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Paul Allen has died

• cheeze 8y ago
  He's done a ton for Seattle. A few of my favorite less known things he contributed are the Living Computer Museum and Flying Heritage Collection. May he rest in peace.
• tinktank 8y ago
  RIP Paul Allen
• 1auralynn 8y ago
  This is so sad. I met him once when my company was doing some work for Vulcan and I was impressed that his manner was so understated but SHARP, he just "got" things very quickly. My favorite anecdote from that time period was someone telling me that the first time they met him they were seated next to each other at dinner and he turned and asked "So, what's your favorite shark?" (I mean I think it was at a dinner for something to do with the ocean/sharks so not totally crazy, but still - charming) RIP
• georgespencer 8y ago
  A titan. Very sad.
• joe_momma 8y ago
  a little too soon, imo
  • deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
• hsikka 8y ago
  damn.
• mikestew 8y ago
  Man, if ever it were black bar time... One of the early giants of my teens.
  • urda 8y ago
    For sure it's a black bar time. Edit: and it's up.
• jessriedel 8y ago
  Interesting to see the many initial attempts to edit Allen's Wikipedia page were reverted as possible vandalism. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Allen&action=history https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Paul_Allen&action...
  • hk__2 8y ago
    Adding a death date on the page on a well-known individual without any source is the easiest way to get quickly reverted.
    • chris_wot 8y ago
      As it should be.
      • giancarlostoro 8y ago
        Indeed though if a bunch of different users are doing it, you might want to allow it with a citation needed marker. I've been to so many articles with a "citation needed" marker for years, but surely it would not be too complex for someone to find a source.
        • chris_wot 8y ago
          Actually, that's not the purpose of [citation needed]. Adding a death date without a reference is very close to violation of [[WP:BIO]]. When I created [citation needed], I didn't envision it to be used for just adding any old data or information into articles, especially this sort of thing.
• brandonwamboldt 8y ago
  Paul was among the top philanthropists in America, and has contributed so much to society. Truly a sad day
  • adventured 8y ago
    Incredibly sad day. The Allen Institute for Brain Science, for one example, is a gem of potential for humanity.
• tomrod 8y ago
  RIP man. Thanks for all the good you did in the world.
• natrik 8y ago
  Too young.
• kidsnow 8y ago
  What!!??? But he didn't get to go into space yet :-(
• minimaxir 8y ago
  2 weeks ago: https://twitter.com/PaulGAllen/status/1046864324310982668 https://twitter.com/PaulGAllen/status/1046864324310982668 > Some personal news: Recently, I learned the non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma I battled in 2009 has returned. I’ve begun treatment & my doctors are optimistic that I will see a good result. Appreciate the support I’ve received & count on it as I fight this challenge Just now: https://twitter.com/PaulGAllen/status/1051958128885940226 https://twitter.com/PaulGAllen/status/1051958128885940226
  • scop 8y ago
    I must admit that this news has shaken me quite a bit. I was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma six months ago. I'm a young guy, married, and with toddlers at home. The initial tumor was removed and I am now in the "waiting period" to see if it spread and if additional tumors present themselves. It's a very good prognosis, but hot dog if this news hasn't hit close to home, especially considering this fun fact: My six-month PET scan is tomorrow. We shall see what they find. In the meantime Paul Allen and his family will be in my prayers.
    • amyjess 8y ago
      I don't know if this will help, but when my uncle Scotty was diagnosed with NHL, he founded an online support group that's still going strong long after he passed away (from what I understand, he died of something else and the NHL was still in remission at the time, but I'm still not sure what he died of so I could be wrong). I hope you find some resources there that can help you https://nhlcyberfamily.org https://nhlcyberfamily.org
    • jacquesm 8y ago
      Much good luck tomorrow.
    • throwaway160940 8y ago
      I was diagnosed in 2016 with NHL - just as you, have two children (4 and 10). I am in remission now. Treatments have improved a lot over the years. I would not read too much into survival stats you'll find online. Do keep yourself fit and stress-free as much as you can - exercise, avoid sugar, healthy food, etc. I cannot overstate how important cutting down on sugar is. You are not alone. Joining a online forum of survivors will be useful as long as you pick a good forum. I am regular at https://lymphomasurvival.com https://lymphomasurvival.com
• evil-olive 8y ago
  Fuck cancer.
• cbron 8y ago
  As a kid who grew up outside of the tech scene but in Washington State, Allen had a big impact on the wider community through his philanthropy and his love of sports, he was well liked everywhere.
• deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
• melling 8y ago
  Paul wrote an autobiography: Idea Man: A Memoir by the Cofounder of Microsoft https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/technology/18allen.html https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/18/technology/18allen.html https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea_Man https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idea_Man
  • PostOnce 8y ago
    It's a good read. I often wonder what would have become of him had his parents not had the forethought to send him to Lakeside School; his family wasn't rich like Bill Gates' family; I imagine, with money, Gates would have done well whether or not he had gone to that school, but if Allen hadn't, and therefore hadn't met Gates, where would have gone? It makes me think long and hard about my children's education. They'll get a fantastic education regardless of what school they go to, since we'll learn at home, but just how important is the networking? Does that itself supercede the education? I guess biographies always make you ask yourself these what if questions, and often apply them to yourself.
    • adventured 8y ago
      It's an interesting thought experiment with Allen, because he provided the unrelenting prompting to start Microsoft. As you know from the book (and Gates has confirmed this numerous times), he urged Gates repeatedly that they should start a company focused on software to capitalize on the burgeoning personal computing era. Finally convincing him when the famous January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics came out with the Altair 8800 on the cover. Allen very plausibly was even more of an entrepreneur personality type than Gates was. It seems likely that Allen may well have pursued founding his own company in the absence of Gates. From a very young age, Allen apparently had a strong penchant for science and technology. Striking out on your own, then as now, is maybe the best way to leap forward with new technology, versus laboring in the corner of a stuffy, conservative corporate behemoth like Honeywell (where Allen worked) or IBM. Lakeside at a minimum very likely accelerated by several years his introduction to computer programming, due to the resources the school had. Then on top of that, he had a small group of friends to pursue those adventures with thanks to Lakeside, and they all had access to the same tech. The amplification value of all of that, has to be considerable.
