As Observer Columnist John Naughton** pointed out, there was little fanfare to the passing of one of Computing’s greatest heroes last week. Maybe I am one of those geeks that did notice, and was saddened at the loss of someone I consider a grand-father of modern computing.
Dennis Ritchie who died last week, along with Ken Thompson were the collective brains behind the Unix Operating System.
My first job out of college was as a Unix System Administrator, and I loved it. I still do. Unix and it’s derivatives, Linux, Macosx to name just two, have permeated modern society. Unix variants essentially run the Internet – you are reading this via a Linux Webserver ; I am writing this on a Mac; My phone runs a Unix Variant too, iOs. So we have a great deal to thank Dennis for, and forty years on from his pioneering work, his legacy is as strong as ever. Long may it be so.

**John Naughton has a lovely tribute here.