Blake Ross
Blake Ross | |
---|---|
Born | |
Education | Stanford University |
Occupation | Software developer |
Employer | Entrepreneur |
Known for | Creator of Firefox |
Blake Aaron Ross (born June 12, 1985) is an American
Early life and education
Born in
Mozilla and Firefox
Ross is most well known for co-founding the Mozilla Firefox project with
Ross is the author of
Career
Ross founded a new startup with another ex-Netscape employee, Joe Hewitt (the creator of Firebug who was also largely responsible for Firefox's interface and code). Ross and Hewitt worked on creating Parakey, a new user interface designed to bridge the gap between the desktop and the web. Ross revealed several technical details about the program and his new company when featured on the cover of IEEE Spectrum in November 2006.
On July 20, 2007, the BBC reported that Facebook had purchased Parakey.[7]
In early 2013, Ross left Facebook to pursue other interests.[8]
In 2015, Ross wrote a spec screenplay for HBO's Silicon Valley.[9]
Personal life
Ross has aphantasia, a rare condition preventing him from visualizing things in his mind. In a blog post, Ross wrote:
I have never visualized anything in my entire life. I can’t "see" my father's face or a bouncing blue ball, my childhood bedroom or the run I went on ten minutes ago. I thought "counting sheep" was a metaphor. I’m 30 years old and I never knew a human could do any of this.[10]
In 2015, he wrote a fan fiction original screenplay for the HBO television comedy series Silicon Valley, which gained attention.[9]
References
- ^ "Chris Messina quoted in "Blake Ross", Rollingstone article". 3 October 2005.
- ^ Smith, Kevin (February 22, 2013). "Facebook's Product Director Is Leaving And He Wrote A Really Funny Goodbye Note". Business Insider. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- ^ Lorge, Greta. "Mister Firefox". Stanford Magazine (May / June 2005). Stanford Alumni Association. Archived from the original on 2008-08-04. Retrieved 2008-02-25.
- ^ Lowell, Mike (April 27, 2005). "Best Local Boy Made Good 2005 - Blake Ross". Miami New Times. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- ^ McHugh, Josh (February 2005). "The Firefox Explosion". WIRED. Vol. 13, no. 2. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- ^ Mister Firefox
- ^ "Social site Facebook buys Parakey". BBC. July 20, 2007. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
- ^ "Facebook's Product Director Is Leaving And He Wrote A Really Funny Goodbye Note". SFGate. 22 February 2013.
- ^ a b Matney, Lucas (September 4, 2015). "The Founder Of Firefox Wrote His Own Screenplay For HBO's Silicon Valley And It's Hilarious". TechCrunch. Retrieved 10 September 2015.
- ^ "Aphantasia: How It Feels To Be Blind In Your Mind". www.facebook.com. Retrieved 2016-04-26.
External links
- Quotations related to Blake Ross at Wikiquote
- Blake Ross on Facebook
- Blake Ross on Twitter
Profiles
- The Firefox Explosion — Wired magazine article by Josh McHugh on Firefox development history (published February 2005)
Interviews
- Firefox ignites demand for alternative browser — interview with Byron Acohido for USA Today (published November 9, 2004)
- Interview with Firefox developer Blake Ross — interview with Michael Flaminio for Insanely Great Mac (published November 9, 2004)
- Full speed ahead: Mozilla Firefox browser blazes through globe — interview with Michelle Keller for Stanford Daily Article (published November 16, 2004)
- Firefox Architect Talks IE, Future Plans — interview with Nate Mook for BetaNews (published November 29, 2004)
- The Young Turk of Firefox — interview with Keith Ward for Redmond Magazine (published December 2004)
- Q&A With Blake Ross — interview with Computer Power User magazine (published January 2005)
- Interview — Blake Ross — interview with Non-Tech City (published May 27, 2005)
- Firefox Will Be Free Forever — interview with Xu Zhiqiang for OhmyNews (published August 7, 2005)
- The Firefox Kid — David Kushner's article on Ross and Parakey in IEEE Spectrum (published November 2, 2006)
- Livingston, Jessica, Founders at work: stories of startups' early days, 2007. Cf. Chapter 29, Blake Ross and Firefox.