The first time I had any exposure to Om and his work was on The GigaOm Show on Revision3 (twenty years ago!). It was still a time where I thought it was wondrous that high production-value content would be distributed online for free—YouTube and friends still hadn't found themselves with "high end" content. It felt like the future of news, and it was. He was a really pleasant guy, and really far ahead of his time.
I remember these guys from the glory days of the CrankyGeeks video podcast. John C. Dvorak and Sebastian Rupley had a great double-act hosting that show.
Yes, somehow his this particular essay landed in my inbox middle of May, beautully insightful one and an emotional one. I for some reason saved it as I liked it so much. Did not know it had been written from ICU.
One thing SF and NY have in common are those luggage stores. I’ve always assumed they’re a multi-layer front: the obvious scam is selling baggage stolen off the carousel, but the deeper scam is that couriers can walk in pretending to be a customer and walk out with a suitcase full of cash.
That said, they do serve a legit purpose for when you’ve bought some souvenirs. But that can’t be enough to sustain these places.
I was an avid reader during the web 2.0 days. Quite sad that his kind of tech journalism vanished; one could feel the decline of independent blogs month over month, while Facebook and Google were taking over the entirety of the web's traffic control.
Multiple front-page tribute posts now to Om and still no black bar. @dang can we at least get some guidance around who qualifies for the posthumous black bar? If the threshold is: "was this a person of great significance to this community?" I think in this case it's clearly been met. If the rule rests on other questions like "was this person a 'technologist'?" then at least let's see it made explicit. For better or worse, we're only going to have more 'black bar moments' going into the future.
"He not busy being born is busy dying, wrote Dylan. Om Malik wasn’t busy dying even when he was dying." - so very well said.
The first time I had any exposure to Om and his work was on The GigaOm Show on Revision3 (twenty years ago!). It was still a time where I thought it was wondrous that high production-value content would be distributed online for free—YouTube and friends still hadn't found themselves with "high end" content. It felt like the future of news, and it was. He was a really pleasant guy, and really far ahead of his time.
I remember these guys from the glory days of the CrankyGeeks video podcast. John C. Dvorak and Sebastian Rupley had a great double-act hosting that show.
Yes, somehow his this particular essay landed in my inbox middle of May, beautully insightful one and an emotional one. I for some reason saved it as I liked it so much. Did not know it had been written from ICU.
https://om.co/2026/05/26/the-copy-and-the-guru/#respond
Sounds like the world lost a good one. It’s extra sad when that happens.
Sorry for your loss, John. That was an excellent tribute.
I did not know Om but the way his friends and confidants write about him, I wish I did.
Reminds of this couplet by Kabir (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabir):
जब हम पैदा हुये तो जग हँसे हम रोये,
ऐसी करनी कर चलो, हम हँसे, जग रोये।
Translation: When you were born, you cried while the world rejoiced;
Live such a life that when you depart, you smile while the world weeps.
Beautiful
It's rare that something posted on HN brings me to tears but I feel lucky when it does.
Thank you for this.
One thing SF and NY have in common are those luggage stores. I’ve always assumed they’re a multi-layer front: the obvious scam is selling baggage stolen off the carousel, but the deeper scam is that couriers can walk in pretending to be a customer and walk out with a suitcase full of cash.
That said, they do serve a legit purpose for when you’ve bought some souvenirs. But that can’t be enough to sustain these places.
Such a beautiful tribute to him. Lovely!
I was an avid reader during the web 2.0 days. Quite sad that his kind of tech journalism vanished; one could feel the decline of independent blogs month over month, while Facebook and Google were taking over the entirety of the web's traffic control.
But the old internet still exists in pockets. I found this via Om - glass.photo. https://glass.photo/cm/LCGjX2IqUWtK288zq5dSt
Thank you John. From someone who knew him less but liked him just as much.
Beautiful tribute. Godspeed.
RIP.
Beautifully written. Om will be missed.
rare to see images, let alone with color in a Daring Fireball post
great read, I'm sure I would have bought a suitcase from Om
RIP Om
SORRY TO HEAR SUCH SAD NEWS!!
Top marks, that.
Some more anecdotes & discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48678852
Really well-written. Maybe black bar @dang?
Multiple front-page tribute posts now to Om and still no black bar. @dang can we at least get some guidance around who qualifies for the posthumous black bar? If the threshold is: "was this a person of great significance to this community?" I think in this case it's clearly been met. If the rule rests on other questions like "was this person a 'technologist'?" then at least let's see it made explicit. For better or worse, we're only going to have more 'black bar moments' going into the future.