• pg_bot 8y ago
  Incredibly sad news, only two weeks after he learned the disease returned. For those who don't know, he was also apparently a very capable guitar player, who according to Quincy Jones could "sing and play just like Jimi Hendrix". Play one more riff in the sky computer man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYY-MmonYU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYY-MmonYU
  • samstave 8y ago
    And insturmental in the rock and roll tributes in seattle, i believe
  • adventured 8y ago
    To be clear, it hasn't been stated that it was only two weeks after he learned the disease returned. That's when it was publicly acknowledged by Allen. He only said that it was recent that he learned about the recurrence. That could mean it was several months ago and Allen may have chosen for personal reasons to keep that information private.
  • lanius 8y ago
    Wow, I didn't know Paul Allen played guitar! I wonder if this is a theme among Microsoft executives? Jim Allchin is also a very good blues guitarist.
  • owlninja 8y ago
    He also has an impressive collection, including the white Strat that Hendrix used at Woodstock. https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitaraficionado/divine-life-multi-billionaire-investor-inventor-co-founder-of-microsoft-paul-allen-adds-rock-star-to-his-resume https://www.guitarplayer.com/guitaraficionado/divine-life-mu...
• firemancoder 8y ago
  Incredibly tragic. He seemed like a very good man, and most certainly a titan of our industry.
• denzil_correa 8y ago
  Paul Allen on Gates, Microsoft (CBS 60 minutes) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IM0SvIiMI4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IM0SvIiMI4
  • michaelsbradley 8y ago
    Great piece, needs about 100 upvotes.
  • richev 8y ago
    From Australia > The uploader has not made this video available in your country. Does anyone have a link that is viewable outside the US?
    • jac_no_k 8y ago
      Other news sources are carrying this. Example: https://nyti.ms/2AbVQOP https://nyti.ms/2AbVQOP https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/obituaries/paul-allen-dead.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/15/obituaries/paul-allen-dea...
    • obscura 8y ago
      Odd - I'm not in the US and I can view it. Here's a link for you: https://openload.co/f/FFCGebcsLxY/Paul_Allen_on_Gates%2C_Microsoft.mp4 https://openload.co/f/FFCGebcsLxY/Paul_Allen_on_Gates%2C_Mic...
  • beefman 8y ago
    The outtakes from this are also worth watching (60 minutes "overtime" segment, but I no longer find it on their site). In one of my favorite moments, Stahl approaches a model of Allen's yacht and says, "So this is the Octopus...". Allen corrects her, "It's a model of the Octopus..."
• stephengillie 8y ago
  Press "f" to pay respect.
  • redthrowaway 8y ago
    Not appropriate.
    • diminoten 8y ago
      Why not? It's for sure a meme, but it's used sincerely in many places as well. Let's all mourn in our own ways, and not judge others for mourning in theirs.
      • oliveshell 8y ago
        In case you really can’t see why: because it’s not actually respectful. It’s a dumb meme, it has nothing to do with Paul Allen, and– despite what you might think– a lot of people won’t know what it means. Humor can be a powerful tool for coping with grief, but something like this reads as glib and disrespectful in a forum that holds itself to a higher standard of discourse than the broader internet.
        • stephengillie 8y ago
          How is this any less glib than saying "Rip Paul Allen"?
        • deleted 8y ago
          [deleted]
        • ry_ry 8y ago
          At what point are we no longer celebrating a life well lived? Paul Allen loved computing, and funded a living computing museum, along with with another museum dedicated to to pop culture. I wouldn't presume to know how he'd feel about a meme based tribute, but I sure as heck wouldn't feel the need to spit on one for not meeting my own criteria for respectfulness or sincerity. RIP. Paul Allen - one smart cookie, who lived more than most of us ever will.
• hprotagonist 8y ago
  The world is a better place because the Allen Institutes exist. A worthy legacy, and a worthy way to spend one's riches.
• snake117 8y ago
  This is a sad day. Paul Allen certainly had many achievements, but one of his endeavors that I truly admire is the founding and funding of the Allen Institute [0], especially after I had the pleasure of attending Christof Koch's lecture at the American Academy of Neurology annual conference two years ago [1]. Thank you for everything. You are truly an inspiration. RIP. [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Institute https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Institute [1] - https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/about/team/staff-profiles/christof-koch/ https://alleninstitute.org/what-we-do/brain-science/about/te...
  • forgotpwagain 8y ago
    The Allen Institutes are incredible organizations. They do these enormous Big Science projects that no single lab could ever do, generating beautiful datasets that the entire scientific community can use freely. All of their data is publicly available. Paul Allen's contributions to accelerating science are immense and cannot be understated.
  • romwell 8y ago
    Also, as an aviation enthusiast, I am really thankful for the Flying Heritage museum, which is one of his endeavors. Keeping historically important aircraft airworthy is something that is keeping the dream of aviation alive. It is too sad that so many have been scrapped (the great flying boats all but went extinct), but this is one effort that sets an example - and benefits the humanity. [1]https://flyingheritage.org/ https://flyingheritage.org/ [2]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Heritage_%26_Combat_Armor_Museum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Heritage_%26_Combat_Arm...
• paxys 8y ago
  :(
• bradneuberg 8y ago
  Really sad to hear this. He was one of the early financial supporters of Scaled Composites in their successful bid for the X-Prize, as well as a great supporter of the Allen Telescope Array for both astrophysics and SETI applications. Always had respect for Paul Allen.
• jansan 8y ago
  Much too early. RIP Paul Allen.
• pastor_elm 8y ago
  One of the first people to sign on to the Giving Pledge. Worth 20 billion according to wiki. Owns the Seattle Seahawks and the Trailblazers. Will these be sold off? Will be a true test of the Pledge.
  • PhaseMage 8y ago
    I'm not much of a football fan, but I would really love it if the Seahawks were owned by a charity. It would make rooting for the home team much more meaningful!
  • dgant 8y ago
    NFL rules require that an NFL team have a majority owner (with Green Bay grandfathered as an exception). It will likely have to be sold.
