Mark Finlay passes away

Out of the deaths Gnome has experienced over these past few months, Mark was the only person I actually had any contact with. I precis'd a section of Alan Cooper's "The Inmates are Running the Asylum" for him; at the time he was designing a scanning front-end, and scanning software was one of the examples Cooper gave in his text. Mark didn't have a copy of the book, but it was interesting discussing Cooper's various findings with him.

The thing that struck me about him was his passion for software; whether or not he was good at it I couldn't judge, but he was definitely 100% up for showing how it could and should be done, and all the discussions I had with him - particularly about interfaces - were intelligent and informed. His interest in software ensured that I read his blog often; both through Planet Gnome and on his own site to make sure I hadn't missed a post.

Of course, since I read all his posts I also knew about his health troubles. And frankly, they scared me - how he could talk so openly about a tumour was and still is beyond me. I have experience of death and cancer in both friends and family, and it's enough to reduce me to tears if I think too hard about it. If I actually had to deal with it.. I don't know what I would do. Mark was, in my opinion, exceptionally brave and open, and I admired that while he was alive and will aspire to it in his death.

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