Jack Moffitt

Jack Moffitt is a computer scientist, software developer and entrepreneur, living in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.[1] He is co-author of the GNU GPL licensed streaming media server Icecast[2][3] and often works on software using XMPP, JavaScript and Erlang. He also worked as executive director of Xiph.Org Foundation[4][5] and developer of Ogg Vorbis project.[6] Moffitt's work with Erlang has made him a regular presenter at the Erlang Factory conference series.[7][8][9][10] Moffit's 2012 application for XMPP.org lists several of his other projects.[11]

While working on Chesspark.com[12] Moffit led the development team that created Strophe - a library for writing XMPP clients, implemented in JavaScript and C for developers of XMPP applications.[13] Moffit's team also released several other open source projects related to XMPP.

In November 2008 Moffitt co-founded Collecta, a real-time search company which uses XMPP, including the Strophe library, for communication between the client and server.[14] Collecta launched its public beta in June 2009.[15][16] Moffitt served as CTO for Collecta until some time in late 2010 when he left the company to work on other projects.[17][18][19] Moffit also worked on iOS development as part of Lunchbox Labs according to information on his LinkedIn profile.[20] Lunchbox Labs produced the iOS word game SnackWords.[21][22] In 2011, Moffit's name appeared with a credit as one of the "Server Developers" for the iOS MMORPG ShadowCities produced by Grey Area Software.

In 2012 Jack Moffitt joined TalkTo, an internet startup which allows users to send questions via an application or SMS and have agents at TalkTo answer their questions or conduct research for them. Moffitt's role is "Lead Architect" according to the ErlangFactory conference website for Moffitt's 2012 talk there.[23] TalkTo reportedly uses XMPP for some of its communication, which may explain Moffitt's involvement.[24] On the TalkTo blog, a birthday message to Moffitt was displayed referencing him as a "team member" [25] and including a happy birthday message [26] which is an XMPP code stanza. Former Chesspark and Collecta coworker, Nathan Zorn, who is also an active member of the open source community, appears in the image holding up the sign and on the About page of the TalkTo website, indicating he is also a TalkTo employee, though whether he or Moffitt joined first is unknown.

In March 2013 Moffitt left TalkTo and joined Mozilla in the role of Senior Research Engineer [27][28] working on Servo.[29] In 2015, Moffit spoke at Linux Australia's linux.conf.au conference about the goals and challenges in the ongoing development of Servo in a talk called "Building a Parallel Browser".[30] Moffit also worked as Project Manager for the Mozilla team working on the Daala video codec.[31]

In July 2019 Moffitt left Mozilla and joined Facebook as a Software Engineer on the Calibra team.[32]

Jack Moffitt was a member of the XMPP XSF 2005-2006 and 2008-2014, his 2015 application is pending.[33] He has also served on the board of the XMPP Standards Foundation, or XSF.[34] Moffitt is author of a 2009 book about how to write XMPP applications, "Professional XMPP with JavaScript and jQuery" (ISBN 0470540710).[35]

Moffitt also has an interest in electronic music, and formerly played keyboards in a band called Lousy Robot.[36] In 2010 Moffitt gave a talk called "Your Brain on Sound: Aural Illusions, MP3, and Psychoacoustics" as part of Ignite New Mexico [37]

Moffitt blogs occasionally at Metajack.im - the ".im" suffix chosen because it is also shorthand for "instant message" in a nod to Moffitt's work with XMPP.

Moffitt also hosts a variety of code in a public repository on GitHub and contributes actively to discussions on the site.[38]