Bill is one of the leaders in our industry that helped shape the direction I followed while evolving from Open Source CMS consultant to doing more and more search related projects. My foray into the technical aspect of search was fed by his articles which led me to other articles and so forth and so on. I met Bill once or twice..I'm old I can't remember how long ago or how often (at least once :)) and as was mentioned he's a gentle super smart guy with a wealth of knowledge on the patent front. Always willing to reach out and provide solid data backed information to those of us still struggling to grasp changes. Can't tell you how many hours I've spent poring over the patents he's explained and walking away with a better understanding of the way Google works and what is coming in the future. That is why I keep going back to his work.. what is coming in the future and how can we prepare so we are one step ahead. I wish him strength in his recovery and look forward to seeing him at some conference in the future.. wayy future but sometime soon. Get better Bill! WE need you.