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ALS Sufferer Used Legs To Contribute Last Patch

Posted by samzenpus on from the a-moment-of-silence dept.

krkhan writes "This is a little old, but seeing as it didn't make it onto Slashdot at the time, I think it deserves a headline now. Adrian Hands was suffering from ALS and had lost motor skills when he used his legs to type in Morse code and fix a 9-year-old bug in Gnome. The patch was submitted three days before he passed away."

13 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Dedication by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You know what's important to someone when they continue to do it from their deathbed.

    1. Re:Dedication by Dr.Syshalt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Absolutely ANY code you produce will be EOL'ed at some point.
      Just as your children will (surprise) die one day.
      Does it make the life worthless?

  2. I don't know what to think by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    On one hand, I find it awesome that even in that state he managed to do something that productive and leave one (more) lasting trace of himself. On the other hand... I would hope that everyone would find something even more important to do during their last weeks than fix gnome bugs.

    1. Re:I don't know what to think by turbidostato · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "I would hope that everyone would find something even more important to do during their last weeks than fix gnome bugs."

      So you have a kind of objective standard about what's important and what it isn't that you want to share with us?

    2. Re:I don't know what to think by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      There is no "objective standard," only what most of us can agree on. Most of us can agree that everyone should find something even more important to do during their last weeks than fix gnome bugs.

    3. Re:I don't know what to think by clang_jangle · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't think anyone can be qualified to judge that sort of thing for another person. Quality of life has everything to do with state of mind, and we can only know our own state of mind.

      --
      Caveat Utilitor
    4. Re:I don't know what to think by Asic+Eng · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Being able to contribute something - anything no matter what it is - can be a great comfort for someone who needs to rely on other people's help.

  3. The human spirit by rjh · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All of us like to think that the latest ten-core Xeon or whatever is the neatest thing since sliced bread, but stories like this remind us of what we often forget: the human spirit is the greatest hack of all time.

    The family is in grief right now, and my sympathies are with them: but I hope they also understand the beyond-epic level of respect we have for Adrian Hands, and how he demonstrated right until the very end what the hacker ethos is all about. May we all live up to that standard.

  4. What is ALS!? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Sheesh, would it have been too hard to spell out the acronym once?

    Typical for you nerds. :(

  5. A gift to the world by Sarten-X · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are so many who benefit from the community, and so relatively few who give back. So many people claim some excuse to not contribute anything to anybody without getting paid.

    Then there's this guy.

    I am honored to have shared a planet with him.

    --
    You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
  6. Important by Weaselmancer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Important is a relative term. It's different for everybody. If you're doing something you honestly love, that's not a bad way to spend your last few days.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  7. Re:A/S/L by Gaygirlie · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Mr. Hands had a serious disability, what's yours? ..oh, sorry, I didn't notice the big 'M' letter. Carry on.

  8. Re:Stephen Hawking Ruined it for Everybody by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What bar? This ain't a contest, there's always going to be someone who's better than you.

    Personally, I think the only person you are in competition with is you yourself. Are you better than you were a year ago? Then you win.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.