steve jobs (1955-2011)

Steve Jobs: Innovator, visionary, icon. 1955-2011

Woke to news this morning that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs had just passed away. Such a heavy feeling. Just how big is this loss? Time Magazine stopped their presses on the issue they had just put to bed that afternoon and called an emergency meeting to devote a new issue to Jobs. If that doesn't make the hairs on your arms stand, I don't know what will.

I'm not what you can call an Apple fan -- my first Apple purchase was the iPod touch I gave Andrea for Christmas a few years ago. I bought myself an iPod classic soon after, then bought Almi's iPod nano as a gift to my brother -- and that about ends my list of Apple products. (10/10 EDIT: Ugh, I forgot about my sister's iPod touch, and our not-so-brief obsession with Tilt to Live! Haha! Still no Android equivalent, boo.)

I have iTunes on my non-Mac netbook -- an old version at that, since I'm too lazy to get an update -- and have since warded off my desires for an iPad or a MacBook: Too pricey, would probably burn a hole in my pocket for a long time, and, as my girlfriend often reminds me: What do you need it for? (For the record: She's right. I get by just fine on Windows, an old Nokia qwerty phone, and my trusty Android tablet.)

But more than his products, to me Steve Jobs is primarily an inspiration -- a man diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004, he lived SEVEN YEARS MORE (a whole lot longer than his doctors expected, at every front, A MIRACLE) to introduce the iPod, the iPhone, the iPad -- and to inspire an entire generation.

This generation includes me. Thank you, Steve Jobs.

Here's a link to his famous 2005 commencement address to graduates of Stanford, and my favorite passage from that speech:

Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

I'll be sure to remember, sir.