    • tecleandor 8y ago
      Could it be a Corp or an NGO ? Or does it have to be a natural person?
• msie 8y ago
  Wow, so disappointing that his wealth didn't help him this time. Was hopeful that one of these experimental treatments we keep on hearing about would prove fruitful.
  • micah94 8y ago
    ...helped him 9 years ago. But cancer came back.
    • rasz 8y ago
      You would think a person with 20 billion net worth would fund a couple hundred million a year net of institutes researching his particular disease, 'just in case'.
• ChuckMcM 8y ago
  Paul definitely put a pretty big dent in the personal computer universe. And I really love the Living Computer Museum.
• rococode 8y ago
  We just had a giant "get well" card out last week for people to sign for him at UW's CS department (he's donated enough to us that we're named after him, the Paul G. Allen School of CSE). Almost surreal to see that he passed so soon. It's fortunate that he at least had the time to make a great positive impact on the world; his legacy will live on in many ways.
  • Fomite 8y ago
    As a fellow member of a Paul G. Allen School (in this case the Global Animal Health one at WSU) I'm a little stunned - but he has indeed made a huge impact on the world.
• fibers 8y ago
  F
• daferna 8y ago
  Sad day, he was one of the first to recognize the importance of neuroscience and to fund it.
  • robotresearcher 8y ago
    This is of course completely untrue. Neuroscience has been major branch of science for thousands of years, and funded pretty much constantly in human memory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroscience
• sgolestane 8y ago
  :-( RIP
• romed 8y ago
  I met Allen down at Scaled Composites. He wanted to shoot people into space for fun, which I totally respect. World needs more like him, not fewer. RIP.
• dpq 8y ago
  When I was a kid, programmers - the elders, those whose lives and achievements had been described in all my introductory books - seemed to be immortal, because all these people who changed the world and created the wonderful universe of computers and software - they were all alive then (at least those I knew and cared about). That time is long gone now... and we are no longer immortal. We have lost so many of our kind. And today, we have lost yet another titan. R.I.P. Paul Allen. The world will remember you. And the kids of tomorrow, and the day after that will still discover our wonderful world reading books mentioning and revering your name. Alas, in the past tense now. Goodbye.
  • koiz 8y ago
    At least the ideas are immortal.
    • WalterSear 8y ago
      "I don't want to achieve immortality through my work; I want to achieve immortality through not dying. I don't want to live on in the hearts of my countrymen; I want to live on in my apartment." - Woody Allen
      • verelo 8y ago
        Great quote, creepy guy.
    • darkmighty 8y ago
      Nothing is immortal. "Time fades even legend..." Some things last more than others though, and I'm certainly not going to denounce propagating good ideas. In portuguese there is a sonnet that goes " (...) And I may say about love: Let it not be immortal, seeing as it is a flame. But let it be infinite while it lasts." (Vinicius de Moraes)
    • ekianjo 8y ago
      Only as long as there are warm bodies to hold them.
  • 8y ago
• bigbang 8y ago
  Wow, so sad. Like Jobs, he dying young is a loss to humanity.
  • gist 8y ago
    What? Loss to humanity? Sorry but he was no Steve Jobs or even close. He exited Microsoft in 1982 and essentially spent money that he made off of Microsoft (to do some good things let's say if you forget the patent trolling). Not minimizing what he did that was positive but don't compare it to Steve who actually did 'change the world' (no Jobs fanboy but need to point out what he did was way more than Paul Allen). Separately that OS that made Microsoft as everyone knows they bought from another company.
    • prawn 8y ago
      What a time to get pedantic. A space company, half a billion into brain research, tens of millions more in other fields, environment efforts, multiple sports teams, cultural investments, etc. That's a fair loss, and I think the first few qualify adding "to humanity" as well. Donated $2 billion in his lifetime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen#Philanthropy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen#Philanthropy
    • Delmania 8y ago
      I'm 100% certain he did more good for this world with his wealth than someone like you can even begin to dream of. He helped to build a successful computer company, intelligently navigated the exit to make significant wealth, and then donated 2 billion to various causes. Tell me, what the hell have you done for anyone?
      • almostApatriot1 8y ago
        Paul Allen was a good man but... "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" Some think wealthy people should be held to a higher moral standard for a number of reasons
• patrickg_zill 8y ago
  I was really impressed with the Flying Heritage and Combat Armor Museum. It is quite a well put together display. Allen contributed heavily to it; I think that it grew out of his personal collection.
• edw519 8y ago
  The heroes of the masses are often those in the spotlight. My heroes have always been those in the background who were more concerned about getting work done than talking about it. I can think of no better example than Paul Allen. So sorry to hear this. R.I.P.
• liftbigweights 8y ago
  Was never a fan of allen or microsoft as I felt that Microsoft's monopoly has held back computing by a generation, but it's still sad to see cancer finally get this guy after a lifetime of struggle. He left microsoft because of cancer in the 80s. Hopefully he left much of his wealth for cancer research and lots of good can come from that.
  • GioM 8y ago
    In the 90s, yes. But in the early 80s when there were dozens of different computer architectures competing, the rise to dominance of MS-DOS brought about the standardization of computer hardware on a single platform. That, in turn, led to lower prices as hardware was commoditized, and to accessibility for millions worldwide who could never before buy a computer.
    • kazinator 8y ago
      The way I remember it, IBM PC's (and clones thereof) were quite expensive compared to many existing home computers.
    • wallflower 8y ago
      Before Windows (technically 3.1, the breakthrough mainstream version), getting your computer to print something to a printer required the software (e.g. WordPerfect) to handle the printer driver itself. Before Windows 95, to connect to the internet you had to do a fair bit of config.sys and network driver tweaking and use Peter Tattam’s Trumpet Winsock. Windows 95 incorporated TCP/IP into the operating system, paving the way for Netscape Navigator to reach quick adoption. Standardization helped accelerate the growth of personal computing. While they were not necessarily open standards or the best standards, not having to worry about custom printer drivers freed up companies and software developers to write more apps... Which brings us to Microsoft Visual Basic. The JavaScript of its time. Before VB 4, you had to know and understand Charles Petzold’s WinAPI books to make a Windows app. Arguably, some apps were poorly designed or implemented but it bulldozed the way to wide usage of applications for business.
