Very saddened to hear of
another loss in the GNOME community: Mark Finlay was young, eager,
furiously energetic and just heading into university – where I’m sure he
would have blossomed into a great GNOME and Free Software hacker. I chatted
with Mark a lot during his time with GNOME, helping him grok how GNOME
worked, where cool things were happening, and how to get more involved. I
had no idea he was unwell until an off-hand comment in his diary a couple of
months ago – at first, I couldn’t believe him because he was always so
active, pumped up and ready to rock… I dearly wanted to see where he’d be
in a few years.

My condolences to Mark’s family and friends, I hope they know that Mark will
be greatly missed by his world-wide gang of ‘funny computer friends’. Rest
easy, Mark.

I’ve always wondered what things would be like in 50 years, when our GNOME
friends would be leaving us regularly… But I fear that there are too many
friendly footprints in heaven already.

Love each other, and make sure your friends know you care.