Giants fall all the time. In an earlier item today I mentioned one such fallen giant, the playwright Arthur Miller.

Computing also has giants, and we're all diminished when one of them falls. As Jef Raskin has fallen.

Jef, who died of cancer recently at 61, will be remembered as the "father of the Macintosh." He gave the project its name, and he pushed it within Apple.

But he was much, much more.

Jef was a great example of intellectual restlessness. He was what some call "a mensch." At his death he was working on Archy, another revolutionary user interface, previously called The Humane Environment. That work will now be carried on by his son, Aza.

I cannot imagine a better legacy than such a son. For people in computing, some remarks Aza gave Ubiquity should be a eulogy we should all strive for:

What makes Jef unique is his inability to accept the status quo. When something does not make sense to him — whether it be in computer science, mathematics or musicology — he presses until he either understands why it is the way it is, or until he knows enough to realize that it is wrong. This is how he was able to formulate the ideology behind the Macintosh: That computers should make tasks easy for people, not the other way round. Jef's talent is in realizing when something is flawed, challenging it, and inventing something that's significantly better. His genius is being able to generalize his inspirations and create a rigorous theoretical framework in which he situates his inventions.

Rest in peace, Jef. God bless your memory. And God bless Aza as well.