Re: [LibreQoS] [Starlink] In loving memory of Dave Täht <3

[Sauli Kiviranta <smksauli@gmail.com>]

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Very sorry to hear that, what a loss! Condolences :(

We lost a great engineer and internet enthusiast (activist?) who was always
a positive driving force to make sh!t happen, yet with strongly held values
as north star, a true open-source believer! After few years lurking in the
shadows of IETF, in early 2023 I was preparing for first at site
participation and asked Dave for advice. Advice he did, a true mentor! This
eventually led to various late hour discussions, mostly just me picking his
brain for advice to help on the adventures on trying to make Internet
faster. He was happy to breach about bufferbloat and share insights into
why things still suck even if we have a lot of the answers already, about
fairness in internet protocols, or just him reflecting on fq and aqm to
preserve our collective discipline on the internet, fairness not just as a
feature, for him it was a moral imperative.

What made Dave special was all those philosophical reflections and small
insertions of his (often strong held) values into the technical
discussions, even in the smalles of technical contexts. Dave often shared
his dislike and was vocal on the problems in our way of working as
engineers, and I do share that concern. He would often tell the story on
how Richard Feynman exposing the flaws behind the Challenger disaster
“broke” him not only emotionally but also professionally, leading him to
change in direction as engineer. Much alike that of Feynman what Dave had
was a spirit and demand for truthfulness and the rejection of bureaucratic
spin in the face of technical reality. He was frustrated on how we often
end up dismissing the stakes of engineering that ignoring physical laws not
just be bringing jail time but “death and destruction”, yet we are often
casual about consequences of our lack of discipline in the internet
(technically, right?).

Dave always had a good sense of humor and a grounded, human touch, plus to
put the music on top of that. That combo made an entertaining speaker and
funny demos he was throwing around to make a point. When I would ask his
advice to help us on a project, he would be soon joking about needing to go
for a walk because his “brain hurts" after spending the day on the problems
of slinging packets across the solar system. He was a strong space
advocate, albeit with a dark touch to it due to the Feynman influence. All
this considered I am very happy to hear that he got to make contributions
to Starlink! He was often talking about it and hoping to be able to help.
His wit, humility, and generosity with time and advice was always there,
never pretentious, always direct, and often self-deprecating with humor.
Very characteristic example piece of Dave space enthusiasm was his worries
and writings about asteroid mining (He did write a lot of good stuff!):

https://the-edge.blogspot.com/search/label/asteroids

Dave was as a rare blend of an engineer, philosopher, educator, and
activist. His character was one of intellectual honesty, generosity, and a
deep values but always ending up with practical engineering and soemthing
that is reliable to the point of preserving human life directly or
indirectly. Dave was also one with true passion for open-source, unwavering
passion (Hi LibreQoS team!). He always punctuated on and advocated for
collaboration, offering to share code and share access to everything he
did, test things around, and openly critique what he saw as flawed
assumptions. His attitude was not one of competition but protective of what
he considered sacred, the integrity of internet. He was one who wanted to
believe, in the powers of good, to live, and live he did!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKMSgZo9c8s

We lost a great one! We will do our best and try to uphold what Dave was
fighting for, even if times get grim on occasion, losing him certainly is
one of those grim time. Log off now, Dave, may the waves be soothing on the
sail to the other side, rest in peace as you well deserve!

- Sauli

--

*Sauli Kiviranta*

CEO, Founder

Delta Cygni Labs



XRTC: www.xrtc.io

POINTR: www.pointr.com

DCL: www.deltacygnilabs.com



Mobile: +358 40 357 3272

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saulikiviranta

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On Tue, Apr 1, 2025 at 8:26 PM Frantisek Borsik via Starlink <
starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net> wrote:

> Hello to all,
>
> We’re devastated to announce that Dave Täht has passed away.
> <https://libreqos.io/2025/04/01/in-loving-memory-of-dave/>
>
> Dave was an amazing man, helping the world with FQ-CoDel and CAKE,
> fighting bufferbloat and trying to make the world a better place. Always
> willing to help, and without him – LibreQoS (and the other QoE solutions
> out there) wouldn’t exist.
>
> Dave was an inspiration, and we all miss him. We’re reaching out to family
> and close friends to see if there’s anything we can do to help.
>
> Dave was an inspiration to us. Dave’s contributions to Linux, FQ-CoDel,
> and CAKE improved internet connectivity around the world for millions of
> people. Because of him, millions of people now have access to reliable
> video calls – and in turn, access to loved ones, healthcare, and community.
> One of Robert’s ISP customers is a kind paraplegic woman who lives in a
> far-flung rural Colonia around El Paso, Texas. Her reliable access to her
> doctors through telemedicine, and to her family through FaceTime, was only
> made possible because of his algorithms. There are millions of cases like
> hers, where Dave’s contributions have silently enabled human connection and
> safety. Everything Dave contributed to the world of technology was free and
> open source, for the betterment of humanity.
>
> Dave is the reason that Starlink was able to tackle its latency issues –
> enabling a generation of young entrepreneurs across the developing world,
> such as these young folks pictured in the Phillipines, to start their own
> ISPs to expand internet access to their communities. Dave started work on
> FQ-CoDel in part because of his own journey working to expand internet
> access in Nicaragua, so we know he saw that his work had come full-circle
> and helped so many.
>
> We’re incredibly grateful to have Dave as our friend, mentor, and as
> someone who continuously inspired us – showing us that we could do better
> for each other in the world, and leverage technology to make that happen.
> He will be dearly missed.
>
> *PS: *Dave is forever in our hearts and souls, in our routers and...in
> production!
>
> *https://github.com/LibreQoE/LibreQoS/pull/684
> <https://github.com/LibreQoE/LibreQoS/pull/684>*
>
> All the best,
>
> Frank
>
> Frantisek (Frank) Borsik
>
>
>
> https://www.linkedin.com/in/frantisekborsik
>
> Signal, Telegram, WhatsApp: +421919416714
>
> iMessage, mobile: +420775230885
>
> Skype: casioa5302ca
>
> frantisek.borsik@gmail.com
> _______________________________________________
> Starlink mailing list
> Starlink@lists.bufferbloat.net
> https://lists.bufferbloat.net/listinfo/starlink
>

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