I was fascinated, at some oddly arm’s-length manner, about the death of Steve Jobs. Genius, no doubt; visionary, for certain. And, though I never purchased an Apple product – no MacIntosh, no iPod, no iPad, I recognize the impact Apple’s design had on PCs, and just about everything else. I have also seen all but two of the Pixar films.
I came across this article, “arguing against a Jobs hagiography.” I LOVE the word hagiography; it’s almost never used in the literal sense – biography of a saint – but rather to inbue characteristics on the dead that are overblown or inaccurate, usually with an admonition not to do so.
Interesting that the post-Jobs world was apparent even before the announcement of his death. When the new iPhone 4S was released last week, speculation was high “whether Apple CEO Tim Cook can keep Apple going like Steve Jobs did remains an open question. Industry analysts who closely study the company’s every move are somewhat mixed. Apple’s iPhone event on Tuesday, said some, revealed a lackluster show from Cook. Jobs was legendary for splashy product launches shrouded in secrecy and rehearsed to perfection.”
And of course, Cook can’t. It’s like being the new coach of a very successful sports team; he’ll always be compared with his predecessor, and invariably won’t do quite as well. I feel for Tim Cook; he has the great misfortune of not being Steve Jobs.
While I don’t feel the emotional pull of Jobs’ passing that I have had with other public figures, I think there was an awful lot of unnecessary snark targeted at Apple employees and fans who wept as though their father had died. For some, especially the former group, he probably WAS like a father figure. As for me, I’m always depressed when people younger than I pass away.
Here are some items that caught my interest:
Steve Jobs’ Playboy interview (1985)
Steve Jobs’ government legacy: Citizen-centric computing; Jobs’ ability to craft tools for intensely personal computing helped
spark direct citizen-to-government computing.
Steve Jobs and His Magical Business Decisions, even as his failures are noted.
The Life of Steve Jobs
A TV commercial never shown in this form
My favorite Steve Jobs parody
Tributes from:
About.com
Spatula Forum
Shooting Parrots
Arthur at AmeriNZ, whose podcast I listen to on iTunes
MAD magazine
PARADE magazine (quotes)
The Onion: The Last American Who Knew What The F@#$ He Was Doing Dies
Jon Stewart, whose commented that, since he died too young, we hadn’t “used up” his creativity yet; at some level, I understood that.
The theory is that Cook was down beat because they knew that Jobs was about to die. (Was the announcement the day before?)
I don’t hold with hyperbole as a rule, but it is true that the world moved from the Communication Age to the Information Age in the last twenty years or so and Jobs was responsible for much of that transition.
He was an inventor in the modern sense in that he saw the possibities of technology and then demanded more.
The announcement was definitely within 48 hours of Jobs’ death. The USA Today article on Apple 4s was October 4, the CNN story on Steve Jobs October 5.
I’ve never like the Mac PC for some reason. But my teen has an ipod touch, goes online does all sorts of things on it through the Safari browser and although I think it is a marvelous invention for some reason, I still don’t like it. Toyed with an ipad in Future Shop and decided I’d rather have the versatility of a laptop and not have to keep buying so many apps I may need. I love the ipad for it’s light weight use but, not for real work.
Nice blog about Steve Jobs though, he was certainly a man of vision. Hard to walk in someone else shoes that size. So, maybe Tim Cook can invent his own unique style given time, too. Thanks for visiting me and the comment.
I’ve been a mac-brained person forever. Jobs was, perhaps, the most influential visionary in the area of personal computer/technology the world will ever know. Am I obsessively mourning his death. No. His passing is a definite loss to the world, but his legacy will live on. But he sure could present a product/idea like no other!
Few people have changed the world; Steve Jobs did!The song ” My Way” said it all.