RIP, Steve Jobs

So. Steve Jobs passed away.

While I’m not all that surprised it happened, STILL. It happened.

We’ve lost a great visionary. Everyone’s talking him up in their eulogies as being among Ford and Edison, and you know what? They’re right.

Bill Gates was someone who had connections and was in the right place at the right time. Sure he too was cutthroat and creative, but the main successes he had were the dominance of MS-DOS and Windows (and by extension IE and Office) that Microsoft established.

Steve Jobs, meanwhile…. what to say. Him and Wozniak got Apple going, and Jobs’ career has been filled with a lot of innovation. Though I don’t see Jobs as someone who created new ideas per say, he was the kind of guy who knew a good idea when he saw it, and knew how to surround himself with the people to make it work while applying a personal touch. Apple often wasn’t necessarily the first ones to come up with an idea, but under Jobs they were the ones who brought it to mass audiences and captured their imagination.

And the thing that amazes me the most about his career is WHEN he had his successes. Most people have their huge success before their twenties are through. As did Jobs.

Then, he came back to Apple, took a dying company, and turned it around. And had a string of huge successes while in his fourties and fifties. And though no, he didn’t personally create or develop or write code, by all account Jobs was a micromanager to the extent that he knew what he wanted, and would make sure every little thing was just right. I’ve heard stories about him micromanaging what ICONS look like – or heck, with the Apple Stores, they made a mockup prototype in a warehouse to get every single thing right down to stuff like wood color for the counters.

It’s unfortunate he’s left us, and the world is a lesser place for it. I look at tech like the recently-unveiled Siri, and wonder how that reveal would have gone had Jobs been at the helm. Surely, that would have been the Next Big Thing that changed things for ever.

Rest in peace, sir.