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Bert Freudenberg SqF 2007
Last updated at 7:07 pm UTC on 25 February 2007
Hello everyone, my name is Bert and I’m a free-lancing software engineer living with my wife and four children in Magdeburg, Germany. Most time not spent with my family is currently focussed on porting Squeak/Etoys to the "$100-laptop", a learning tool for children.

I started working with Smalltalk in the early nineties. I received my PhD from the University of Magdeburg, and then worked for impara, a small company specializing in media-heavy Squeak development. I have been a member of the Squeak community from its beginning, and I was elected as Squeak Foundation Board member in 2006.

Squeak to me is a tool for personal computing. The immediacy of working in the Squeak IDE is still unparalleled, but its basic functions (e.g., file support, networking, virtual machine, etc.) is rapidly falling behind other systems. I'd like Squeak to be a solid base for commercial product development, scientific research, and for just having fun with it. This way it could stay attractive for projects built on top of Squeak (like Croquet, Etoys, Sophie, Seaside, etc.).

The Squeak Foundation should ensure Squeak's openness (so it should continue the relicensing effort and become a legal entity), provide infrastructure for the community, and encourage communication between interested parties. IMHO the Foundation also should take a stand on technical issues. There has been talk about a technical committee separate from the Foundation Board - if that is indeed established I'd see my place more over there than in the "political" board. But until then, I'd like to serve in the one board. Please vote for me :)