Re:Geoff Chappell has died
by binwiederhier on Monday September 04, 2023 @05:08PM
(#37385092)
I didn't know Geoff, but I have used his website a lot in the past. It is a fountain of knowledge around everything about Windows. I hope that the Internet preserves this knowledge and with it his memory.
Re:Geoff Chappell has died
by jiofj on Monday September 04, 2023 @05:27PM
(#37385247)
+1, his website on Windows internals is incredible. A great legacy to leave to the world: something that has helped and will continue to help thousands of people
> According to Wikipedia: "AARD code was originally discovered by Geoff Chappell on 17 April 1992 and then further analyzed and documented in a joint effort with Andrew Schulman.[2][3][4][5][6] The name was derived from Microsoft programmer Aaron R. Reynolds (1955–2008),[7] who used "AARD" to sign his work; "AARD" was found in the machine code of the installer"
Re:Geoff Chappell has died
by lproven on Monday September 04, 2023 @05:25PM
(#37385228)
This is sad news. I talked with him a few times on CIX (www.CIX.co.uk) back in the Before Times. A truly brilliant man, who more than once helped to prove that Microsoft lied and attempted to cheat other companies, notably Digital Research.
Re:Geoff Chappell has died
by pvachon on Monday September 04, 2023 @06:46PM
(#37385881)
Geoff was an amazing and unique individual. His depth of knowledge of Windows was unparalleled — he and I spent many a night arguing about the merits of Dave Cutler’s design philosophy, security decisions in modern Windows, and so-forth. Usually we would be doing so over far too much Italian wine, the quality of the arguments would tracking appropriately with the amount of wine consumed. Probably how loud we were, too… weirdest argument to hear in a New York bar in SoHo on a weeknight, I’m sure.
Geoff’s love and knowledge of the Beatles, David Bowie, the Who and other 1960’s and 1970’s British pop was staggering… I love these bands, and he took that passion to another level. I’ll never forget listening to the various mixes of Bowie’s Space Oddity and noticing the subtle nuances Geoff would point out. His huge collection of singles made it easy to discover something new, especially with him curating a journey through his favourites, or even versions that he would express great disdain for! This was only matched by his love of classical music. You’ll see signs of these passions in his musings in his website.
Raise a good glass of wine with friends, have a hell of a party, listen to some great music… a great way to celebrate his life.
RIP Geoff
https://www.geoffchappell.com
Some threads with comments:
The AARD Code and DR DOS (2021) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36042213 - May 2023 (139 comments)
Kuser_shared_data (Windows Data Structure) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33146484 - Oct 2022 (3 comments)
America Online Exploits Bug in Own Software (1999) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29198034 - Nov 2021 (27 comments)
Strange Things LINK Knows about 80x86 Processors (1997) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25585683 - Dec 2020 (2 comments)
Windows HAL Functions (Hal.dll) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22110073 - Jan 2020 (1 comment)
32bit Windows can use more than 3GB of RAM, MS just doesn't want you too - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=613276 - May 2009 (20 comments)
> According to Wikipedia: "AARD code was originally discovered by Geoff Chappell on 17 April 1992 and then further analyzed and documented in a joint effort with Andrew Schulman.[2][3][4][5][6] The name was derived from Microsoft programmer Aaron R. Reynolds (1955–2008),[7] who used "AARD" to sign his work; "AARD" was found in the machine code of the installer"
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26526086 (“AARD Code, or how Bill Gates finished off the competition”)
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36042213 (“The AARD Code and DR DOS (2021)”)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AARD_code
Geoff’s love and knowledge of the Beatles, David Bowie, the Who and other 1960’s and 1970’s British pop was staggering… I love these bands, and he took that passion to another level. I’ll never forget listening to the various mixes of Bowie’s Space Oddity and noticing the subtle nuances Geoff would point out. His huge collection of singles made it easy to discover something new, especially with him curating a journey through his favourites, or even versions that he would express great disdain for! This was only matched by his love of classical music. You’ll see signs of these passions in his musings in his website.
Raise a good glass of wine with friends, have a hell of a party, listen to some great music… a great way to celebrate his life.