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So, as those of you on various Mac OS X tech lists know, Michael Bartosh, one of a very few people who deserved the name "Mac Genius" died rather suddenly.
This, to put a point on it, sucks. Not just for those who were close to him, but for everyone in the Mac community, whether they knew him or not. He was one of the loudest voices prodding, encouraging, and sometimes just beating Apple to do the right thing. I may not have always agreed with him on everything, but he was always trying to do the right thing as he saw it, and he was pretty damned uncompromising about it. That is worthy of respect and admiration alone.
Even more, he knew his shit especially about Open Directory, Kerberos, Active Directory, and integrating all of it. Totally, he knew it, and he knew it better than damned near anyone else who wasn't writing the code. At the real-world integration level, he may have understood it better than the people writing the code.
Lemme put it another way. I don't take anything at face value, not tech - wise. It's rather hard for me to not be cynical about people's reasons for saying things. I'm more than a little argumentative. I didn't argue much with Michael. Over the years, Michael was so constantly right, that I got to the "If Michael said it, it must be so" level, with regard to Open Directory and the like. As I said, he knew his shit, and he was always right. I don't know how else to put how much I respected his work and knowledge.
I also liked the guy. I didn't necessarily agree with him on a lot of things, but I liked him, in a kind of paternal way. Then again, Michael was easy to like.
Damn, I hate that I have to refer to him in the past tense.
One other thing.
Because it's human nature, there will likely be people who will start to talk about him, and even think about him as a saint. That would be wrong, and Michael would have been the first one to say so. I know the impulse, (having outlived both parents, I've had to deal with it personally), and I know that people mean well when they do it. But it would still be wrong, and a disservice to him.
There wasn't a "Saint Bartosh". Michael was, as we all are, human. He was neither angel, nor devil, as anyone who had dealt with him can tell you. He had a really good side, a really wild side, a really funny side, and a dozen other sides. So when you remember him, and talk about him, give him the respect of remembering all of him. Don't turn him into a caricature, don't bury the stories that may not show him in a flattering light. To do that is to minimize him to even trivialize him, and whatever you think or say about Michael, he was never, ever, trivial or minimal.
When I found out he'd died, the following quote from Mel Brooks popped into my head, and it refuses to let me come up with any other way to describe him:
Look, I don't want to wax philosophic, but I will say that if you're alive you've got to flap your arms and legs, you've got to jump around a lot, for life is the very opposite of death, and therefore you must at [the] very least think noisy and colorfully, or you're not alive.'
To my knowledge, Mel Brooks and Michael Bartosh never met. But that quote describes Michael so well. He was a lot of things while he was alive, but he was most definitely alive.
So long Mike.
(Update...thanks to Petard, I was able to find an archived link with at least some of the comments, so I've added them back. This is about the ONLY post I'll ever do this for)
Technorati Tags: Friends, Death
Posted by John C. Welch at 13:58 | Permalink
Comments
Well said. I heard about it the same way you did, likely at about the same time. I'm still a bit shocked by the suddenness of it.
It will be weird to hang out at Macworld expo and not have him around.
Posted by: chuck goolsbee | June 9, 2007 10:28 PM
I don't know the gent at all except through the awesome book of his you mentioned, Mac OS X Server Administration. My god, I'm beyond floored. This is just horrifying to read. I'm so sorry.
Posted by: Suman Chakrabarti | June 9, 2007 10:29 PM
I met him at WWDC2005, hanging out in the enterprise IT lab and the afp548 guys. It's very strange to think that he won't be there this year or contributing to the lists.
He will be missed.
Posted by: PatrickQG | June 9, 2007 10:30 PM
Would it be rude to ask what happened to him? From the Flikr photo, it looks like he was pretty young. Poor guy...
Posted by: Chris Devers | June 9, 2007 10:31 PM
What a shock. Michael was one of those tech-savants that thoroughly undestood the arcane functions of an OS at such a low-level. It seriously came easily to him and it showed.
A tragic end. Thanks for the post, John.
Posted by: Phil Burk | June 9, 2007 10:34 PM
Since it's already been posted on AFP548, he fell off a balcony. The balcony was, unfortunately, on the eleventh floor.
Posted by: John C. Welch | June 9, 2007 10:39 PM
This is a shock to me...I'll miss Michael as a technical guru, yes, but he was also a friend. I met Michael when he was the Apple student rep at Texas A&M, not that many years ago (maybe 4 or 5?). We flew him to Doha, Qatar, a couple years ago to do a couple of training sessions for A&M's branch campus there. Last time I saw him was the last time I was in Denver, and he picked me up in his sweet little Jag convertible and took me to dinner.
