In loving memory of Dave Täht

5 min read Original article ↗

04/01/2025

It is with heavy hearts that we report that Dave Täht has passed away.

Dave was an amazing person, whose work on FQ-CoDel, CAKE, and LibreQoS changed the internet forever. He and Jim Gettys championed the fight against bufferbloat, working to improve the global internet, and to make smooth real-time communication viable for everyone, everywhere.

Because of Dave’s persistence and advocacy, millions of devices worldwide now ship algorithms like FQ-CoDel by default, to smooth connectivity. This has allowed for reliable video calling in places where it would otherwise be impossible – and in turn, enabled millions to have access to their loved ones, healthcare, and community.

One of Dave’s friends and colleagues, Robert, operates an Internet Service Provider focused on rural and under-served communities. Among these customers is a paraplegic woman who lives in a remote rural community, hundreds of miles from her nearest family. She is able to access medical care via telemedicine, and to Facetime video call her beloved grandchildren – all because of Dave’s contributions to field of network engineering. There are millions of people like her, whose lives are shaped by the technology and contributions Dave made available to the world, even though most will never know it.

The code Dave contributed was always free and open source. He turned down numerous lucrative contracts because he always put his principles first – he valued the impact his code could make globally, not just prestige or money.

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 in the Philippines (pictured below), to start their own ISPs – to expand internet access to their communities.

Dave started work on bufferbloat in part because of his own journey working to expand internet access in Nicaragua. Over more than a decade, his hard work had come full-circle, and helped to pave the way for the next generation of network engineers to improve connectivity where it’s needed most.

We are 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 We will miss you so much, Dave.

–

Robert, Herbert, and Frank

LibreQoS

Our Friends Across The Internet Remembering Dave

"...I could not say better than Frank already has how much Dave's work has helped to improve our experience of the Internet. I can't think of anyone more dedicated to the proposition that performance counts and should be pursued with determination and vigor. I've known Dave for many years and greatly valued his counsel and technical skills - to say nothing of his healthy sense of humor. I will miss him but will be always grateful to have known him."

Dave did a great service for online gamers with his long campaign against bufferbloat in routers and access points. There is a very good chance your packets flow through some code he wrote.

I never met him in person, but we corresponded for years, and I provided some support… https://t.co/SNDb5zecxy

— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) April 2, 2025

"Dave’s impact on society was immense. His work enabled millions to access reliable video calls, bridging distances and fostering connections worldwide. His dedication to open source technology ensured that his contributions remained accessible to everyone, improving lives silently yet profoundly. He wanted, ultimately, to speed up the internet so that a drummer in London could play in real-time with a guitarist in Los Angeles and a singer in Hong Kong. We may not be there yet, but as Eric S. Raymond, one of open source’s founders and early leading lights, said of him, 'His work on mitigating bufferbloat improved practical TCP/IP performance tremendously, especially around video streaming and other applications requiring low latency. Without him, Netflix and similar services might still be plagued by glitches and stutters.' He’s right. Goodbye, Dave. Thank you for all you did and for being one of the good guys."

Dave's Talks & Presentations

Reducing Network Latency: Innovations for a Faster Internet • Dave Taht • GOTO 2024

This was Dave’s last in-person conference speaking event.

Gallery