Famed technologist and a passionate writer, Atul Chitnis (51) has lost his battle with cancer this morning. He is survived by wife Shubha and daughter Geetanjali. The industry mourns the loss of respected professional who played a pivotal role in popularizing linux and free and open source software.

He was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in August 2012 and he recently wrote on his blog “Ever since I got diagnosed with cancer in August 2012, I have been acutely aware of the fact that professionally, things were going to change dramatically for me. While I intend to beat this thing, I also need to consider that a lot of things will change for me – things that I can do things that I won’t be able to.”

A true technology enthusiast, his Twitter profile described him as “Irrationally committed product guy, FOSS.IN founder, former PCQuest columnist, writer, RadioVeRVe, amateur musician & cook, beating stage 4 cancer."

He stopped writing due to his chemotherapy sessions which made him weak on May 29th he replied to a Twitter post stating “@Shrabonti I have not been good. Will blog soon. Also expect a visit from @gkjohn soon.”

Despite of his treatment, Chitnis was very regular and vocal on Twitter.

A German-born Indian consulting technologist, Chitnis has worked extensively to promote Linux and Free and Open Source Software. He has founded FOSS.IN (formerly Linux Bangalore), which was one of Asia's largest free and open source software (FOSS) conferences.

He was a Consulting Editor for PCQuest from 1996 to 2002; he was responsible for the PCQuest Linux Initiative, an effort to introduce FOSS and Linux to readers of the popular magazine.  He also served as a faculty member at the National Resource Centre For Free/Open Source Software.

“I enjoy writing, especially “humanized” technology articles that not only describe a concept, but also give it a practical base. My articles have appeared in various publications, including some of India’s leading technology journals such as PC Quest and DataQuest,” states his blog post.

An artist at heart, Chitnis enjoyed music and was a voracious reader especially science fiction.

As, the news broke today morning, Twitter got flooded with messages mourning his demise.