Werner Koch continues to work! GnuPG 2.1.2 released

    Last night, a minor version of GnuPG 2.1.2 for encrypting mail and creating electronic digital signatures was released. It would seem, what is a special reason for joy? But he is. After all, this version, like all subsequent ones, could well not exist.

    The fact is that the GnuPG cryptographic program has been written alone by the German programmer Werner Koch for 17 years now. The programmer lives in the town of Erkrath in western Germany, he is now 53 years old.



    Last week, it became known that the author of the free GnuPG program is in distress and forced to abandon the project in order to get a paid job. This was sad news, because GnuPG (GNU Privacy Guard) was a reliable and convenient encryption tool. It was used by Edward Snowden, thousands of other activists and professionals around the world.

    All 17 years, one person was engaged in the development and support of the project with almost no outside help. But lately, his livelihood and patience have come to an end.

    “I was too idealistic,” saidHe was once in an interview at a hacker conference in Germany. - In early 2013, I was completely ready to quit and go to regular work. But then all the events happened with Snowden, so it was not the time to leave. "



    Since 2001, Werner Koch received only $ 25 thousand donations to support a free project. This was too little to fulfill his long-held dream of hiring a programmer and paying himself, having the means to provide for his wife and 8-year-old daughter.

    In December, Koch launched a crowdfunding campaign, but in a couple of months she raised just $ 21,000, far less than the required $ 137,000.

    Everything changed after the article appeared in the mediathat has caught the attention of the community. The effect was lightning fast. In one day they collected 120,000 euros of donations from citizens. In addition, Core Infrastructure Initiative allocated $ 60,000 for 2015, and Stripe and Facebook provided grants of $ 50,000 each. In the end, the charity Wau Holland Stiftung raised € 19,000 and 57 bitcoins for Koch.

    Werner Koch thanked everyone who helped him and asked him to help other important Open Source projects, which are often supported by volunteers for free and in their free time.

    This is why the release of the minor version of GnuPG 2.1.2 is so joyful. Werner Koch is feeling fine and continues to work!

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