    • snapdangle 8y ago
• koiz 8y ago
  This sucks.
• oliyoung 8y ago
  SpaceShipOne, owned the Seahawks and the Blazers, sunk $500m in brain research, $100m into cell research another $100m into AI, started the -Rock & Roll Hall of Fame- Museum of Pop He made a dent.
  • lnrdgmz 8y ago
    Do you mean Museum of Pop? (not Rock & Roll Hall of Fame)
    • oliyoung 8y ago
      That's the one! Thanks!
      • danhorner 8y ago
        Previously known as EMP - the experience music project
    • stochastic_monk 8y ago
      For interested parties, the Museum of Pop Culture (stylized as MoPOP) is the new name of the Experience Music Project (EMP) as of 2017. This was to reflect its wider scope into science fiction, fantasy, and popular culture at large. It’s a magnificent museum and worth any lengths to visit.
    • dhairya 8y ago
      MoPoP has one of the coolest Star trek exhibits! http://www.startrek.com/article/trek-exhibit-celebrates-new-beginnings http://www.startrek.com/article/trek-exhibit-celebrates-new-...
  • oliyoung 8y ago
    Oh, and could play guitar just like Hendrix ... according to Quincy Jones & Questlove
  • zeusk 8y ago
    He was also the person responsible for UoW's Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science, in total he donated around $50m (with another $10m in match from Microsoft) for the school's foundation.
• asveikau 8y ago
  I don't know if there's an HN policy re: plugging charities, but speaking of lymphoma, last I heard this one is legit: http://lls.org http://lls.org
• rdlecler1 8y ago
  I'm sure most of us were envious of his life, but almost no one would trade places with him today. It goes to show that health really is more valuable than money.
  • paul7986 8y ago
    Maybe he had a partner or someone as in that 60 minute interview they portray him as lonely and longing for the one. He had to have someone....
  • TaupeRanger 8y ago
    What a weird thing to say. Everyone will die. It makes no sense to point out that no one would want to trade places with a dying or dead person. Of course not. Meaningfulness of life is more valuable than length of life.
  • sytelus 8y ago
    Here's the thing... One rich-person-year is typically equal to 4 common-person-year. Why? Rich people (defined here as folks with net worth of $100M+) can spend all of the time in things they desire. They can outsource almost all of the chores like cleaning house or doing taxes or laundry or cooking leaving more free time besides not having to do 8-hour jobs. Their transportation and commute is frictionless and doesn't penalise their effective available lifespan. They have approximately 13 hours available in each day to acquire desired experiences while a common person has only 3 hours. Things are actually bit more worse for a common person because the available experiences for them is far more limited. They can't fly out to Paris in personal jet, have dinner in 3 star michelin restaurant and fly back while taking a nap in cushy bed. In other words, a rich person typically gets to have 4X experiences in same period of time than a common person. In other words, if human common-man life span was 60 years, the effective life span of a rich person is approximately 240 years.
    • monsieurbanana 8y ago
      What about all the studies (not that I've read them, so correct me if I'm wrong, I just hear them referenced all the time) that says once you have the minimum money needed to live comfortable, more money doesn't necessarily increase happiness? I have no reason to doubt your x4 common-year-person, but how does that relate to happiness? Arguably the only metric that matters in the end. By the way, private flying to paris and 3 star restaurants? Eh... not bad, but what I'm really looking forward once I'm old is having enough free time to play MMORPGs again.
• gist 8y ago
  I am guessing that most people here have apparently forgotten about the patent troll aspect of Paul Allen: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100827/12001710802.shtml https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100827/12001710802.shtml Now I am sure there are those that will think it's in bad taste to bring this up. However I am not saying this to family or friends at a funeral. I am merely raising it so people can stop lionizing him because he was a co-founder of Microsoft. https://www.businessinsider.com/the-woz-slams-paul-allen-as-a-patent-troll-2011-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/the-woz-slams-paul-allen-as-... Allen was with Microsoft for a short period of time and left pretty soon after they struck the deal with IBM for the OS. 1982. Edit: As such he contributed a nominal amount to Microsoft's success (and after all it was Bill Gates connections and hustle that got that deal). Also interesting that the wikipedia page has no mention of the patent trolling it obviously appears to be cleaned of this info (as of this moment at least): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Allen
  • ticmasta 8y ago
    So, what's the name of your hero? I guarantee I can dig up some less-than-noble aspect about them, or cast a past action in negative light. People are pretty complicated, multi-faceted creatures. We're allowed to be grateful for their positive contributions even though we're all teeming with flaws. No one here is paying tribute because the man was a literal saint, and I've yet to see anyone praise him specifically for building Microsoft. They're simply thankful for the actions of a man that resonate directly with each individual; it's a pretty common thing to so when someone passes. So, thanks for the heads up, though I'm pretty sure anyone familiar with Allen's numerous organizations, business and charities is also aware of his less noble pursuits. There will be plenty of opportunity to focus on the negative aspects but the polite thing to do at this time is stay quiet.
    • rectang 8y ago
      That Allen wielded such incredible power and influence was not due to him being exponentially more worthy than others, but due to a winner-take-all economic system which rewards marginal advantage combined with good fortune with exponential returns. > There will be plenty of opportunity to focus on the negative aspects but the polite thing to do at this time is stay quiet. To suppress Allen's destructive actions from the summary of his life is to encourage their repetition by others.
• xpan 8y ago
  rip
• jackemupguy2 8y ago
  Internal Server Error 500 Founder not Found. Please try again, later.
• joeyspn 8y ago
  Sometimes I wonder what the tech industry could achieve if all companies agreed to donate 1% of resources to find a cure for cancer. I know that derived advances in tech (ML/Data Science, etc) have an impact but… is it really enough? We could do sooo much more for contributing to eradicate this disease. RIP Paul Allen.
