[LINK] Rachel Polanskis -- RIP

[Frank O'Connor]

Mmmm …

She’ll be missed. She was there at the beginning of the LINK list, there at the beginning of ISOC, and pretty much there as a contributor from the beginning of the Internet in Oz (way back in the 1980’s).

As you say, she was quick to respond to pleas for help - which was always especially useful and welcome, given her technical and other expertise as an administrator and IT tech, and sometimes showed her frustration with the state of play in IT and the shenanigans of the ‘major players’ as they jockeyed for market position whilst ignoring the rights and needs of their users and the public.

And she was pretty eclectic, IT wise. Many of us find our comfort zone with one major OS, one major networking system, one major hardware family and the like …. but Rachel pretty much played across the field. Over the years she adapted to many flavours of UNIX, LINUX, Windows and the MacOS and IOS, Android and others. It didn’t matter to Rachel - she simply picked up new stuff and played with it (unlike more ossified souls like myself) and appreciated each for its strengths and weaknesses.

On the List, she was always courteous and helpful, and often had a number of original and useful insights that wouldn’t have occurred to most of the rest of us

As you said … we’ll miss her.

She made a difference and improved the quality of life of others - and that’s more than most can say.
---
> On 26 Sep 2015, at 8:12 am, Jan Whitaker <jwhit at janwhitaker.com> wrote:
> 
> Linkers,
> It's probably not my place to share this, but I just got a message that Rachel passed away yesterday. I am sitting here quite stunned. I'm so hoping this isn't true.
> 
> Rachel was a long time contributor to Link, always a 'go to' person for help. I will miss her greatly.
> 
> My condolences to her partner, Rob, and their family and friends.
> 
> Jan
> 
> 
> 
> I write books. http://janwhitaker.com/?page_id=8
> 
> Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
> jwhit at janwhitaker.com
> Twitter: <https://twitter.com/JL_Whitaker>JL_Whitaker
> Blog: www.janwhitaker.com 
> 
> Sooner or later, I hate to break it to you, you're gonna die, so how do you fill in the space between here and there? It's yours. Seize your space. 
> ~Margaret Atwood, writer 
> 
> _ __________________ _
> _______________________________________________
> Link mailing list
> Link at mailman.anu.edu.au
> http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link