Marcel Gagné

Well, that is a very good question. For starters, Marcel is an award-winning author and columnist, probably best known for his Cooking with Linux column which appears monthly in Linux Journal.. His best-selling Moving to Linux : Kiss the Blue Screen of Death Goodbye! (now in its second edition) is the premier guide for those wishing to take the plunge into desktop Linux (now released as a fully updated, second edition). His first book was the acclaimed Linux System Administration : A User's Guide". He most recent book is "Moving to the Linux Business Desktop". Marcel's books are published by Addison Wesley.

One of the best known voices of the Linux and open source world, he has written numerous articles (something around three hundred of them) on Linux and open source projects for various publications including Linux Journal, InformIT, Unix Review, SysAdmin magazine, and several others. He also appears regularly on radio (including "Computer America"), as the Linux guy on Tech TV's "Call for Help". Marcel also does the occasional speaking engagement at industry and trade shows, for Linux user groups, universities, and others. He has written about, installed, and taught many open source applications including the Linux desktop environment itself, as well as the popular OpenOffice.org office suite. A long-time systems and network administrator, Marcel is a published science fiction author and editor, a pilot, an avid science and astronomy buff, and a former top 40 disc jockey. He also folds a mean Origami T-Rex.

In real life, Marcel, along with his lovely and talented wife, Sally, run a computer consulting company called Salmar Consulting Inc.. A special virtual prize goes out to everyone who can figure out where the name "Salmar" came from. Anyhow, Marcel and Sally (and their company) were featured on Toronto.Com's website in an article called "Married to Your Job". It's a quick read so check it out.

What else? Oh yeah, Marcel and Sally are (or rather, were) co-editors and co-publisher of Transversions, an excellent anthology of science fiction, fantasy, horror, and poetry. If you enjoy science fiction, fantasy, and horror, then you must get a copy. You can order it online (sort of) from the TransVersions website. Put in your order. Do it now. I'll wait.

Oh, what else? Marcel also wrote and narrated a 1984 television documentary on the Tall Ship Festival entitled "Romancing The Sail". It has been shown on many community cable channels as one of those fillers you always just sail past.