Welcome Dr. Marc Fleury to CyberMiles!
Twenty years ago, the Open Source community was at a crossroad. The method of decentralized software production (aka Open Source collaboration), championed by a small number of ideology-driven developers, had produced very impressive results such as the Linux operating system, the Apache web server, the GCC compilers, and much more. Yet, the mainstream software powerhouses were still skeptical and even hostile to software decentralization (Microsoft called it a “cancer”, worse than scam). It was unclear how Open Source and decentralized software production can generate “real profits”. It had no “real business model” after all. It was very much like blockchain and cryptocurrency today.
At the time, Marc Fleury was a fresh physics PhD from École Polytechnique, having spent a few years doing quantum research at MIT. He aimed at one of the most profitable software sector at the time, enterprise application servers, and started a new Open Source project called JBoss to disrupt the incumbent players.
I joined JBoss later, but still experienced first hand our struggle from “innovation at the fringe” to mainstream acceptance by most Fortune 500 corporations. Marc led JBoss through it all, until its $350+ million USD acquisition by Red Hat in 2006 (RHT stock was $20 then, and $125 now).
JBoss made history by turning the decentralization ideology from “tech religion” on the fringe into commercial success. Fast forward to today, even Microsoft loves Open Source. Open Source and decentralization have won. That was the same transformation we are going through today with blockchain and cryptocurrencies, but at a much larger scale.
After JBoss, Marc turned his attention to another disruptive force — cryptocurrencies. He invested and researched extensively on the topics of Bitcoin and monetary policies. Marc is a true pioneer and practitioner in decentralization.
That is why we are so thrilled to have Dr. Marc Fleury joining CyberMiles, not only as an advisor but also as an investor, to guide us through the critical transition period from the technological vision to Main Street (or Wall Street) applications!
Welcome, Dr. Fleury!
Michael Yuan
Chief Scientist at the CyberMiles Foundation
PS. Check out Marc’s Wikipedia page to learn more!
