Wednesday, October 05, 2011

RIP Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Steve Jobs passed away today after a very long illness.  I never met Mr. Jobs but the products he inspired at Apple introduced me to computing technology.  I first touched a Macintosh in elementary school, where the machine was worshipped as some kind of exotic totem.  I thought it had untapped potential because our class never used it to learn anything; instead its games were considered a reward for students who behaved themselves.  There had to be more to computers than just that. 

I later discovered just how much more there was.  In college I typed almost all of my papers on Macintosh computers.  The first computer I ever bought myself was a Macintosh.  It was difficult for me to eventually switch to a "Wintel" platform with my first laptop because the Mac was so easy to use, but the limited amount of software available for Macs left me no choice. 

Mr. Jobs did things his way, all the way.  He never compromised on quality in designing something original.  Even Bill Gates, a lifelong competitor, thanked Steve Jobs for being an insanely great human being.  Steve Jobs' life holds tremendous lessons for entrepreneurs.  Thank you, Mr. Jobs, for all that you are.