Posted by: Jon Gardner | June 9, 2007 10:41 PM
I've got to admit I'm kind of stunned. Michael was a guy whose work I quickly became familiar with as I tried to get the Sun LDAP/AD/OD setup off the ground at the Qatar campus of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar which I was setting up.
Michael came out at Jon's invitation and gave me the info and ideas that resulted in our current password change page that makes the whole authentication scheme possible here at WCMC-Q.
I remember once I drove him from our building to the Texas A & M building and did a longish burnout across their parking lot which he thoroughly enjoyed. It just seemed like the right thing to do with Michael. A year later I saw him at MacWorld and he remembered me and Qatar and the car. He always seemed very full of life and I'm somewhat stunned at how shocked I am at this news though really not knowing him that well or for that long.
I've got to also say that I don't know where else our community is going to get the kind of in depth info Michael gave or who else can ride Apple as hard. This is bad news for people that knew him but also bad news for everyone for whom the Mac platform is important.
Posted by: Sam Agnew | June 9, 2007 10:41 PM
I worked with Michael both when he was an A&M student rep and later when he joined us at Apple. Later he did consulting work for us numerous times both at A&M and Rice University campuses that I work with. I am totally stunned by the news. I can't imagine a WWDC with running into him in the halls. If anyone knows more on the services, please post. My heart goes out to his wife, he talked about her a lot.
Posted by: Bill Henry | June 9, 2007 10:42 PM
What a tragedy and big loss to the OSX Server community. I will always remember him for his posts to the Apple Server list. For years he had been "the resource" and a very gentle person. Shit!
Posted by: Stefan Seiz | June 9, 2007 10:42 PM
So long mike,
hi from France, where he is also the guru of the OSX Server community
Posted by: Mick | June 9, 2007 10:43 PM
I never tired of listening to Michael's outrageous, funny, and sometimes scary-bizarre stories. Not a saint, no, but good-hearted all the same. My heart goes out to his wife and family. We'll miss you Michael!
Posted by: Ginny Williams | June 9, 2007 10:43 PM
I shared a few crazy evenings in San Francisco with "Bar-tab" after WWDC and Macworld events and am definitely going to miss his enthusiasm for life. I hope his wife and family know our most sincere sympathies are with them.
Posted by: Juan Fernandez | June 9, 2007 10:44 PM
I met Michael briefly at WWDC a couple of years ago. I read all of his articles and knew I could count on brilliant insights and thorough explanations I would not get anywhere else. I'll miss him -- my condolences to his wife and family.
Posted by: Steve Winegar | June 9, 2007 10:45 PM
An amazing tribute to one of the smartest Mac "Geniuses" out there. Fun to be around and sharp as any razor. Michael will be missed both as a person and a resource. :-(
Posted by: Jeffery J. Hoover | June 9, 2007 10:46 PM
Michael will be sorely missed as a colleague. I unfortunately never got the opportunity to hang out with Michael. But I knew him and worked with him on many Mac OS X Server topics. Myself and the OpenDirectory team at Apple will miss him.
Posted by: David M. O'Rourke | June 9, 2007 10:46 PM
Dammit. Huge loss. My thoughts go out to his family and friends at this dark hour.
Posted by: Bruce | June 9, 2007 10:47 PM
I first met Michael at the Networker's Retreat in Sanata Barbara where he was the only panelist who cared more about helping other people solve their problems, than he did about about being acknowledged the expert.
The admonition to remember his wild side struck home for me, because it was how good he was in spite of how crazy he acted there that astounded me. In my mind he became the geek poster boy for work hard, play hard. I think we'll all have to work a little harder now to make up for his genius and effort. We'll have to play a little harder too
Posted by: PD | June 9, 2007 10:48 PM
Shit! Huge loss for his family and all of us in the Mac community.
Posted by: Peter Eisenmann | June 9, 2007 10:49 PM
Michael was a great guy, fantastic to work for. I know from his clients' feedback that he was deeply appreciated as a person and as a professional with unique expertise. He will be bitterly missed.
Posted by: Marianne O'Donnell | June 9, 2007 10:49 PM
Most of the time, I had no idea what the Mac genius in him was talking about :) As for Bartab's wild & crazy side, yep, he was quite a character, but what a huge heart and a way of bringing people together across the world. What a loss. We'll miss ya Michael.
