Farewell Mr Engelbart

So another of the great guys in CS passed away today.

The visionary man that conceived and brought to life many many things that we give for granted today.

Mouse and other input devices (I recall the one-hand keyboard), the first interactive systems, remote connections,.... all that during the fifties and sixties. A truly impressive amount of leaps from what existed at that time.

I haven't read anywhere explicitly about the relation between Engelbart and Smalltalk, but I'm more than sure that Douglas heavily influenced Kay, and probably the reverse is also true.  Probably one of the 5 most innovative guys in our field. Ever.

For those who don't know about Mr. Engelbart, you have to check "The mother of all demos". Look for the videos yourself. And try to imagine that in the sixties.

Here's a spanish link that talks about innovation, where Kay and Engelbart are mentioned lots of times. a good read also.

And another link about Aaron Schwartz, which links also to Douglas Engelbart. The image in that post and the post itself hit me hard when I saw them the first time. also, recommended read.