currently looking for articles on virtualization, security, backup and recovery, and clustering, and we look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely yours,

Amber Ankerholz
Editor in Chief