Larry Tesler, the computer scientist of the cut, copy and paste commands had past away recently at the age of 74.
He may not be acknowledge as the computing giants such as Bill Gates or Steve Jobs but his contribution is way so much of worth for him to receive this kind of attribution.
We had been using the commands of cut, copy, paste, search and research functions all the time, thanks to him.
Before Tesler’s work, computer users had to interact with clunky programs in different “modes,” where the same commands meant different things depending on how they were used.This annoyed Tesler as he found that to be a problem and hence, he made the transformation and became the champion of eliminating modes from the computer programs.
The elimination of modes opened the door to how computer users have interacted with personal computers for the last 40 years.
Tesler’s career started in Xerox before he left for Apple in the year 1980. Tesler stayed at Apple until in 1997. In 2001 he joined Amazon where he served as vice president of shopping experience. He then went to Yahoo in 2005, where he was vice president of user experience and design. He was issued numerous patents while working at those firms.
Until his death, Tesler served as a consultant to companies like Western Union (WU) and note-taking app Evernote on how to improve their user experience on desktop and mobile. He was dedicated to innovating, simplifying, improving.
One of his strongest principles was that computer systems should stop using “modes”, which allow users to switch between functions on software and apps but make computers time-consuming and complicated. His website was even called “nomodes.com”, his Twitter handle was “@nomodes”, and his car registration plate also read “No Modes”.
In a 2012 interview with the BBC, he cited; ““There’s a very strong element of excitement, of being able to share what you’ve learned with the next generation.”
Well, thanks you Tesler for making everything so easy. Have a good rest.