Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.
The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented.
UPDATE: Stephen Colbert on Steve Jobs — at fitting tribute.
5 Comments
The whole owning-of-suicidal-slaves thing really isn’t a problem for the president, what with having his own prisoners to abuse. Although it kinda sucks that one of them is up for a Nobel Peace Prize. Still – we’ll all remember fondly the architect of the downfall of the electronics manufacturing industry in America. I shall sorely miss the billionaire who gave us a new, expensive and distracting toy every year while he hoarded his gold and watched other Americans lose their jobs, their homes, their health and their lives.
Goodbye, Mr. Jobs. You were the mot ironically named person I’ll ever know.
Jeez Oregonbird, that’s harsh. Jobs was a brilliant man whose inventions fundamentally transformed the day to day lives of millions, if not most, of the Western world. Why don’t you take your bitterness elsewhere?
Not only did Jobs change an industry and change millions of lives with the tools he helped design, but those tools in our hands have allowed us to at least dream of doing the same.
It really pisses me off when commenters in the past few days (like oregonbird) stress how wealthy Jobs was. The fact is, when he came back to Apple he took $1 a year and continued to take $1 a year in salary since 1990. Yes, he made a fortune with stock options but that’s like working on commission: his great work made Apple stock do well. He wasn’t the only one who made money when Apple stock did well.
I think all CEOs should follow his lead. While we’re at it, let’s get everyone in Congress to follow his lead:
Balance the budget, do good for the country or don’t get paid. As Buffett says, if you keep us in debt for more than three years you lose the job no matter what. And, whatever health insurance you think we should have, that’s what you should have. No better, no worse.
Jobs didn’t become a billionaire from Apple, anyway. He became a millionaire, then risked almost every penny he had on Pixar, which almost bankrupted him…until “Toy Story” made him a billionaire. He became a billionaire not by inheriting daddy’s company and then cutting jobs and merging companies. He became a billionaire through hard work, brilliance and risk taking.
I have to agree with Sammy that Oregonbird’s comments are a bit over the top. One could stretch reality perhaps and say that Apple started the manufacturing exodus to China, but we’d have to include just about every electronics maker with that list. Well, most manufacturers of anything for that matter.
Jobs was an example of the American dream and can do spirit. Take and Idea, build it, crush the competition and become an Icon. Microsoft is another example. Many other business have gone large the same way. Thats what businesses are inclined to do, succeed.
I can’t speak to his philanthropy practices, but as an American genious who had the tenacity and persistance to bring his dream to reality he is right up there with the greats of all time.