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March 25, 2004

Goodbye and Thanks, Bozidar Benc

"I heard the news today, oh boy..."

That's just how I felt this morning as I popped over to Palm Addict, after seeing that Bozidar Benc has passed away. My heart dropped while reading those words. No! Not Bozidar! :-(

I knew Bozidar was in an accident this past February, but from the reports I'd read, he was improving. So, it came as an utter shock to me to read he was gone today. While I'm able to go on and work and live today, there is a subtle sadness as well. Bozidar is gone!

Bozidar leaves behind him a wife and children, which is maybe the saddest thing of all, especially being a father and husband myself. Bozidar is gone.

I am a very dedicated user of Launcher X (LX) and was a dedicated Launcher III (LIII) user before that, nearly since my first days as a Palm user. The idea of tabs for managing my Palm apps just seemed so natural, that I immediately took to Bozidar's creation and evangelized others about it too.

Funnily enough, just this weekend I was beaming some apps to friend and T2 user, who saw Launcher X as I was doing this. He was very excited by the tabs and look of LX, so I beamed him a copy, along with an OS X skin (this T2 user was a Mac user as well). I was reminded how wonderful LX really was with my friend's excitement... reminded how I take LX for granted.

Well, I can't take LX or Bozidar for granted any longer. Now I'm very aware of this and his other applications knowing that he's gone.

Thank you Bozidar for your work, but more importantly for your kind nature, always answering emails and graciously. I never met you personally, but I think you embodied the very best of the Palm community with your dedication to fine applications and treating your customers as friends and human beings, rather than dollars and cents. Thank you! You will be missed!

If you would like to send a donation to Bozidar's family in his memory, pop by PDA 24/7 and make a donation. Shaun says all donations for the nest 2 months will be sent to the Benc family.

Goodbye Bozidar, we'll miss you greatly.

Update 2004-03-25: Arthur noted that I'd spelled Bozidar's first name incorrectly as Bodizar. My apologies. This has now been fixed. (Thanks Arthur!)

Update 2004-03-28: Shaun has a dedicated page where you can get info on sending money to the Benc family. Thanks for handling this Shaun.

March 25, 2004 7:36 AM | Palm | add to del.icio.us