RIP Steve Jobs
Posted By Kathleen David on October 6, 2011
“Almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”
–Steve Jobs
Late yesterday afternoon I was reading “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” on my iPad. Peter was on the MacBook working on one of his writing projects that he needs to do. Caroline was playing DragonVale on my iPhone when I heard my iPhone ding. Caroline handed it to me so I could see what was on the screen. There was a New York Times alert that Steve Jobs had passed away. In some ways it was the most appropriate way to find out.
I have been part of the Apple camp since my Dad brought home our Apple II. I learned how to deal with PCs and programming but my computer of choice has been created by Apple. My Apple laptop (or the luggable as we called it) still works. My iMac still works. I have a number of older Apple products and they all still work. Maybe a little slower but they function as computers.
Steve Jobs, rather than given customers what they said they wanted, gave the customer what they really wanted and needed. Sure there were some total misses but if his hits verses misses was broken down in baseball stats, he would hold the computer batting title many times over.
I don’t think that iTunes would exist without Steve Jobs. He convinced the music labels and then other forms of media that they could sell their music on an exclusive system that would have safety measures that hadn’t been in place since the advent of Napster. And then there is the new words he put in our vocabulary like App. Sure it is short of Application but hey the phrase “there’s an app for that” is part of our language.
Then there is Pixar. The idea of computer animation had been kicking around for years but Steve Jobs put his money where his mouth was and supported the founders of Pixar. Now we have both computer animation and CGI effects that can be traced to Steve Jobs’ belief in the power of the computer to entertain.
He was a visionary which a word that is bandied about a lot but really does apply to him and his work. Kind of the Jim Henson for the electronic set. And, like Jim, his private life was private. He had his public face and his private face. This included his fight with cancer. I think we all figured out that something had happened when he stepped down a couple of weeks ago. I don’t think that many knew how short a time he had left.
So rest in peace Mr. Jobs and thank you for all that you did and allowed others to do.
“Your time is limited. Don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
–Steve Jobs
I am grateful for the work that Steve Jobs did.
On another note, Shana has two days to raise the rest of the funds for her and her husband’s dream. Even if you can’t provide money, please help by boosting the signal so that others know about it. We keep hearing about social media being the way to get the word around. I really want this to be one of the stories told.
The url is
http://www.ulule.com/5pointstheatre/
And I thank you for your help.
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