When people die, often their tools are passed down, be it carpentry, medical, or photographic. What should happen when a programmer dies? Should his personal tools collection built over a lifetime die when his computer is thrown away? Or should someone login and preserve his legacy? I’m certainly going to start programming as if my grandchildren will be reading my code.

On a related noted, Bruce Schneier pointed out an article on the trouble with user’s passwords after they die. Web based email providers will give families of dead users their passwords if shown a death certificate.