Seth Nickell

Chema cared so much about…everything that I knew him to be involved with. I can only assume this passion extended to every aspect of his life. And it wasn’t just projects, Chema really concerned himself with people. I was always really excited about any opportunity to hang out with Chema in person.

I remember one point very early on when the usability project was having real trouble. I was getting frustrated and impatient, and there was a lot of conflict on mailing lists. I guess Chema noticed too, because he popped on IRC and grabbed me to talk things over. What really struck me was he wanted to figure out not just how to make GNOME usability more effective, but also how to make sure I wasn’t getting fried.

Every discussion I’ve had with Chema got me excited, whether about social organization of online communities, or how GST fits into the overall desktop design. That dude had the most infectious energy, and will be very tangibly missed.