Justin Frankel
Software Developer & Designer
Justin Frankel is a computer programmer best known for his work on the Winamp MP3 player (which was sold to AOL in 1999) and the gnutella peer-to-peer file-sharing network, which he launched without asking his corporate bosses in 2000. He left AOL in 2004, and later founded Cockos Incorporated, a company that makes music production and development software.
The developer behind Winamp and the gnutella network thinks that we shouldn’t be able to patent something that is essentially just math. Software, like DNA, is so abstract that it […]
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3 min
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The developer still writes code on a Microsoft Natural keyboard from the mid-’90s, usually with one big monitor. He also reveals what he’s got against llamas.
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5 min
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In creating the gnutella network without asking the Web giant that employed him, Frankel was trying to “enable people to do things they want to do,” rather than trying to […]
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4 min
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In the era before iTunes, Frankel created one of the first MP3 players. He says that Apple’s product has “dumbed down” music sharing software.
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4 min
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The most productive programmers have an ability to cut through to what’s really important, focus on that, and then know when they’ve gotten stuff right.
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3 min
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A conversation with the software developer and designer.
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18 min
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