The following appears as it did when I first wrote it on August 25, 2011 — the day Steve Jobs announced he was leaving his position as CEO of Apple, Inc. I feared then that only the final decline of his health would keep him from the company he founded and obviously loved. Jobs has died, just one day after his heir, Tim Cook, unveiled the iPhone 4S. His legacy is complete.
Even most successful entrepreneurs do not change an entire industry. But that’s exactly what Steve Jobs did to personal computing — three times.
With the Apple II, Jobs made personal computers useful. In the mid-Seventies, home computers were build-it-yourself hobby boxes, useful only to the nerdiest nerds. By the time I entered middle school in 1981 there was an entire lab filled with Apple II Plus machines, and lots of fun software to run on them. The first computer “clone” wasn’t Compaq’s copy of the IBM PC — it was a clone of the Apple II. An industry was born.
Three years later Jobs made the personal computer approachable with the Macintosh. He didn’t invent the GUI or the WIMP metaphor but he and his team made them useable and affordable. What most computer users took for granted in 1995 was deemed a “toy” by many critics when the first Mac arrived in 1984.
And last year, Jobs made the personal computer ubiquitous with the iPad. This third revolution is only beginning, yet still many critics deride this “toy” as a “media consumption device.” I do most of my photo editing on my fat, slow, first-generation iPad — and I’m outlining a novel on it, too. Others use it to create music, paintings and video. That’s some “consumption” going on.
He’s been compared to Einstein, Edison, Tesla, Da Vinci, etc. He truly was a renaissance man. As much as I’ll miss the man, the character, the personality, I’ll probably miss his vision most of all. He could be counted on to have the perspective that’s just a little bit different from anyone else’s. And that shift made all the difference in the world as far as the quality of the products he developed, and the difference they made in an increasingly technologically dependent society.
RIP, Steve. I don’t have many heroes in the world. But you are one of them.
Wow, that couple of bullet point listing of accomplishments is awe inspiring. God Speed Mr. Jobs.
He was truly the Thomas Alva Edison of his age.
Absolutely! He will be missed.
One of the many things I liked about Steve was that he actually cared about the stuff Apple created. It was never about just moving units. It always mattered that they get it right. There’s a story that Steve had pieces of marble shipped from New York to California just so he could make sure that the grain was right for the flagship store in New York. And if you’ve ever opened an Apple product, you’d know that they spend more thought on the packaging than some companies do on the core features.
I’m told he could be a real pain in the ass to work for, but that he was a genuinely nice man outside work.
I don’t know about all that.
What I do know is that the world will be a less interesting place with him not in it.
Sad day for his wife and kids.
Very dignified wake out side his home on Santa Rita in Palo Alto.
A marketing guru– and a micro manager.
It will be interesting to read his authorized biography that comes out Nov.
He lived a long time given his diagnosis and it has been clear that he was dying for sometime.
“May his soul and the souls of all the departed faithful by God’s mercy rest in peace”.
He was one of a kind. Nice job on the tribute, Steve. I wish it could have waited until about 40 years from now, though ::sadness::
Steve was amazing. (I can’t believe that I’m using the past tense.) He was driven, focused, and brilliant. Remember his family and friends in your prayers.
Thomas Edison now has some company, RIP Steve Jobs
In modern times, it’s Edison, then Jobs, than everybody else. Lots of people have done something amazing once, a few twice, but very very few were able to create breathtaking and diverse products over an over again.
And try to remember this Hippies – He did it for the money!
That’s right you self righteous drug smoking wall street occupying hippies, he changed the world – not you – he, steve jobs . changed the world
and again I want to make clear –
He…did…it…for…money!
Not despite money, not by accident, but FOR-THE-MONEY..
He didn’t invent the Macintosh and give all the money away to charity. He could’ve done that but he decided to hire a bunch of people around the world instead and give them jobs. He invented whole new industries and ways to think about the world.
For Money!
And because he did it for the money, because people could evaluate the quality of his ideas and having done so would given him their money so he could – GASP! Make-More-Money, he improved the lives of millions, dare I say billions of people!
That’s how you do it. You don’t change the world by protesting, you change the world by going to work, doing great work at work by LOVING YOUR WORK and by making a profit by you doing your work.
