Paolo Mantegazza RIP

We have just now received word of the
passing of Paolo Mantegazza, the driving force behind the Real Time Application Interface project
and a key figure in the development of realtime Linux.

Paolo used to describe himself as a simple practitioner of software
development, one of whose missions was to contribute a free
real-time system his students could use, study and improve for
their research work at the university, welcoming others to
join. Many Linux users and businesses owe him a lot, because under
his leadership, the RTAI project has always defended the freedom of
developers to implement real-time systems, particularly at times
when it was threatened. His fierce will for RTAI served the Xenomai
project, as well as others.

He will be missed.
(LWN interviewed Mantegazza in
2001).