On Steve Jobs

As I regularly do on workdays, I turned my computer on early this morning and signed on to MSN messenger. Scrolling through my work contacts I noticed a ticker in the "news" section of the messenger window. It said that Steve Jobs had passed away yesterday, October 5th.

I took my hands off the keyboard, and leaned back on my chair. I took a moment, and began to try to understand what this meant. It would mean different things to different people. To those who pay no attention to technology and the evolving world, a celebrity has died. To his family, a loved one has passed away. The pain will be wholly theirs, though millions more will mourn. But, being spared the crude pain of his death, we, seekers of technology, consumers, developers, and designers, will experience the "cliche," yet romantic notion that an era has just ended.

I have often regretted not having been born in the times of the greats. I wish I had lived when the Beatles were together and John Lennon was alive. I wish I had been old enough to understand who Freddie Mercury was when as a kid I heard him sing. I wish I had been alive when Einstein published the general theory of relativity, or when Sir Isaac Newton was the president of the Royal Society. I wish I had seen Babe Ruth hit a homerun.

Alas, none of these wishes can ever come true. But, I am lucky. I was not born in the 60's. I am not a musician. I was not born in the 20s and I am not a baseball player. I am a Computer Scientist, and I was born in the 80's. Steve Jobs was the Babe Ruth of our parks, and I saw him hit homeruns.

Thank you for your genius, creativity, and everlasting perfectionism. The industry will miss you.