Mike Maney

Last week, I had the honor of meeting a number of Bell Labs researchers who worked alongside the man responsible for the connected world we today live. His name was Dennis Ritchie.

I, clearly, am no big-brained Bell Labs scientist, but back in 1995 I, too, had the opportunity to work with Dennis. He and his team were launching a new operating system called Plan 9 and I was the PR guy responsible for getting it noticed.

Unfortunately, I was too young, too early in my tech career to realize what a unique moment that would be. Which is why I didn’t hesitate to ask the researchers I met in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress if I could capture their remembrances of Dennis on my Flip while I had the chance. The video quality is rough (Spielberg’s job is safe), the sound is more Dummy than Dolby, but the words are important entries into the historical record of one of the most important humans since Edison.