Mason Loring BlissI've just learned that John Bradley, author of 'xv', has passed away.
I'm seeing other tributes to him. This one's mine.
'xv' was a part of the early magic for me. It was installed on the DECstation 3000 (Ultrix 4.2) computers at UMass Dartmouth. I remember the little fish turning back and forth, and I use xv still to this day.
Here's the biography he maintained:
https://xv.trilon.com/bradley.html
I've loved XV for a while, and I wanted to support John, so a bit more than a decade ago I wrote to him and asked him if he'd sell me a paper license. He said he didn't do that any more, and just suggested I recompile with my name filled in. I said I really loved the software and had used it for many years, and it would tickle me pink to be able to buy a license from him. He said "fine" and that he'd do it this one last time, but this would be the last, and he sold me a license. I've got it up on the wall behind me now.
My direct interactions with him were pretty minimal, but what they were showed him to be friendly and pleasant and a good person, and I'm sorry that he's died so young.
xv was, I think, my first exposure to X11 remote clients, and it was also cause for me to learn a bit about network security. It's long been my background setter when I log in, and it's my default program to look at random images and do cropping operations. (I use the Gimp for more involved edits.) I still love its simple, classic design and the fish.
Rest in peace, John.