I'm not surprised and yet I'm profoundly saddened at this news. I didn't know Steve Jobs and never had an opportunity to see him at Macworld or a developer conference. But this feels somehow like a personal loss. It is hard to discern the mythology from the man...whether he was a forward-thinker, showman, or mercurial boss. But I suspect the word 'genius' is not hyperbole.
I began using Apple products as a child in the late 70's when we had an Apple II at home. And over the past three decades I've owned many dozens more. At some points along the way I had to use competing products at work. But there was something about Apple products that always felt more comfortable and intuitive to me. They were never perfect. But they helped me to do creative things more readily than many other tools.
It always felt like a bit of an injustice that the self-described "hippies" who founded Apple, elegant engineers as well as thinkers, were eclipsed by Bill Gates & Co. who was mostly just a better businessman. Wozniak and Jobs never originally had an interest in making money. What they wanted was to change the world. So it was particularly gratifying to follow Jobs' second act and to see the incredible resurgence of Apple.
What I understand was that Jobs was a true visionary. I'm sure that business schools will study his story for years. One could look at the products that he created and deconstruct them to simply a pile of plastic, metal, silicon and glass. But the way that those products have invigorated my creativity and brought ease to my life is immeasurable. Jobs was quite right when he said that computers can be "bicycles for the mind."
One of my all-time favorite TV commercials is from an Apple advertising campaign designed by TBWA/Chiat/Day in the late 90's. I think their ad copy is a fitting tribute to Steve Jobs:
"Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFEarBzelBs
