simont: A picture of me in 2016 (Default)
simont ([personal profile] simont) wrote2003-05-29 09:31 am
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Happy Birthday, Dear PuTTY

It's difficult to produce a precise birth date for any piece of software, given that even its initial versions tend to take shape slowly over a period of weeks.

But according to my diary archives, it was exactly five years ago today that PuTTY, or STel as I was still calling it at the time, made its first ever successful SSH connection. So I'm going to declare this to be its birthday, simply because it's a milestone I happen to be able to place accurately.

It's been an eventful five years. In that time, PuTTY itself has gone from being alpha software which I gave copies of to my friends on a ‘don't distribute this too widely until it works a little better’ basis, through being beta software I was just about happy enough with to release publicly, to its current state of fame where it's the first thing you get if you google for ‘Windows SSH client’ and it brings me in more mail than I can sensibly answer. It's attracted a steady stream of small donations, the occasional offer of consulting work, and it's even managed to recruit itself an administrative staff. I'm still nominally in charge of it, but every so often I wonder if it isn't now in charge of me :-)

So, happy birthday PuTTY! I'd say ‘may the next five years be as successful’, but I have a nasty feeling it would actually take over the world if they were…

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simont: A picture of me in 2016 (Default)

And I'd also like to thank...

[personal profile] simont 2003-05-29 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
... whichever LJ administrator it was who just upgraded my account to Permanent as a thank-you for PuTTY. How appropriate that you should have chosen today to do it! PuTTY would like to thank you for the lovely birthday present :-)

Re: And I'd also like to thank...

[identity profile] brad.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 01:39 am (UTC)(link)
That was me. Total coincidence on the timing... I did it [my] yesterday, actually.

I use PuTTY whenever I'm stranded without my computer. Make that thing full screen and fire up screen(1) and I forget I'm in Windows. Love the middle-click paste option. Oh, and the null-packet sending to keep the connection open. Shit, I could go on and on... it's just a really solid app in such a little binary.

Re: And I'd also like to thank...

[identity profile] meirion.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 01:59 am (UTC)(link)
excellent ! my lj-user namechecking yesterday in response to [livejournal.com profile] evan's post has clearly had an unexpected good side-effect.

-m-

[identity profile] enslore.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 01:35 am (UTC)(link)
If the task of world domination should ever get too much for you, do let me know. I'd happy happy to take all those tricky decisions and general wielding of power off your hands...

[identity profile] brad.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 01:36 am (UTC)(link)
PuTTY rocks. Thanks a ton!

[identity profile] antinomy.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 01:49 am (UTC)(link)
And coincides with the 50th anniversary of the climbing of Everest... cool :)

[identity profile] hex.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 08:49 am (UTC)(link)
And my birthday. Hella w00t.

/me waves to Sphyg further down the page

[identity profile] bibliogirl.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 03:13 am (UTC)(link)
It's a great tool, I use it a lot. Thanks!

[identity profile] sphyg.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 03:46 am (UTC)(link)
Here, have some cake...
cjwatson: (Default)

[personal profile] cjwatson 2003-05-29 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
And it had its 2000th CVS commit recently, too (according to cvsps). Long may it continue!

Happy Birthday indeed

[identity profile] hilarityallen.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 04:13 am (UTC)(link)
That's quite sweet. Congratulations on getting it so far.....

[identity profile] ex-lark-asc.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 05:25 am (UTC)(link)
Whee! *pops a party popper*

We should bring it to the pub on a floppy and buy it a drink tonight ;)
simont: A picture of me in 2016 (Default)

[personal profile] simont 2003-05-29 05:29 am (UTC)(link)
*laughs*

Actually the team are going out for a celebratory CuRRY to mark the occasion, so I probably won't be in the pub anyway unless we drop in after we've eaten.

[identity profile] xaosenkosmos.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 06:07 am (UTC)(link)
How dare you try to make delinquints out of software so young! I know the drinking age is much younger on your side of the pond, but that's still no excuse for pouring alcohol down the throat of a five-year old. I know PuTTY grew up on the wrong side of the tracks (win32 sockets--what a waste, what a waste), and has probably been exposed to this sort of thing in the past, but it's still no excuse.

Although, in internet time, putty's long past dead. Would that make it a zombie process?

(Many thanks to Simon for what has to be my favorite piece of windows software)

[identity profile] marnanel.livejournal.com 2003-05-29 09:05 am (UTC)(link)
Actually, PuTTY has just reached minimum drinking age (http://www.tameside.gov.uk/tmbc1/sorted/sorted6.htm) in a private home (under the Children Act 1908).

Congratulations, Simon-- PuTTY has saved the day for me more often than I can think.
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