Steve Jobs passed away today at the age of 56 after a long battle with cancer, surrounded by family and friends. Apple immediately put a memorial in place on their site and, true to Jobs, it is simple, elegant, and practical.
Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.
Whatever your views on Apple or iOS devices, it’s undeniable that Steve Jobs was a game-changer when it came to shaping the landscape of PCs and personal entertainment devices. He gave the world things that it didn’t know it wanted, before anyone else had even thought about them. As much of a hard time as we sometimes give iOS devices on the site, his vision has even rocked the outlook of the video game industry, which is no small feat for one man and one company.
I’ll leave you with an appropriate quote from the man himself, given at his 2005 Stanford commencement speech a year after he was diagnosed with cancer:
No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.
Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.
He was a maverick in his time, and an innovator of the technology we now hold so dear. He will be missed.
[Source: Apple]
