Rich Skrenta
Richard J. Skrenta Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 6, 1967 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Software developer, entrepreneur |
| Known for | Founder of blekko, creator of Elk Cloner virus |
Richard J. Skrenta Jr. (born June 6, 1967) is a prominent American software developer and Silicon Valley entrepreneur recognized for founding the web search engine known as blekko.
Early life and education
Skrenta was born on June 6, 1967, in Pittsburgh. At just 15 years old, he gained notoriety for creating the Elk Cloner virus, one of the earliest widely distributed self-replicating viruses targeting Apple II computers.
He completed his undergraduate studies in computer science at Northwestern University, earning a B.A. degree in 1989.
Career
Between 1989 and 1991, Skrenta was employed by Commodore Business Machines, focusing on Amiga Unix development. In 1994, he introduced Olympia, a multiplayer simulation game based on a pay-to-play model, developed under Shadow Island Games.
His tenure at Unix System Labs spanned from 1991 to 1995. Subsequently, from 1996 until 1998, he worked on IP-level encryption technologies at Sun Microsystems. Skrenta co-founded DMOZ and remained involved following its acquisition by Netscape, contributing to projects such as Netscape Search, AOL Music, and AOL Shopping.
As a co-founder of Topix LLC, he helped build a Web 2.0 enterprise specializing in news aggregation and community forums. In 2005, he divested a 75% share of Topix to a consortium comprising leading newspaper publishers including Tribune Company, Gannett Company, and Knight Ridder.
During the late 2000s, Skrenta led the startup Blekko Inc., an Internet search engine supported by early funding from investor Marc Andreessen. Blekko launched its public beta version in November 2010.
In 2015, IBM acquired Blekko along with its search technology to bolster their Watson platform.
Among his earlier contributions, Skrenta developed VMS Monster, an initial Multi-user dungeon (MUD) for the OpenVMS operating system that served as an inspiration for TinyMUD. He also created TASS, a threaded Usenet newsreader that preceded the Unix-based tin client.