Most obituaries and death notices look like cut and pastes of each other although today it is more true than ever. A computer scientist Larry Tesler has died and yet to most he is an unknown, but his work is a part of every working day – he developed ‘cut and paste’.
This is the bane of schoolteachers who see so much of Wikipedia directly cut and pasted into students work, although generally without attribution. The teachers themselves are hypocrites as most of their school reports are cut and pasted from a collection of wise, and proofread, words of wisdom and inspiration.
No office would survive today without his contribution and yet few would know of his work or passing. Vale Larry Tesler and in honour of you, some of this letter was cut and pasted.
Dennis Fitzgerald,
Melbourne, Australia
