John Carmack of id wrote Quake III, but Loki distributed the Linux version. Loki Entertainment Software has been described by happy puppy as "...the most visible Linux gaming company," so who better to turn to than Loki President Scott Draeker for word about game development and porting for Linux? Scott's an extra-cool guy, so we expect extra-cool answers from him. We'll post them sometime within the next week, so please keep an eye out.

Jean-loup Gailly is the author of gzip and, now, CTO for Mandrakesoft, purveyors of Linux-Mandrake. Jean-loup's home page tells you quite a bit about him, including some interesting peeks into his life beyond Linux and open source software. Please try to keep it down to one question per post. Submitted questions will be chosen from the highest-moderated. Answers will appear within the next week.

Let's put it this way: when it comes to software, hardware, and Web usability issues, Jakob Nielsen be da man! There's been lots of talk about Linux usability since before kernel 1.0, and there has been so much discussion about Web site usability vs. technological cuteness, not only here on Slashdot but everywhere such things are discussed, that heads spin every time the subject comes up. So let's bypass all the people who have usability opinions just because they have opinions, and go straight to The World's Leading Expert. Read his Web site first to keep from asking questions he's answered over and over, then start typing (or moderating). Answers are scheduled to appear Friday.

Monday we had over 550 assorted questions and comments for and about Bjarne Stroustrup. Excellent moderation (Thanks, Monday Moderators!) helped cull this mass down to 10 extremely high-quality questions Bjarne has kindly answered in amazing depth, for which he deserves a loud round of applause. Update: 02/28 02:12 by R : Bjarne later took the time to dig through all the comments and reply to some of them. The additional material is appended to the end of the original Q&A session.

You can learn more about Bjarne Stroutrup here. Even though Bjarne isn't on your nightly news a lot (like never) he deserves (and gets) heavy respect from fellow programmers. If you have a question for Bjarne that he hasn't already answered on his FAQ page, please post it below. If you're a moderator, please moderate others' questions up or down, as deserved, which is just as important as actually asking questions. Tuesday afternoon (U.S. EST) we'll forward 10 selected questions to Bjarne. His answers are scheduled to appear Friday.

Ben Green says, "First of all, I want to thank Robin Miller, Hemos, and CmdrTaco for giving me the opportunity to participate in this discussion. Slashdot has been a great resource for me both professionally and recreationally, since I started at Gore 2000."

We've linked to plenty of "secondhand" media pieces about the recent DoS attacks on major commercial Web sites. Fine. Now here's real, hard-core hard-tech info on the subject - in answer to your excellent questions - from somebody who actually knows what's going on, namely Dave Dittrich from the University of Washington. He's been interviewed up the yin-yang this last week by mainstream reporters who probably wouldn't understand half the answers he gives here. But this is Slashdot, so he didn't have to hold back or dumb anything down. Click below and enjoy!

This week's Slashdot interview guest, Ben Green, is director of Internet operations for Al Gore's presidential campaign. He's charged with making the algore2000 Web site as big, popular, and efficient as possible. Political campaigning on the Internet is new and still rather experimental in many ways. The point of this interview is not to boost (or diss) Al Gore or any other candidate, but to learn about the process of using the Internet as a political tool, which is of more long-term importance than any single election. One question per post, please. The complete Q&A session is scheduled to appear Friday.

You asked for it; you got it. We asked Jon Katz your questions, ranging from the community to religion, and he's offered up his responses. If you can't get enough of our resident gasbag, check out his interview at Playboy, too.

Yes, this is the University of Washington Dave Dittrich behind the software the FBI is trying to get you to use to help find the people doing the massive DoS attacks that have made headlines all over the place. Learn more about Dave and check out the info about the current brou-hah-hah on his home page, then ask away. We'll send the 10 - 15 highest-moderated questions to Dave Friday evening, and post his answers as soon as he can get them to us in between answering questions from mainstream media types who, as you can imagine, are all over him right now.

