I was deeply saddened to hear that, after struggling to balance his role as the head of the most iconic technology company in the world with his on-going health issues, Steve Jobs has passed away.
In the upcoming days and weeks, there will no doubt be a lot press coverage in the forms of simpering retrospectives from journalists who previously took joy in attacking the "Church of Jobs", or the "Cult of Steve" and, no doubt, there will be even more speculation on Apple's future, given the path the company took after Jobs left in the 1980s. The latter is less relevant, as Tim Cook understands Jobs' vision and, whilst no company is ever totally secure ad infinitum, Apple is a much different beast than when it was on the verge of self-destruction in the mid-1990s. There is a clear vision for the products, a loyal fan/user base and products such as the iPhone and iPad have defined entire new market sectors and pushed Apple to be larger than Microsoft and Google - the business model works and as long as it continues in the same vein, I think Steve's work to rebuild and reinvent Apple Computer Inc. started as iCEO in 1997 has been a total success.
As far as the "Cult of Steve" goes, I will fully admit to having joined this long before I could even afford an Apple product. As a boy in the 1980s, I found out I had a love of computers and of what I could do with them, but no system I could ever afford was "right" - some, like the BBC B computers used in UK Schools, were a relic of the 8-bit era with a user experience that belonged in the 1970s. Others, like the generic 286 and 386 PCs running MSDOS, were quick enough at some tasks, but awkward to use and prone to inconsistent user interfaces, poor software integration and a near-vertical learning curve. I would look at the adverts and reviews for Apple's Macintosh (and even more impressively, the Macintosh II) and dream of being able to use one.
Whilst "in the wilderness" after being ousted by Gil Amelio, Steve started NeXT which, whilst never a commercial success story in the strictest sense, proved that Workstation-class machines could be accessible to those without a degree in Computer Science, could be a truly collaborative tool and could also be a creative tool, as opposed to just an academic one. Once again, the media missed the point and viewed this revolutionary system as an over-priced Macintosh rival, as opposed to the ground-breaking concept of collaborative working in a powerful, yet simple, way. When Sir Tim Berners-Lee created HTML and the first web broswer at CERN, it was done on a NeXT because the system and the tools encouraged him by making the process a logical extension of the shared documents and repositories that formed the cornerstone of the NeXT user experience. Could he have done it on a Sun, or a VAX? Possibly, but the truth is that it was a Steve Jobs product that literally started the World Wide Web, a decade after a Steve Jobs product revolutionised the Print/Press industry and kick-started the Desktop Publishing industry, a decade before a Steve Jobs product revolutionised the music industry...and so on.
Critics will say that a PC gave more raw CPU power than the original iMac, and they are right, but who cares? In a time when most PCs had external modems, poor PPP support, patchy drivers and were still likely to be running Windows 3.1 or Windows 95 at a push, the iMac was simple to use, quick to get online and quick enough for most users. That it was wrapped in a design so beautifully executed that it was immediately iconic (and spawned a myriad of imitators in blue plastic) is just a mark of the attention Steve paid to the products he brought to life, that he obviously cared about and that he shared his enthusiasm over at the Keynote speeches. The traditional "Just one more thing..." was, obviously, a shrewd move by a man looking to hook his audience, but the obvious glee in his eyes as he unveiled the iMac, the PowerMac, the iBook, the PowerBook, the MacBook Air, the iPhone, the iPod, the iPad and all the rest, was evident. Yes, Steve might get over-excited, but he cared and that mattered, because we cared, too. Even when the demonstration went wrong, he would take it in good humour and keep the audience engaged. I cannot think of another CEO of a tech giant that would have the same empathy for their users, but also the same passion and easy charm.
People have often called Steve a dictator, or confrontational, or egotistical, but I would say that he was passionate about the things he created and wanted people to share his passion - often his ideas were so far ahead of the curve he got a blank stare instead of the ringing endorsement he would want and that would frustrate him - NeXT had video, images and file-embedding in emails before most other companies even had email, for example. For a person who believed in so many of the counter-culture ideals of the 1960s to have become a billionaire seems incongruous, but when you look at what he did, Steve never lost sight of his original vision - to make the process of creation and discovery of information and knowledge a public right by giving everyone the tools to do it in a manner that was simple enough for everyone to understand. In his life, he revolutionised the print industry, contributed the tool used to create the Internet as we know it today, rewrote the rules on the music industry, defined the template for the smartphone, created the first truly usable consumer tablet (or web-enabled media consumption device, if we wish to define it's niche), brought the "Desktop" WIMP paradigm to the mass market, consumer-ised the video editing world with iMovie and launched a million internet broadcasters with GarageBand. He freed information for the masses by giving them the tools to perform a far greater revolution than any amount of marches at Berkley could have acheived.
I don't think anything I could say that would sum up Steve's acheivements better than saying that by any definition, he was one of the Crazy Ones who really did Think Different.
We Apple users who followed Steve's vision were not just customers, we were part of a club, we shared his vision for better or for worse, because we believed his ideas were the right ones. We were Pirates. He was our Captain and we will do our best to continue his vision in the small ways we can, whilst keeping faith in the rest of his crew to keep the ship on course.
My condolences go out to Steve's family and friends and to everyone who feels the loss in the same way that I do.
Here’s to a crazy one. A misfit. A rebel. A troublemaker. A round peg in the square hole.
One who saw things differently. He was not fond of rules. And he had no respect for the status quo. You can quote him, disagree with him, glorify or vilify him.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore him. Because he changed things. He invented. He imagined. He healed. He explored. He created. He inspired. He pushed the human race forward.
Maybe he had to be crazy.
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?
He made tools for his kind of people.
While some see him as a crazy one, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
Rest In Peace, Steve - you will be missed more than you can possibly have imagined.
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