Hans Reiser: Once a Linux Visionary, Now Accused of Murder

Hans Reiser is best known for ReiserFS a general-purpose, journaled computer file system for Linux. He is deeply involved in the Linux kernel development with his widespread ReiserFS journaling file system and its successor Reiser4. Since October 10, 2006, he is charged with the murder of his missing estranged wife, Nina Reiser, and is currently being held on remand.

This article provides some insight about Hans and his current situation:

Hans Reiser is waiting for me, standing on the other side of an imitation-wood table. The room is small, the concrete walls bare. A guard locks the steel door from the outside. There is no sound. Reiser is wearing the red jumpsuit of a prisoner in solitary confinement, though he has been allowed to meet with me in this chilly visiting room. There was a time when he was known as a cantankerous but visionary open source programmer. His work was funded by the government; he was widely credited (and sometimes reviled) for rethinking the structure of the Linux operating system. Now he is known as prisoner BFP563. I stick out my hand. It's an awkward moment — his wrists are chained to his waist. It's mid-December now, and he's been in this jail 40 miles east of San Francisco for two months, ever since the Alameda County District Attorney's office accused him of murdering Nina Reiser, his estranged wife.