You want to stop Malaria? First step, go to work and make enough money to have money left over to, you know, go do what you want to do, which is nice that stopping malaria thing, but first – MAKE MORE MONEY!
You cant do a damn thing about anything unless you first – make money! You cant steal other peoples money and do a damn thing except make the world poorer as a result and once the world is poor, nothing is going to get done at all.
I know, its not what they told you in school. but this is how the world really works. Suck it up buttercup, this is how it is.
Steve knew this, this is what made him great. That and the uncanny ability to make black turtlenecks fashionable…
The “reality distortion field” is now in the off position.
No. He did it for the joy of producing things that would be joy to use. The money came because he was right. Go watch the 1984 commercial. That was about vision not just doing it for the money. Yeah, the money was and is important but the art was and is the thing of success.
Actually – no. He did it for the future.
But – as Buckminister Fuller so often said – If you do enough well enough the universe will find a way to pay.
Of course he did it for the money! Did you see that list? None of the things he did after his initial successes would have been possible if he had not been successful, paid the salaries, paid the stockholder/investors, and turned a profit. He created and adapted a lot of things already in existence, but he also c-r-e-a-t-e-d his OWN capital, and with the c-a-p-i-t-a-l he created, in fact WON for himself, he could go on to create things that did not yet exist, and do it his way, and not according to s.o. elses shallow understanding (as when he hired the pepsico CEO).
When he returned to apple, he scrapped the whole philanthropy department of the corporation.
Because he created HIS OWN capital, he gave himself the freedom, and the latitude TO FAIL. I repeat TO FAIL. Remember the “Newton”. That as his creation. No one ever “bailed him out”, the government WAS NOT INVOLVED, except to take it’s “fair share” of it’s “piece of the action” like the filthy maFia that government is. Freeloaders. Pilferers. Parasites. Moochers. Leeches, Looters.
Government bares no place whatsoever in the creation nor success of anything Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, nor the thousands of apple emplyees have done, except in a negative way. 0bama, you ain’t no Steve Jobs, and it’s past time you lost yours. RIP Mr. Jobs.
Now watch as his family and anyone else who can starts to fight over the money. Liberals never shut up about the money. They always want more, and they want someone else to cough it up “for them”. Y’all can kiss my black ass.
Money is not just money, except to liberals. To them it’s just a bunch of Disneyland tickets to a free ride on everything.
Money, is as indispensable a component as the entire guts of a mac, when used as capital.
Most liberals have no idea, but some do. Jobs was one of them.
A unique man has passed from our realm.
I first heard of him in a community college class I was in during the early 1990s.
Condolences to his family.
RIP Steve Jobs.
As amazing as Jobs was the comparisons with Edison is way over the top. Jobs talent wasn’t inventing new things, it was taking inventions that already existed and improving them for mass market appeal.
Actually, the comparison is rather apt. Edison worked much as Steve Jobs did—he was a visionary who managed a large number of very talented people to implement his unique ideas. Edison himself didn’t invent much of anything on his own. They were both big-picture guys.
Edison invented products that didn’t exist. Jobs reinvented products that already existed and marketed them brilliantly. Jobs was not in the same league as Edison.
Yes, they did different things, but the broader point is that Steve Jobs will have an impact on American culture comparable to Edison’s.
All such invention is only made possible by the work of those who came before.
For example, Edison invented the motion picture camera, but he did not invent photography. He engineered that particular product into existence by standing on the shoulders of the current sum of human knowledge at the time. In other words, he built it on an existing foundation.
Given the significance of our globally interconnected computer network, obviously the greatest advance in the dissemination of human knowledge since Gutenberg’s moveable type (and as yet unknown orders of magnitude more significant), one could argue that the unique contribution of Steve Jobs’ vision, and its pernicious influence, may not yet be fully appreciated.
Jobs was motivated by far more than money. By the time he was twenty-five he was set for life, he could’ve bought a ten million dollar yacht and retired to Monaco. But he didn’t. Once money was no longer a personal concern it was all about his vision of the future. Steve Jobs legacy isn’t monetary or business success, it’s about changing the world in ways only he could see, and making it a better place in the process. I doubt the world will see another like him for a very long time, such men are exceedingly rare.
