Last night, I saw the news break via Twitter to say that Steve Jobs had died. At first, like so many of these tweets, you assume it’s a distasteful hoax, so I ignored it.
However it soon became clear that it was actually genuine.
The web for the last 15 hours or so has, predictably, been awash with tribute messages and condolence messages. Not remotely surprising, as to many he was more than ‘just the CEO of a company’. He was much more than that. He was a visionary, daring to go where other people dared not. He was an innovator, making things you didn’t even know you wanted or needed, or that were remotely possible to make. That’s the Steve Jobs that I see…someone who wanted to make great stuff. Great stuff that functioned superbly, but with no compromise on how it looked, too. A true perfectionist.
Always striving for better. Working with the best people he could find to make things better, to make the impossible, possible.
Something we all should learn from.
Steve leaves behind a truly stunning legacy; not only the growth and success of Apple since his return in the late 90’s, but also that of Pixar – a pioneering company in its own right. It’s going to be pretty hard to top Steve Jobs’ achievements for quite some time.
His death has deeply saddened me, as he, amongst a few other people (the likes of Richard Branson) have been massive inspirations to me – to show me that you can achieve great things. You just have to keep on doing it.
This blog post, as with all my blog posts, was written on my trusty Mac, which shares a desk with my iPhone and my iPad. And it’s all thanks to one man and his incredible team in Cupertino. So, Steve, rest in peace. Your legacy will live on.