• gdubs 8y ago
  Such sad news. Paul Allen was a friend of a friend, and so we got to go to a couple of his halloween parties up in Beverly Crest in Los Angeles. He was incredibly down to earth and generous. His parties were a blast – the main fixture was always him playing with a live band. He loved rock-and-roll music. We bumped into Dan Aykroyd at one of them, dressed as his character from Blues Brothers. He wrote an autobiography called "Idea Man", which I'd recommend if you want to know more about the man who was quietly behind the revolution in computing that brought all of us here today. R.I.P., Paul Allen :(
• x220 8y ago
  Rest in peace
• arountheworld 8y ago
  That is a reminder - no matter how rich you are, you have exactly the same hours in the day as the guy sleeping under the bridge.
• x0rx0r 8y ago
  So Sad. You will be missed Paul. Thank you for all your hard work in computers.
• drallison 8y ago
  Paul Allen has died. It's sad. I remember him from the very early days when the Altair was new and Microsoft BASIC was the language of choice and the People's Computer Company was publishing computer games. Paul exuded a quiet confidence in those days punctuated by droll humor. Better, he put his money where his imagination went and has left the world a better place. For greybeards, the Living Computer Museum is a joy to behold.
• palisade 8y ago
  One of my heroes. You'll be missed! Can we get a cure for cancer?!
• deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
• onetimemanytime 8y ago
  Whatever you think of MSFT at x time, Paul Allen was certainly a genius. 65...and worth untold billions. But then, maybe, he reached 65 because of better treatment the first time. RIP.
• maz1b 8y ago
  Sad day. RIP Paul Allen. His legacy and contributions will have a lasting impact forever.
• ricardonunez 8y ago
  This is so sad. RIP Paul Allen. He did so much for he world. Just yesterday I was talking about his work.
• ArtWomb 8y ago
  "What we did was unprecedented. But what is less well understood is that we had no choice." -Idea Man RIP. An engineering titan. And humanitarian colossus. In addition to his triumphs in computation, philanthropy and neuroscience. His deep sea exploration team discovered the final resting places of some of the worst disasters in naval history: USS Indianapolis, USS Lexington, and USS Juneau. The images evoke a final frontier frozen in time. Befitting the legacy of one who forever tacked the course and speed of human affairs. We have have only ourselves now to fulfill that legacy of rapid progress into the era of a New Space age! https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/paul-allen-lexington-underwater-discovery-spd/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2018/03/paul-allen-lexin...
• drawkbox 8y ago
  Paul Allen did enough good for hundreds of lifetimes in one. Allen's skills helped create Microsoft/Windows and allowed him to attain wealth which he also used for good reasons, funding brain, medical research and history as well as fun and entertainment. Allen is the type of person you want people, and especially wealthy, to be, supporting good efforts and being a force for good in humanity.
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• anon7429 8y ago
  That sucks. Non-Hodgkin lymphoma: the same class of cancer linked to RoundUp/glyphosate.
• CydeWeys 8y ago
  For whatever reason, I always remember him for the Allen Telescope Array: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Telescope_Array https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allen_Telescope_Array Not many are willing to donate that much into funding a project whose chance of success is small, but whose success would change everything.
  • 8bitsrule 8y ago
    A worthy, pioneering investment. I'll also remember Paul for the Museum of Pop Culture, a wonderful gift to the Pacific Northwest. Born as the 'Experience Music Project' in 2000, it has since added a Sci-Fi museum which became the SFF Hall of Fame. Much appreciated by all fans of pop music and sci-fi, and a location for numerous cultural and educational events.
• WalterBright 8y ago
  Paul Allen did a wonderful job restoring old aircraft and creating a flying museum. https://flyingheritage.org/ https://flyingheritage.org/
• ausjke 8y ago
  RIP. Microsoft lost one of its two founders, so did Apple. Two of the most influential companies. How sad. Amazon and Facebook are both a single man show, then we have Google, one of the two founders also had some health issues, though much less serious.
• dhairya 8y ago
  I had an opportunity to work at both the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) and the Allen Institute for Brain Science (AIBs). I was part of the 10 year strategic planning efforts at AI2. Paul Allen was both involved and hands-off in the support of the leadership AI2 and AIBs. It was a rare balance and Paul Allen knew how to create the conditions for innovation and novel research breakthroughs with micromanaging. Additionally, Paul Allen was an advocate for open science. Through AI2 he directly supported arxiv.org and funded the development of Semantic Scholar. I had an opportunity to participate in a gathering of scientists, academics and publishers organized by Vulcan and the Allen Institutes to investigate innovations to support open science. Alexandra Elbakyan (founder of Scihub) was skyped in (technically on the run) to share her advocacy of accessible and open science. It was surprising and inspiring to see that Paul Allen provided Alexendra a platform to share her experience (especially as several major publishers were in attendance). His lasting legacy in AI will be the support of Semantic Scholar and the Alexandria (common sense) project. In neuroscience research, AIBs has made major breakthroughs in mapping the mouse brain and producing prolific open datasets (Allen Brain Atlas) to support research. In Seattle, it was hard to not run into the influence of Paul Allen. From the Seattle Seahawks to the Museum of Popular Culture (MoPoP), Paul Allen had an impact everywhere in Seattle. It is sad to see him pass away. He has a immense impact on both Seattle and scientific research. I hope both AI2 and AIBs will continue doing amazing work as part of his legacy.
  • sharkweek 8y ago
    It’s fun to see the same style applied to the Seahawks - he hired Pete Carroll to run the team the way he wants with the resources he needs. Without Paul Allen as the owner, our home team doesn’t win the 2013 Super Bowl. The team has had its fair share of problems too, but they’re always entertaining.
    • balls187 8y ago
      He also hired Mike Holmgren, who coached them to their first Superbowl appearance in franchise history, behind the leagues top offense powered by Shawn Alexander.
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• tinkerteller 8y ago
  It's bit funny to see all these outpouring of emotions. Just last month we been talking about him and some folks pointed out how he has spent a tiny fraction of accidental lottery in to actual good such as Allen Institute and Semantic Scholar. A REALLY tiny fraction of his immense wealth. Many people think he has spent an order of magnitude more on organizing private rock concerts in desert, building yacht with his private music studio, buying up sport teams, bidding for momentas and slapping his name all over things to stroke his ego. I wouldn't want to say bad stuff for him on this day but I rather not encourage billionaires doing this get impression that HN crowd is in tears for them living extraordinarily exuberant lifestyle while throwing bread crumbs to science.