I grew up in Silicon Valley during the rise of the PC and Apple. I will miss Steve Jobs greatly – what a fantastic person he was and a great contribution to technology and our lives.
I’ve always wondered why the Apple-1 was priced like King Solomon’s tribute… the logo representing Eve’s sin, the rainbow as a sign of God’s Covenant…
I don’t think it means anything, just not sure if Steve did it on purpose.
Nah, the apple was a kind of a tribute to the Beatles. That’s also why McCartney held off so long giving authorization to Apple to sell their stuff. He thought Jobs was ripping him off rather than honoring him.
And he was an honestly nice human being as well.
A bit impatient sometimes – but what do you expect? Many people of lesser talent and lesser intellect have indulged in far greater self-indulgance.
I can’t say that I ever liked the man (too much of an oddball, too much of a jerk in some respects regarding his business practices), but he learned from his mistakes and eventually brought us a whole bunch of really cool products. And he made a boatload of money in the process (gotta agree with frank here). Gotta respect that. One thing I did admire about him: unlike a number of other billionaires he didn’t try to shove his personal politics or beliefs down our collective throats; at least not in any overt way. I don’t know anything about his politics, religion, morals, etc. He stuck to his knitting and delivered great products.
He had a great run. Would that we had such a figure in many other fields.
Too bad Wozniac looks like a troll. He could die, and who cares? He merely did the thing. Jobs sold it. And Jobs was cute (notice how much he looks like all the man-children like Ashton Kutcher, who has no definable talent besides being a non threatening male who is married to Demi Moore). In this twisted age, that makes Jobs better than Wozniak, without whom not a single thing could have ever happened.
He died. That’s what happens, even to the mighty. No matter what. 146,000 people die every single day, 100 a minute. This weenie, American obsession with death must end. Everyone dies, and Jobs had a truly blessed life. I do not think he would want you to be morbid about this. He saw it coming, and his answer was to fight to the end. That’s altogether right and proper.
We all die. Some of us better than others. Let us celebrate those who managed to do something with themselves, while they were here. Jobs was a worthwhile person, so his passing should be noticed. But, for God’s sake, let’s not be so effing morbid about it. It’s an insult to those other 145,999, who died just the same. Were they all worthless?
We’ve become a cult of death since 9-11. If we die in the public gaze, one becomes holy, untouchable. Everyone else, not so much. It’s disgusting. Consider 146,000 even against the World Trade Center death toll. Yet, whether they died of cancer, or crime, none of those people got millions in aid, no matter how brutal their death. How is this right?
Dumb people do dumb things. When did we get so dumb? I will acknowledge that I have an unusual perspective on this: my wife is a hospice nurse, and my first wife died at 42. But, it makes one think clearly about death. Celebrate a great life, don’t mourn unduly. Have a party. Have booze. The old Irish way is best. And stop being so morbid. Everyone dies.
Barkeep, let’s hoist another round to the founder of our technological feast. And may this sojourn on which he now departs ensure there is an iHeaven due for release when we too shake off this mortal coil.
I don’t know all that much about Steve Jobs. Clearly he was an entrepreneurial genius, as well as a great inventor. I love my Imac and my Ipod Touch. I cut my teeth on the PC and Microsoft, but I made the switch to Mac about four or five years ago, and boy am I glad I did.. I know that sounds trite. But, as I say, I knew nothing personal about the man. My condolences to his family. Rest in Peace, Mr. Jobs.
After having lost my wife to cancer this past July, I pray for the family.
He was a genius, he was an icon, but I know that at the end of the day, his family, his loved ones want him back. They could care less about what he did, his accomplishments. They want him.
Jobs had a Syrian Muslim economist biological father and a repo man adoptive father.
He was driven by power and control and ruthless–good that happened in America where you need customers and talent to achieve total power and control.
The hagiography will continue, for a while,–as it should for the sake of his family.
As a PC guy (personal computer not politically correct) I despise Apple products. For most of my life Mr Jobs has been the “Enemy”. In truth, he created an immense empire of innovation (not so innovative at the moment) that blew up the world! I wish I had bought stock back in 1980!!!!! He created an industry worth over $360 BILLION and only kept $8 billion WOW!! what an AMAZING man. That’s what I want to be when I grow up!
