Had Richard McDougall lived 100 years ago, he would have had the hood open on the first four-stroke internal combustion-powered vehicle, exploring new techniques for making improvements. He would be looking for simple ways to solve complex problems and helping pioneering owners understand how the technology worked to get the most from their new experience. These days, Richard uses technology to satisfy his curiosity. He is a Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems, specializing in operating systems technology and systems performance.

Jim Mauro is a Senior Staff Engineer in the Performance, Architecture, and Applications Engineering group at Sun Microsystems, where his most recent efforts have focused on Solaris performance on Opteron platforms, specifically in the area of file system and raw disk IO performance. Jim’s interests include operating systems scheduling and thread support, threaded applications, file systems, and operating system tools for observability. Outside interests include reading and music—Jim proudly keeps his turntable in top working order, and still purchases and plays 12-inch vinyl LPs. He lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons. When Jim’s not writing or working, he’s handling trouble tickets generated by his family on issues they’re having with home networking and getting the printer to print.

Brendan Gregg is a Solaris consultant and instructor teaching classes for Sun Microsystems across Australia and Asia. He is also an OpenSolaris contributor and community leader, and has written numerous software packages, including the DTraceToolkit. A fan of many sports, he trains as a fencer when he is home in Sydney.