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Matthias Ettrich

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Matthias Ettrich
Matthias Ettrich at LinuxTag, 23 May 2005
Born (1972-06-14) 14 June 1972 (age 52)
NationalityGerman
OccupationSoftware engineer
EmployerHere
Known forKDE and LyX

Matthias Ettrich (born 14 June 1972) is a German computer scientist and founder of the KDE and LyX projects.

Early life

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Ettrich was born in Bietigheim-Bissingen, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany, and went to school in Beilstein while living with his parents in Oberstenfeld. He passed the Abitur in 1991. Ettrich studied for his MSc in Computer Science at the Wilhelm Schickard Institute for Computer Science at the University of Tübingen.

Career

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He currently resides in Berlin, Germany. He is currently focused on advising start-ups and corporations on digital transformation and in sound technical decision-making.[1]

Free software projects

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Ettrich founded and furthered the LyX project in 1995, initially conceived as a university term project. LyX is a graphical frontend to LaTeX.

Since LyX's main target platform was Linux, he started exploring different ways to improve the graphical user interface, ultimately leading him to the KDE project. Ettrich founded KDE in 1996 when he proposed on Usenet a "consistent, nice looking free desktop environment" [sic] for Unix-like systems using Qt as its widget toolkit.[2][3]

On 6 November 2009, Ettrich was decorated with the Federal Cross of Merit for his contributions to free software.[4][5]

References

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  1. ^ "Matthias Ettrich". LinkedIn.
  2. ^ Ettrich, Matthias (14 October 1996). "New Project: Kool Desktop Environment (KDE)". Newsgroupde.comp.os.linux.misc. Usenet: 53tkvv$b4j@newsserv.zdv.uni-tuebingen.de. Retrieved 4 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Matthias Ettrich: The KDE-Man!". EFY Enterprises Pvt. Ltd. EFY Times.com. 15 March 2008. Archived from the original on 30 October 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
  4. ^ "KDE founder Ettrich receives German award".
  5. ^ Boehm, Mirko (6 November 2009). "Matthias Ettrich Receives German Federal Cross of Merit". KDE. KDE.NEWS. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
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