Financial times has a fascinating article about Lars Bark who lives a quiet life in a remote part of Denmark but is a major player behind the google browser chrome.
The drive from Copenhagen has taken longer than expected, and the farmhouse is hard to find. Lars Bak, its owner and a programming genius to his peers, made his home here for a reason – he doesn’t particularly want to be found. His Alsatian, Mickey, isn’t pleased to see us either: the dog has to be restrained before I even think about stepping out of the car.
It’s a cold December day in Denmark. We are further north than Edinburgh, but the sky is the uniform grey you see in the East Anglian fens. Bak seems uncomfortable as we shake hands, and I get the feeling that he wants me nowhere near the part of the farmhouse where he lives. Instead, we go into the vaulted room with the brown leather sofa. Nowadays it is a home cinema, but before that it was the office where Bak did his programming. The temperature is only slightly warmer than outside. I shiver as I take out my notebook. “So, what do you want to know?” Bak demands. We have four hours to go.
Lars Bak isn’t a household name – or at least this one isn’t. There’s a better-known Lars Bak in Denmark who’s a professional cyclist. But this Bak will have a more profound impact on your life than any sportsman. His most recent computer software program, called V8, is part of the Chrome web browser, a lynchpin in the business plan of Google.
I like the riveting way the story was told. This is the beauty of the world we live in. You can live anywhere you want and still make a major difference. That is the real story.