Don’t forget to add the invention of desktop publishing, which included the first laser printer for the rest of us. The original Macs also had built in networking that didn’t require an IT degree to set up and maintain.
A shame that Jobs died so young. the man made himself rich by making the world a better place and I don’t begrudge him a penny. I only wish he had lived long enough to enjoy his wealth in his old age.
Exercise for the student:
The merchant who tries to get the most money for his product is called greedy.
The consumer who tries to get the most product for his money is called thrifty.
Greed is considered a vice while thrift is considered a virtue, but both are trying to get the most for the least.
What is the moral difference between the two?
Greed is (in my opinion) the desire and hoarding of money for one’s self.
Thrift is using the money you have, wisely… (or a practice our federal government does not understand-lol!).
They work together in a co-dependent way.
Together, they make the wheels of our economy turn.
Rest in peace Mr. Jobs.
Nothing against Jobs. Still, the iPad is not a machine for the most basic of business work these days: living in a spreadsheet. It may be more than a “media consumption device”; but most of the other stuff is does is, as you pointed out, media creation.
Actually, “Stephen Gary “Woz” Wozniak (born August 11, 1950) is an American computer engineer and programmer who founded Apple Computer, Co. (now Apple Inc.) with Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne. Wozniak created the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s, which contributed significantly to the microcomputer revolution of that era.[1]” Wikapedia
Without him Apple (as we know it today) would never have happened. With all due respect to Mr. Jobs, may he rest in peace, Wozniak gave Jobs something to market.
Thanks Stephen, your ‘One More Thing’ brightened up a dull day.
Ipad- Excellent summation of America. Good products, good ideas, and now brought to you from excellent slave labor camps in the far east, with all the excellent health care and education thoughtfully (not provided for the ‘immigrant labor’ sub class of citizens even there. isn’t that special.)
Apologies for such a negative troll burst on the event of a good mans passing. He didn’t make the orchard just the apples.
May he rest in peace. We are grateful that he created a company that made wonderful things.
Thank you for the list of his accomplishments. I had not realized that so much of the things we enjoy and find pleasurable and good were from his hands. I include Pixar, especially, for me and my children. That studio brought out the most family- friendly, thoughtful, and beautiful movies of the last decades. I hadn’t realized how he affected the esthetics of all computers, either.
Tif
I do not get the hero worship of this man. His company was pioneering in planned obsolesce, inferior design, and ensured that consumers where stuck with Apple by refusing to allow for third party repairs. Any other CEO moving for two months to Tenn to get a liver, not even bothering to stay in the state until he got it would have been racked through the coals. Hell, if the CEO of a bank did it, they would have been dragged before Congress to answer for it.
Apple serves a small niche (phones and music downloads) in one single country (the US). They don’t exist in any other market appreciably. I honestly scratch my head when I think about how Apple is successful because for the life of me, it appears that people just buy the inferior products because they are too ignorant to actually shop and they believe the flashy ads. It can’t be that simple…right?
Small niche, eh? You have a hard time with facts, don’t you? On your report card in kindergarten, did the teacher write:
“Plays well with others. Not so well with reality.”
Begone, troll.
You aren’t serious? The article you are sourcing argues that because one aspect of Apple (its phone operating system) makes more money over cost than all other parts of Microsoft, ergo it its a world leader in the computer industry? I could say that walking dogs, at $15 dollars an hour generates more profit for me over cost than Shell Oil generates per gallon of gas…I’m not sure what this tells us.
I suspect we would agree in a different format, say face to face, were we could talk to each other quicker. I am not trying to be a troll, and if I came off as one, I apologize.
When I referred to niche, I was looking at Apple as a computer company on the global market. Maybe that is a bit flawed as I agree, Apple makes most of its money in Phones. Macs, Macbooks, I-pads…pretty much anything not involving the ipone or the ipod, does not have a global market share. In Japan, Apple is ranked around 15th in terms of computer sales. South America…they don’t exist in the market place.
I honestly don’t understand what we are disagreeing about.
“It can’t be that simple…right?”
