19-year-old Shawn Fanning has appeared on the cover of FORTUNE, BusinessWeek, Forbes and the Industry Standard. His name and his face have become synonymous with the promise of the Internet to empower computer users. How? By creating the now-legendary computer program called "Napster" that allows users to exchange mp3 music files from one home computer to another--forcing us, as a society, to take another look at how we treat intellectual property.

What company did he work for? Who did he train under? No one. ThisOne did it himself. The idea for Napster just came to him as he was sitting in his dorm room at Northeastern University in Boston, hanging out with his friends, and listening to his roommate whine about dead MP3 links. He had taught himself Unix programming between his junior and senior years in high school and knew enough to think such a program was possible. "I had this idea that there was a lot of material out there sitting on people's hard drives," he says. "...and I had to figure out a way to go and get it." He had to learn Windows programming in addition to Unix server code. He didn't need friends, family, financing--he almost went without food. He was self-sufficient, gaining sustenance and strength from the work. And if the idea could nourish him, he reasoned, then how many others could feed on it as well? This is the distinct sign of a Visionary. He knew could see the vision of this new program at work and knew how much benefit and enjoyment it would bring to others who would use it. He worked feverishly for three months to get it done. He knew there might be others working on the same thing and he wouldn't let them usurp his idea.

When he first came up with the idea, in true Visionary style, he began taking his work with him wherever he went. He took his notebook computer everywhere--to basketball games or the pizzeria--it didn't matter where.

One January evening, as he rode back to campus with his cousin, he was, as usual, totally absorbed with his idea. "I'm like that. Once I begin focusing on something, I'll just keep going until it's done. I cut off the outside world." When they pulled up to his red-brick dorm, Fanning absentmindedly got out of the car and began walking up the path. After two steps, he stopped. He turned around, strolled back to the car, opened the door and climbed back in. "I'm not going back to school," he told his cousin. And away he went.

Fanning was unfazed by his parents' and others' worries. The idea had become too big to let him be distracted. It possessed him. He never went back to his dorm room, leaving behind his clothes, books and bedding. He did, of course, take his computer with him.

Data taken from : http://personal.ansir.com/