Om Malik has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Om Malik has died

#51

Post by supriyo-biswas » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:04 AM UTC

I had only briefly heard about him in the past, but it's sad to hear he passed away.

Revisiting some of his old writings, I see he was deeply a humanist, and I love that. I especially liked https://om.co/2026/06/07/the-myth-the-mythos-and-the-man/

Re: Om Malik has died

#52

Post by mikeyouse » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:04 AM UTC

profsummergig wrote: post #35

cobbzilla wrote: post #17

GigaOM was truly awesome at its best. Om was a special guy, I met him a few times during my years in the Bay Area. He really embodied that selflessly-helping side of the Valley: helping others with no expectations, just because it’s good. He helped one of my startups get some exposure. I keep trying to pay it forward. I will miss him.

"the selflessly-helping side of the Valley" Never having lived in the valley, I've struggled to understand what it means. Can anyone share some examples?

There is a really tremendous streak of people helping people with no strings attached that I hadn’t found anywhere else I’ve lived. Especially but not exclusively on the engineering / product side - for a long time you could take a greyhound to Soma and have a couch to crash on and a job interview lined up without knowing anyone. Introductions are made without a second thought (extremely contrary to my east coast experience where to get an intro, it must be “worth” something to the third party), it is (was? I moved away a few years ago) an extremely special and collaborative place.

Re: Om Malik has died

#53

Post by brandonmenc » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:12 AM UTC

wnevets wrote: post #22

> Malik was also a frequent guest on the former CrankyGeeks podcast with John C. Dvorak. That takes me back, he was always great on that show.

Too bad they had a falling out when Dvorak questioned the logic of hiring Vivek Kundra (remember him? of course not!) as the nation's first CIO.

Re: Om Malik has died

#54

Post by dlev_pika » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:16 AM UTC

aanet wrote: post #2

Oh wow. What?! Just this morning I had an occasion to go thru his site/blog. Still can't believe it. 60 is too young. I met Om finally in 2013-ish at one of his GigaOm events in the SF Bay Area. Before that, I had been a long time reader of his GigaOm blogs and other writings at Fast Company, Red Herring, Light Reading, and elsewhere, including his book Broadbandits . He was one of the few bloggers / reporters who wr…

My GigaOm backpack is still going strong - good merch

Re: Om Malik has died

#55

Post by 650REDHAIR » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:16 AM UTC

profsummergig wrote: post #35

cobbzilla wrote: post #17

GigaOM was truly awesome at its best. Om was a special guy, I met him a few times during my years in the Bay Area. He really embodied that selflessly-helping side of the Valley: helping others with no expectations, just because it’s good. He helped one of my startups get some exposure. I keep trying to pay it forward. I will miss him.

"the selflessly-helping side of the Valley" Never having lived in the valley, I've struggled to understand what it means. Can anyone share some examples?

There’s a large group of people who want to help and see you succeed- even if it won’t benefit them directly.

I stepped away nearly a decade ago so I don’t know how true that is for the tech “scene” today, but it was really great and inspiring for a very young transplant like me.

Re: Om Malik has died

#56

Post by kevinten10 » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:18 AM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Om Malik has died

#57

Post by rgrieselhuber » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:27 AM UTC

Very sad, feels like an end of an era.

Re: Om Malik has died

#58

Post by wnevets » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:33 AM UTC

brandonmenc wrote: post #53

wnevets wrote: post #22

> Malik was also a frequent guest on the former CrankyGeeks podcast with John C. Dvorak. That takes me back, he was always great on that show.

Too bad they had a falling out when Dvorak questioned the logic of hiring Vivek Kundra (remember him? of course not!) as the nation's first CIO.

> (remember him? of course not!)

I long for those days.

Re: Om Malik has died

#59

Post by sneak » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:38 AM UTC

Take care of your heart, people. If you smoke, quit. If you eat a high cholesterol diet, change it. If you don’t exercise, start.

Heart disease sneaks up on you, and it can happen to anyone. There are frequently no warning signs, as without an angiogram, there’s no clear indicator in normal checkups (EKG can look normal the day before MI, coronary arteries are the same density as surrounding tissue on normal no-contrast xray).

Most people’s very first sign that they have heart disease is a totally unexpected first heart attack. 60% of them die of it, within minutes of their first symptom.

If you have familial history, be extra careful. There are new groundbreaking drugs like Repatha that can slow the progress a TON.

You aren’t special, it along with cancer are the #1 cause of non-accidental death if you make it to adulthood. It doesn’t discriminate.

Re: Om Malik has died

#60

Post by chupchap » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 3:03 AM UTC

I used to be tech-journalist in an earlier avatar and Om was someone who I always turned to for inspiration and context. I learnt a lot from the way he wrote, thought and perceived the world of technology. Om shanti, I wish you a great new beginning.