Image via Jonathan Mak
I was really very sad to wake up to the news of Steve Jobs’s passing this morning.
Of course I didn’t know the guy but he profoundly changed my life for the better. As a technology lover I never looked back once I got my first MacBook; now I chat to my friends and family every day on my iPhone, watch movies on my MacBook Pro and work on my iMac. And I weekly nag my husband about getting an iPad.
I use MobileMe, the App store, an iPod, a touch pad. Without Steve Jobs we would not have all these amazing inventions. He is the reason I love my job and the reason I love to blog. He profoundly touched peoples lives in a big way, an accolade not shared by many.
I’ve been disappointed by the drama starters on Twitter, asking what the big deal is, telling people to get over themselves, that Steve Jobs wasn’t a God or Messiah. But to plenty of people out there he is. I don’t belong to an organized religion and am quite happy to say I would rather worship at the altar of the Mac Store than an actual alter, and I’m not even one of the hardcore Apple fans.
Mac lovers together are a kind of cult, it runs in their blood (evident in all Apple staff I’ve ever encountered), and they just lost their leader. I have no doubt that my kids will be learning about Steve Jobs at school as one of the great inventors and visionaries of our time.
Above all the death of Steve Jobs proves that nobody can escape can escape Cancer. No matter how rich, famous or clever you are, it will get you in the end. He fought a good fight for 7 years, but wasn’t able to survive it. And that’s scary.
If you want to help Cancer sufferers you can do by donating to MacMillan via Hayley‘s JustGiving page, set up in memory of her mum. You can also read Wired.com’s tribute to Steve Jobs here.
Well said.