Posted by: Tilla | June 9, 2007 10:49 PM
I met Michael about two years ago in Maine during a training conference. The organizers scheduled a mid-week free night which everyone naturally interpreted as time to go drinking.
He was sitting on a stool in the back corner of a bar surrounded by people that either wanted to thank him for past help or they wanted to look cool by association as if the closer you stood to him the smarter, cooler, sexier you looked. A friend pulled me through the orbit of dudes to introduce us.
Friend: Mike! This is [name deleted] he replaced [name deleted] in [location].
Michael: Hi. I worked with [name deleted] up there. They're fucked up.
Me: Yeah, they are and they still hate you for telling them.
ALL LAUGH
Later that night I bumped into him again, huge smile on his face and drunk, but in a good way.
8AM the next morning I staggered into my first session hoping to sleep off the night of drinking, smoking and singing until 4 am. I saw Michael again and gave him a headnod that said, "Damn, I'm in bad shape from drinking all night. Hope this session is worth it." He replied in kind. The room settled and to my suprise, Michael was the presenter. And he was ON for the next two hours detailing some very technical, deep topics and fielding high level questions as if he heard them before a million times.
Fucking. Hard. Core.
He was a legend among superstars for his deep knowlege of Mac OS X Server, Directory Services and his outspoken nature. He never held back when he felt something needed to change, improve or was just plain stupid.
I saw him a few times since Maine and wanted to get to know him better but just figured I would catch him next time. When you have the opportunity to meet someone you actually want to meet, take full advantage of it. Tell them what's on your mind, let them know you appreciate them, offer to buy them a drink, whatever. Because sometimes there is no next time.
R.I.P. Michael.
Posted by: A | June 9, 2007 10:50 PM
I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.
---D. H. Lawrence
Bye Bartosh, you're truly missed....
iris
Posted by: Iris | June 9, 2007 10:51 PM
Requiescat in pace, Illuminati.
Posted by: Bjorn Nitmo | June 9, 2007 10:52 PM
Memorial services for Mike, 10 a.m. Saturday, in his home state of Texas where his parents still live. Funeral home handling arrangements is Freund Funeral Home, 361-275-2343, 213 N. Gonzales St., Cuero, TX 77954
Posted by: Sonny | June 9, 2007 10:52 PM
Someone (anonymous) posted the following tribute on afp548.com: http://www.tcdv.com/4am.htm. It takes a while to load but it's worth it.
Posted by: Marianne O'Donnell | June 9, 2007 10:53 PM
We appreciate so much the wonderful comments that have been listed here. We'd like to thank each one of you individually, and probably will at some point. For now, please know, that your words have brought us some comfort and often a sad smile. He was a special person who continues to leave his mark on all of us.
The memorial service will actually be held at the church where Michael grew up going to Sunday School.
Saturday, June 17th, 10 AM
1764 Meyersville Rd
Meyersville, TX 77974
For directions, please call 361-275-2343
Posted by: Michael's Family | June 9, 2007 10:53 PM
Amber, we are so very sorry for your sad, sad loss. We saw you last a few weeks ago at your grandmother's service in Breckenridge, Texas. Your Aunt Lisa has told us what a fine man Michael was and how happy you two were. We cannot express how sorry we are about this. We know you loved him dearly and will miss him deeply. Our love, Mark and Pam Steele
Posted by: Mark and Pam Steele | June 9, 2007 10:54 PM
Went to school with him and he was a really great guy..Rest in peace mike we will miss you.
Posted by: Tim Bailey | June 9, 2007 10:55 PM
some of you might find this article on Michael interesting:
http://www.thevictoriaadvocate.com/county_by_county/dewitt/story/3554215p-4106118c.html
Posted by: Sonny | June 9, 2007 10:55 PM
No rules but kindness and success.
He used that as his iChat status for a bit one day, but I never forgot it as it seemed to really fit him like a motto, and a hell-of-a way to be.
Intergration is going to be a lot more difficult without him clearing the path ahead. He was *THE BEST* at what he did. He was also one of the best teachers I've ever had. We drove a rented Mustang from Vegas to WWDC last year, across the desert without sunscreen. That had to be one of the craziest times I've ever had.
Michael, you will be missed.
Posted by: Jeff Prato | June 9, 2007 10:56 PM
Sonny,
Thanks for the link man.
Posted by: John C. Welch | June 9, 2007 10:56 PM
