It's decades since I first met Simon - he was hosting a user-group meeting in the then shiny-new HQ. He showed us around the building with considerable pride, both for the place he worked and for the job that he did. Whenever I met or spoke with Simon again, it was always with that friendliness that made you feel like you could talk for ages on any subject that happened along. A couple of months ago I happened to mention Simon to my wife, and told her that Simon just seemed to have a very similar sense of humour to mine - I was missing the point that Simon was all-round good humoured and shared that big humour with everyone. I recounted that Simon had been late to open a conference call I'd been waiting on, with an apology because of a problem with the cable under the table, which he then turned into laughter about gateaux in the chateau - the sort of surprise and welcome laugh that cheers you up long after. When I picture Simon now it's at a user group meeting, surrounded by friends and he's laughing that big all-body laugh that he did, that you could hear across the room. Thanks for the laughs, Simon.