I have gotten a stack of e-mails lately requesting an interview with Jon Katz. And last Friday, after we got Jon up on the little stage in our LinuxWorld booth, where he engaged in a live two-hour dialog with over 100 Slashdot readers and other show attendees, I got the same request in person - over and over. Jon is, without doubt, the most hated Slashdot Author, but he is also the most-read, the most-discussed, and the most puzzling, at least according to the e-mail I get about him. It's time to stop guessing about Jon and why he writes what he does the way he does, and to simply ask him! One question per post, please. The question and moderation cutoff time is Wednesday noon, U.S. EST, at which time I'll forward 10-15 questions to Jon via e-mail. Answers will appear Friday.

Jon Johansen has gone from obscure teenage Norwegian computer hobbyist to international sysmbol of freedom in the last few months as a result of his involvement in developing DecSS, the famous (infamous?) program that allows DVD movies to play under Linux. Monday you asked him questions. Today he answers. (Read below.)

This week's interview guest, Jon Lech Johansen, has been all over the news (and all over Slashdot) lately. He's the guy behind the whole deCSS thing. Jon has been getting interviewed all over the place, but I'm sure you have questions for him that the "straight" media people would never ask. So go for it! One question per post, please. 10 - 15 chosen questions will be forwarded to Jon Tuesday, and his answers are scheduled to appear Friday.

We asked Jim Hall a bunch of questions Monday. Today we get answers about the reason for and future of FreeDOS, along with a sprinkling of advice for FreeDOS users and developers. Thanks, Jim, for taking the time to do this. (Guys like you, who work on "lower profile" open source projects, don't get nearly as much recognition as you deserve.) Click below for the complete interview.

Yes, we know this is overdue. We put up the original Ask Larry Augustin post on Jan. 10, and here we are posting Larry's answers on the 27th. The first few weeks after an IPO are hectic for any CEO who is involved in one, and we understand this, but the wait has been as frustrating for the Slashdot staff as for anyone else, and there was nothing we could do about it. Anyway, finally, here are Larry Augustin's answers to your questions.

This week's interview guest is Jim Hall, founder of the FreeDOS project. Jim isn't rich or famous, just an old-fashioned open source contributor who helped start a humble but useful project back in 1994 and still works on it as much as he can. FreeDOS is the DOS behind DOSEmu, so if you've used any DOS programs (like games) under Linux, you've benefited from Jim's work. One question per post, please. Moderators do the question selection, with editorial help only if there are duplicate or overlapping questions. Cutoff for questions and moderation is Tuesday noon, U.S. EST. Jim's answers will appear Friday.

This week, Michael Cowpland, CEO of Corel, gives CEO-ish answers to your questions. There was one important question that didn't get asked because, sadly, it wasn't moderated high enough by the Tuesday noon (EST) cutoff time to be included in the group of questions we mailed to Corel. But as you can see, other Slashdot readers helped answer it anyway, and the other questions and answers shed a lot of light on Corel's current and future Linux plans, which is the main thing we're interested in, right? (More below.)

Corel has been making big waves in the Linux world lately, and Michael Cowpland is the man at the top of Corel. One question per post, please. As always, the 10 - 15 questions sent on will be those moderated highest, with additional culling (if necessary) done by Slashdot editors and hangers-on. We select questions shortly after 1200 EST on Tuesday. Answers are scheduled to appear Friday mid-day. So ask away, and moderators, get those points sharpened up and ready to go!

This week's interview with Nobel Prize-winning physicist Leon M. Lederman was conducted verbally, in person, by Slashdot reader Rich Wellner, who transcribed everything you'll read below. A lot of work! (Thanks, Rich.) The questions he asked were the creme de la creme of those you submitted Monday.

We all heard about the extraordinarily successful VA Linux Systems IPO. And, of course, there was an SEC-mandated "quiet period" after that IPO during which VA executives and employees could hardly open their mouths. That quiet period is over. This is one of the first "post-IPO" interviews anywhere with CEO Larry M. Augustin and Linux Evangelist (his official title) Chris DiBona. Ask away!