  • pmichaud 8y ago
    I'm not sure what you're valuing by reposting versions of this comment in multiple places in this thread, but it seems like you think he should have given more money to science. Speaking as someone who works in a nonprofit trying to get high end research done, funding is complicated--the equation is absolutely not More Money == More Progress. There are very tricky trade offs, perverse incentives, and huge talent bottlenecks, among other challenges. A lot of places I work closely around would turn down additional funding if it was offered, given other bottlenecks, the counterfactual use of that money, and the perverse incentives. I didn't know Paul Allen at all, but if he's like other billionaires, he had teams of really smart people actively figuring out the actually correct amount of money to put in the actually correct places, to actually make a difference. They might have been wrong in their analysis, but I'm confident that in no world did Paul ever say to himself, "Well, there is this slam dunk cause I could give to that would help a lot of people and more science forward, but instead I'll have a yacht with a music studio."
    • tinkerteller 8y ago
      Did he also had teams to advice on purchasing half a billion dollar yacht? Do you know the total investment that went in to Allen Institute? It's mere $150M. So you are crying over a guy who spent approximately 20X more money on sport teams, private rock concerts and yathces than on something that might define the future on humanity. Compared to Allen, Bill Gates has lived fairly understated lifestyle without owning fleet of jet planes and spent far far more amount of time on advancement of humanity. I might shed tear when he dies. But Paul Allen? Nah... The guy won absolute lottery for writing small amount of code in BASIC interpreter and got approximately same share of money with the guy who actually did all the work and worked his ass off for 40 years of life while Allen roamed around southern France with his girl friend and dreamed about purchasing sport teams so he can stroke his ego as Twelfth Man. I as well be sad when king of Saudi Arabia dies for doing bit of philanthropic work here and there.
• Qworg 8y ago
  I worked as Paul's technical adviser at Vulcan - he was funny, warm, and prickly in turns, well aware of the outsized shadow he cast, and absolutely dedicated to bringing the sci-fi future he so loved into reality. His legacy in the Institutes, in his philanthropic ventures, and in the bones of Seattle itself cannot be overstated. Outside of the sciences, he built South Lake Union (home of Amazon and many other tech companies), saved the Seahawks, supported thousands of famous musicians, and played a mean guitar himself. I'll miss him.
  • zamalek 8y ago
    > absolutely dedicated to bringing the sci-fi future he so loved into reality. We need more people like this. Some of this stuff might be impossible, but there is only one way to find out. It takes a great person to throw themselves into the machine of failure for the benefit of humanity. It is, ultimately, also philanthropy - it's just philanthropy on a timescale that is far greater than one life and far more than a few [million] lives. People who push humanity forwards will be remembered forever - through their name on someone's lips, or their legacy in someone's hands. In many ways these type of people are immortal.
    • nhlx2 8y ago
      >It takes a great person to throw themselves into the machine of failure for the benefit of humanity. Great line!
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    • ainiriand 8y ago
      I will remember him as long as I'm alive and I'll try that my sons remember him as well. He was one of those humans which we don't have a replacement for.
  • dhairya 8y ago
    I didn't have the privilege to work with Vulcan, but they are a really awesome organization. I think Vulcan best exemplifies Paul Allen's approach to philanthropy, which focused on measurable results and data-driven change. For those unfamiliar, check out Vulcan's outstanding work with elephant atlas (https://elephant-atlas.org/ https://elephant-atlas.org/) and the great elephant census (https://www.paulallen.com/remembering-the-great-elephant-census-on-world-elephant-day/ https://www.paulallen.com/remembering-the-great-elephant-cen...). When I was at AI2, the great elephant census was used as both a barometer and analogy to think critically about the value and impact of the research and tools our scientist were developing.
• joe_the_user 8y ago
  I have to mention an article by Allen which I think is the single best critique of the idea fo the "singularity" which I have seen. Paul Allen: The Singularity Isn't Near https://www.technologyreview.com/s/425733/paul-allen-the-singularity-isnt-near/ https://www.technologyreview.com/s/425733/paul-allen-the-sin...
  • etatoby 8y ago
    > There’s even exponential growth in the rate of exponential growth. When you know somebody didn't take calculus or didn't "get" it. Either that, or he didn't explain what he meant. (Not Paul Allen, just another interviewee.)
    • jodrellblank 8y ago
      Interviewee? That's a quote from Google Director of Engineering Ray Kurzweil - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Kurzweil
      • sterlind 8y ago
        d/dt e^t = e^t. So while vapid and pop-sci, technically true. Of course, the exponent is constant or we'd be talking about the Ackermanity instead.
        • grumdan 8y ago
          Technically true, but the quote makes it sound as if this were not necessarily the case for some kinds of exponential growth, which is clearly false.
      • KnightOfWords 8y ago
        Kurzweil really is the hand-waver of all hand-wavers. Exponential progress is the exception rather than the rule, due to hard physical limits.
  • martinpw 8y ago
• rwc 8y ago
  It's shocking to me that even now, hours after the announcement, Microsoft.com is completely bereft of mentioning the news. I know Paul Allen's impact at MS isn't akin to Bill Gates in popular culture, but it seems soulless to make no effort whatsoever.
  • micah94 8y ago
    There's a large banner of him there now.
  • reachtarunhere 8y ago
    I think it depends on your location. I didn't see anything in Singapore till I switched to the US version of the website.
• ad_hominem 8y ago
  It doesn't detract from his greatness but I didn't like his hypocrisy in giving millions to gun control initiatives while personally owning a Panzer tank, SCUD missile launcher, MiG fighter jet, etc.
  • culturestate 8y ago
    You can support gun control without supporting total suppression; even Japan, with some of the world’s strictest gun control laws, still lets you buy one if you qualify.
    • smsm42 8y ago
      And to qualify, you usually have to be extremely rich and well-connected, thus enforcing the idea that there are two sets of laws - one for hoi polloi and one for the exalted elite. I think it's better when there's just one, and your rights do not depend on who you know.
