Gary Poster, with essential assists from Galyn Norwood, Phiroon Phihakendr, Jose Quijada, Pavandeep Kalra.
Most people get presents on their birthday.
Not Dan Farmer, a computer programmer with a gold ring in his eyebrow, a curly shock of orange hair and a tendency to tug on the beard of authority. It was, judging by its advance press, the most dreaded computer program since the Michelangelo virus. The fear was that the program, which Farmer intended to make widely available free of charge, would have the opposite effect. Computer experts were worried that it would get into the hands of computer intruders, who would use it as a burglar's tool kit to break the Internet wide open. Within minutes of its release, traffic started to pile up on the dozen or so computers around the world that Farmer had authorized as satan release sites.