Alan

Yesterday evening I had dinner with JFA in Paris, and we talked about Alan, and 
Gilles Kahn too, head of INRIA, who left us earlier this year.

It's difficult to see our models going away, it removes something from our 
heart, something our heart thought was going to be there all the time.

Alan for me was "He who speaks the Truth". I was so proud when, in our W3C 
management discussions, I was able to make a point that Alan would backup, even 
if it was after a few seconds of "hmmm".

When Alan started to speak with these words: "With all due respects..", you knew 
that he was going to say something important, something that would raise the 
level of discussions to the next, that would open a new door, and you knew that 
his views were the voice of wisdom, that he had understood everybody's positions 
and that he was proposing the least damaging solutions to a problem, the optimal 
one.

We're all orphans today.

But I'm a believer, and I can hear Alan and Judie are playing organs together as 
I'm typing this message.

Enjoy life.

Received on Friday, 2 June 2006 06:14:01 UTC