      • nl 8y ago
        You are the second person in this thread who has claimed that the Japanese system is elitist. When I looked and replies to the other person I couldn't find any evidence of this, so I'm interested where you got this idea. Here's a story on how to buy a gun in Japan[1]. The only fee is $60 for the gun license course, so I don't see where the argument about having to be rich is coming from. [1] http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-perspec-japan-guns-buying-process-1009-story.html http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-per...
      • jpatokal 8y ago
        That's just straight-up wrong. Legal ownership of a gun in Japan requires an extreme amount of bureaucracy, but it's entirely possible and most legal gun owners in Japan are (non-rich, non-well-connected) farmers. https://www.businessinsider.com.au/gun-control-how-japan-has-almost-completely-eliminated-gun-deaths-2017-10?r=US&IR=T https://www.businessinsider.com.au/gun-control-how-japan-has...
• tinkerteller 8y ago
  Yes, Paul Allen, the great philanthropist, lived understated lifestyle. Unlike other billionaires who live extraordinary exuberant lifestyles and spend only fraction of their wealth on science and humanity, he did all of these: - private massive rock concerts for himself - half billion $ yacht with sub and music studio - buying up sports teams to stroke his ego - slapping his own name all over instead of people who did actual work - buying pointless momentas at outrageous auction bids - keeping an array of private jets - building massive private properties for himself all over the world R.I.P another billionaire who used his lottery money on the right stuff and only little on pointless ego enhancement.
  • MrStonedOne 8y ago
    Oh how adorable. I hope one day when you look at somebody so loved and adored by all around him you are able to push past the hate and envy and be happy for them. Until then please keep your negativity to yourself.
    • tinkerteller 8y ago
      This is not hate or envy. There are other 1000 billionaires in the world and most have lived less lavish lifestyle than Allen and some probably even have done more on philanthropy. I don't get depressed when they die or even think of as big event. They spend massive amount of fortunes to stroke their ego and spend money on pointless stuff (golden toilets, anyone?) and then throw breadcrumbs to science. The entire sum of Allen's donations is known to be less than billion dollar. He has spent more on his yachts and fleet of luxury jets alone.
      • dang 8y ago
        Please stop.
• lucaslee 8y ago
  Whenever I see sad news like this, that a great person dies too early, it reminds me that life is too precious and I am lucky to have more time to do something meaningful. Take care of your body and do something that really matters. RIP
• alan_kay_v2 8y ago
  I really liked his world view after reading "Idea Man". RIP Paul Allen.
• cmkumar 8y ago
  I recently had the opportunity to intern with Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence in Seattle. Paul Allen was an individual whom the general public in Seattle spoke highly of in terms of his goodwill, magnanimity and philanthropy to the people of Seattle and the US.
• sureaboutthis 8y ago
  Does everyone know the story about when he told Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer he had cancer back in the early days?
• mannermachine 8y ago
  I KILLED PAUL ALLEN with AN AXE in the FACE, his body his dissolving in a BATHTUB in Hell's Kitchen.
  • dang 8y ago
    We've banned this account. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
• djabatt 8y ago
  I have been working with him and his team at Vulcan on a project. I met him once and he was super cool and deeply interesting within a few minutes of talking with him. He had a way at taking the idea to the next level and not getting bogged down in why it won't work. Vision and drive. His team at Vulcan were all smart, creative and driven. I would work with them on anything. It is a big shock and bummer to hear about him passing.
• PostOnce 8y ago
  Many here have noted his many large-scale philanthropic efforts, which are fantastic, and often benefit our whole species. But my personal favorite, even if it doesn't benefit large swaths of humanity in the same way as a cell research insitute: https://livingcomputers.org/ https://livingcomputers.org/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Computers:_Museum_%2B_Labs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Living_Computers:_Museum_%2B_L... It's a computer museum, but they work. They're turned on, and you can use them! You can program them; you can even get an account to access ancient computers over the internet (via telnet). For example, look at the cool as hell control panel and general design of this thing! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Sigma_9 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Sigma_9 -- light bulbs add something to computers that LEDs don't. :) If nothing else, it makes us nerds happy. Thanks, Paul.
  • redisman 8y ago
    It's a great museum. I gotta say even as a 80's programmer kid, those old computers are extremely hard to get to do anything. It had tens of old working computers I had never seen before, many from decades before I was born still running. Pretty incredible.
  • koslov 8y ago
    It's by far my favorite museum. I always go every time I go to Seattle and there is always a new machine to play with. You learn many things of how computers evolved by using them. Like seeing your terminal session printed and how the display is actually some sort of never-ending paper. Also making your own punch cards or hearing the noise of mainframes cooling systems. Damn, it hurts to see Paul Allen go. Hope they keep the museum intact.
    • neonblurb 8y ago
      I was hoping people would mention the Living Computers museum, I had a chance to visit on a short trip to Seattle a couple of weeks ago and in the space of about 45 minutes I played a game of chess with a PDP-8 entering moves on a working teletype, wrote some BASIC on an original working Apple I and Altair, played a maze game on a Xerox Alto and played around with the fascinating UI on a NeXTstation. Capped it off with a game of Oregon Trail on a Mac SE. I'm so grateful that people like Paul invested in giving people the means to interact with such iconic machines and kept them running - the value of places like this is immense.
• orionblastar 8y ago
  He always amazed me because he never gave up even when he had cancer. He kept on going and that took a lot of guts. Steve Jobs was that way when he had cancer, kept on going until he passed on.
• leptoniscool 8y ago
  Life is short http://www.paulgraham.com/vb.html http://www.paulgraham.com/vb.html
• wslh 8y ago
  I wonder why nobody mentioned Interval Research[1] several people around the Smalltalk/Squeak scene worked there. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_Research_Corporation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interval_Research_Corporation
  • zik 8y ago
    I worked there for a while around 2000, after Interval was drastically downsized. Among other things they'd been working on a prototype "web tablet", ten years before the iPad. They did some good work there.