Here are two articles that you should read:
http://interbrand.com/en/best-global-brands/best-global-brands-2008/best-global-brands-2011.aspx
http://allthingsd.com/20111006/thoughts-on-the-first-day-of-apples-post-jobs-era/
With regard to Apple products: They are very stable, reliable, easy to use and are affordable. I see nothing at all “inferior” about any of that.
Bobcat…let me just go point by point…
“They are very stable”…yes at a major cost in functionality. You want to surf the internet, but you can’t use flash. Despite Apple’s claim, the whole reason they lock out Flash is because they would loose the control they have with the APS store. Right there, you are losing a lot of content on the web. Apple also takes draconian measures to limit third party products. There is a reason why most video games available on computers are not supported by MACS.
“Reliable” again…this reliability comes at a cost of functionality. Apple products do not get targeted by viruses or have the problems to that PC’s have because such a small market of the computer market is used by them. This is not to say that Mac’s don’t get viruses. One only has to look at the various problems with the I-phone in terms of security to see what would happen if the share of the home computer market was increased by Apple. Also, the antenna issue for the I-phone was comical. Maxing the power to a handset antenna is a circuits 101 concept. How that product was released into the market is beyond me. They go so far as to prevent third parties doing repairs. I had a roommate who was stuck for weeks dealing with the I-store over a faulty power cord. Where as I could just purchase one for very cheap, he was stuck scheduling phone calls and then dropping the thing off…only to have to return to pick it up days later…replaced with another power cord that fell apart the same exact manner. Apple makes a great deal of money forcing its consumers not to seek alternatives to their repair options. I also love how they take planned obsolesce to an amazing degree. Or, how they gleefully install bloat ware on their products that are impossible to remove.
“Affordable”…ugh. I don’t care what product it is that you purchased from Apple, using the same funds or less, you could get the same thing with much better characteristics if you did your homework. What they charge for a netbook, Computer, or phone is amazing to me when often times older products easily compete with the performance offered. I get that most people don’t want to learn all they can prior to making a purchase about an item, but to claim that Apple products are affordable compared to alternatives is laughable.
Finally…brand recognition, while extremely important, does not imply the better functionality of products.
I should be clear…Jobs was a tremendous innovator. The man could literally fart and it would generate Apple money. Its a shame he died and I think the world is poorer for it. I just don’t understand how Jobs and Apple have this completely fantasy based image from the public different than any other CEO and corporation.
The important thing is, I’m OK.
“Fat, slow, first-generation iPad”?? LOL I so remember your posts and tweets about how thrilled you were to get that iPad, and now it’s yesterday’s news. That was a short honeymoon…
RIP Steve Jobs. Even though I’m a Windows user and a PC lover from the days of MS-DOS, I can appreciate what Steve Jobs brought to the market to move computers and technology from the hands of a geeky few to the masses. He brought his vision, his drive and his appreciation for how all this new-fangled technology can make our lives a bit better. Like my beloved iPod Touch. Beats any Windows Mobile device hands-down.
I’ve never owned one Apple product. I’ve used them in my line of work. Had Jobs never accomplished anything in his life my life would be a bit less rich than it is now even though I never put a dime into his pocket.
I’m sure all the things he’s done would have been done by others given time – the fact that it was all done by one man is rather remarkable. Was he a genius? That fact seems indisputable. Do we need any of the products he produced/invented/re-invented? Probably not. No lives were saved through his products that I’m aware of.
Why are many hoisting him to hero status?
When I was young the heroes of the day were men like Dr. Jonathan Salk – I’m sure he did it for the money – just like Jobs did. Today the heroes are movie stars and tinkering inventors. By all means lets give Steve Jobs his due as a brilliant tinkerer and marketeer – but lets not start erecting statues in his honor.
Should have been Dr. Jonas Salk, Dr. Jonathan Salk is/was his son.
I appreciate brains and attitudes like Job’s. Although there aren’t many who ever reach his level of accomplishment, he certainly dispelled the myth that Americans are ‘soft’ He was a national treasure far more worthy than some whose lives are celebrated with a special ‘day’.
Naturally enough, the NYT runs the anti-obit:
“Defending Life’s Work With Words of a Tyrant”
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Defending-Lifes-Work-With-nytimes-2910052601.html?x=0
Because of course a successful self-made man has to have his negatives played up, in the interest of “justice,” one supposes. =’[.]‘=