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Celebrity RIP Thread

John Warnock. Co-inventor of the PDF, inventor of PostScript. Also founder of the site rarebookroom.org which I'd used a few times without realising.

www.smh.com.au

‘One of the greatest inventors’: Father of the PDF, Adobe co-founder dies

John Warnock was a self-described “mediocre” student but solved an abstract algebra problem that had been a mystery since it was posed eight years before. And that wasn’t his greatest achievement.
www.smh.com.au www.smh.com.au
 
Galliardist said:
John Warnock. Co-inventor of the PDF, inventor of PostScript. Also founder of the site rarebookroom.org which I'd used a few times without realising.
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I don't want to disparage a dead man, but his creation. PDF is certainly ubiquitous. You can say that about it. I didn't know who was responsible, so thanks for that. However IMO the fact that such a locked down thing became a 'default standard' for certain classes of portable documents was never helpful, as far as userland oriented information dissemination went.

Anyhow, RIP John.
 
anmpr1 said:
I don't want to disparage a dead man, but his creation. PDF is certainly ubiquitous. You can say that about it. I didn't know who was responsible, so thanks for that. However IMO the fact that such a locked down thing became a 'default standard' for certain classes of portable documents was never helpful, as far as userland oriented information dissemination went.

Anyhow, RIP John.
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I beg to differ - PDF is more flexible than most people think, can still hold information flexibly or securely, you can generate, edit and disseminate PDF documents using open source software, read them on pretty much any suitable device, and if we had to invent a format again tomorrow it would probably look, feel and act pretty much the same, wouldn't it?

This is an audio site. Here, we have no reason to disparage any genuine working standard in any field, do we?
 
Galliardist said:
I beg to differ - PDF is more flexible than most people think, can still hold information flexibly or securely, you can generate, edit and disseminate PDF documents using open source software, read them on pretty much any suitable device, and if we had to invent a format again tomorrow it would probably look, feel and act pretty much the same, wouldn't it?

This is an audio site. Here, we have no reason to disparage any genuine working standard in any field, do we?
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It is more 'secure' (i.e., locked down) than other options. That much is certain. And for that, it is fine. In any case and however it is, it is not the inventor's fault that it has become an ubiquitous standard for things it is really not well suited for.

Whether a 'working standard' ought to be criticized here, or anywhere else for that matter, is of course another question altogether, and is not related to the fame of a dead man's deeds.

Again, I would never disparage the deceased for what was never their problem in the first place. I think I made that clear. In fact, I hope he made some dollars off of it when he was alive, from Adobe. For my part, whenever I open a pdf file, I'll try and honor his memory, if I can remember to do so.
 
Galliardist said:
I beg to differ - PDF is more flexible than most people think, can still hold information flexibly or securely, you can generate, edit and disseminate PDF documents using open source software, read them on pretty much any suitable device, and if we had to invent a format again tomorrow it would probably look, feel and act pretty much the same, wouldn't it?

This is an audio site. Here, we have no reason to disparage any genuine working standard in any field, do we?
Click to expand...
Certainly should concern legal profession. PDF files required to upload for security against manipulation. Sounds like younger generation snickers. My younger son worked at my office about a decade ago. He was raised under computer games. I asked him to type a lengthy legal description. Expected back next day. 20 minutes later without one mistake. I've been around the block. No legal secretary could have matched.
 
jack-sonni-dire-straits-GettyImages-1170205476.jpg


planetradio.co.uk

Dire Straits guitarist Jack Sonni dies age 68

Dire Straits guitarist Jack Sonni has died at the age of 68, it has been...
planetradio.co.uk planetradio.co.uk

Web-Jack-Sonni-getty-@Direstraits77-Twitter-1.png


RIP Jack... will put on some Dire Straits later today in memory. :(


JSmith
 
Ex was a big Buffet fan. Convinced me to buy tickets to his show. I think it was about the time his famous record was getting a lot of airplay. Jimmy played an auditorium that held, I guess, about five thousand people. Maybe a few thou more. Aluminum construction--more like a monster Quonset Hut than a real auditorium.

Anyhow, Jimmy and the band were electrified (as was the crowd, but in a different way), his amps set on 10. I mean, the sound was like being in a trash can with someone banging on the lid. Idiotic, sonic-wise, but no one cared. I don't blame Buffet for that. Besides, the crowd just wanted to throw back whatever they were drinking, stand up and dance. Kick out the jams. That was pretty much it. I don't think you could call it a 'musical' event.

RIP
 
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