• modzu 8y ago
  fuck cancer
• rpvreviews 8y ago
  Sad news. https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/159/5/454/92133 https://academic.oup.com/aje/article/159/5/454/92133 A vegan diet "could" have saved him. This is 2004 article on American Journal of Epidemiology though study is on women, effect of a Whole Food plant based diet on cancer si well know, (Dr. Michael Greger)
• emersonrsantos 8y ago
  Very Sad. Paul Allen, you will be missed.
• pontifier 8y ago
  Does anyone know his stance on cryonics? He seems like the kind of person that would have some sort of plan in place to see the future.
• Abhishek41783 8y ago
  I read his book Idea Man, a few years back. I still remember the parts where he travelled the world with his family. Beautiful journey. Most books of people so successful are too inclined towards their work or general advice. It was refreshing to read about somebody you could relate to just like Shoe Dog by Phil Knight. That they had lives outside of their work and went through worse days than most of us will ever face. And yet, he made a difference in the world he lived.
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• abireve 8y ago
  Died Worth $20b
• jsoc815 8y ago
  Sad. His autobiography, a fantastic read, gave me great perspective on business and parenting.
• XalvinX 8y ago
  Kind of feel likes a member of the family died, almost. Having literally grown up with personal computers, my third computer was a first generation PC clone with DOS 2.11 and I think I was a subscriber of PC Magazine in its very first year, and closely followed the PC revolution from its very beginning more or less continuously to now. I mean, Paul always played second fiddle to Bill, and kind of kept out of the limelight, but he also seemed a lot funner of guy, and they were both in the news a lot over the years, even when they had their little spats or whatever. These guys, along with Jobs, Wozniak, Ellison, and a small handful of others were really a new kind of celebrity, and helped geeks and nerds worldwide achieve unheard of self-esteem....suddenly it was fucking cool to be smart and wear pocket protectors, and such people were suddenly getting rich as Croesus too...Paul sure has some nice boats and a football team, and his bachelor lifestyle was infamous...he liked the bitches, the champagne, the south of france: all of it! Pimpin' Paul Allen, you will be missed. R.I.P.
• XalvinX 8y ago
  https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-paul-allens-yacht-party-at-cannes-2016-5 https://www.businessinsider.com/photos-of-paul-allens-yacht-... Scroll down to see some of the talent he invited.... ....and Paul jamming the mighty Zeppelin out on the guitar... the guy was just coolness personified!! :-P
• peter_retief 8y ago
  So sad to hear this, rest in peace, you did well
• kulu2002 8y ago
  One more amongst 'Pirates of Silicon Valley' passed away. RIP Paul Allen. :(
• brian_herman 8y ago
  :(
• textread 8y ago
  https://goo.gl/pbXjwN https://goo.gl/pbXjwN ^ "We (almost) have BASIC" Allen calls MITS
• hereiskkb 8y ago
  Simply reading the wonderful comments you guys makes me a bit teary. This is what marks a great human being, someone who is remembered by the work they have done.
• delidumrul 8y ago
  Life is transient, death is instant. Farewell, Paul Allen.
• EnderMB 8y ago
  Outside of his work at Microsoft, I was mainly aware of him through his ownership of the Seattle Sounders in MLS. I live in the UK, where we have world-class football teams aplenty, but I think the Sounders were the first team in MLS that I saw that had the ownership and the facilities to be taken seriously in any league around the world. It's a shame CNBC missed his ownership of that team, because he's done as great a job with them as he had done with the Seahawks. I searched him up on Sunday while at the Seahawks game in London, and I saw that he was undergoing treatment, but his Twitter post made it seem like things were going well and that he'd pull through, so it's been a real shock to see that he's died. He sounded like a great guy, and it's always nice to see the successful ones be great guys. Co-founder of Microsoft, a set of successful sports teams, numerous philanthropic donations and organisations. RIP.
  • rconti 8y ago
    I'm glad you mentioned the Sounders, because nobody else has. I grew up in the Seattle area, and the constant threats of sports teams leaving (Mariners, Sonics, Seahawks) were sort of tiring. As a kid, I was thrilled to see the Mariners stay (Nintendo backed that one, IIRC) and enjoyed the new stadium. The Sonics got away (I'm guessing Allen already owned the Blazers at the time..?) but he was instrumental in keeping the Seahawks. Around the time CenturyLink field was built, the Sounders became an MLS team. I don't remember the exact history, and I left Seattle around that time, but it's been awesome to see Seattle rally behind a top notch soccer team; the fan base is one of the strongest in the US, and the regional rivalry with the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps is a lot of fun to follow. To be honest, the Sounders have the kind of following and give the city the kind of energy any city would be proud to have.
• nyounker 8y ago
  Godspeed Good Sir. Thank you for all of your contributions that moved us as a Society forward. You will be missed!
• ainiriand 8y ago
  Can you imagine if we could have another ~30 years of Allen? Me neither. I really hate cancer. RIP space guy.
• buttholesurfer 8y ago
  As a programmer, one of the coolest places I've been is the living computer museum in Seattle. I'm reading "idea man" right now. This guy was quite the force. It's a big loss!!
• hamburglar1 8y ago
  Try getting a reservation at Dorsia now! RIP Paul, too soon
  • Abutere 8y ago
    You've mistaken him for that dickhead Marcus Halberstram
• bocalogic 8y ago
  What an incredible loss on so many levels. 65 is young but look at everything he did and his contributions speak for themselves. R.I.P. Paul and Godspeed
  • nashashmi 8y ago
    To think he was told he was going to die so many years go, yet it still never stopped him from having ambitions as large as we have come to realize today.
• vinayms 8y ago
  meta: what is the meaning of this post getting 2724 points (as of this writing)? just a mechanism to bring it to first page?
  • ovrdrv3 8y ago
    Take a look at the top posts of all time: https://hn.algolia.com/?query=&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page=0&dateRange=all&type=story https://hn.algolia.com/?query=&sort=byPopularity&prefix&page...
• gajomi 8y ago
  I never met him, but he definitely had a big impact on my life. Like so many I was first exposed to computer programming through Microsoft BASIC. These days I make a living working as an engineer at one of his philanthropies. But what I will maybe remember most is a weekly invitation he extended to come to his pool, where I have helped teach my wife to swim in a relaxing environment. His family and friends I am sure will be sad, but his impact lives on today.
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