| The Beginning of The End |
[Oct. 5th, 2011|11:07 pm] |
Let me first say that I am not a Mac fanboy. I am using a Mac to type this, a laptop I bought in the summer of 2006, and when it dies I already have a replacement in mind (an HP EliteBook, to run Linux on), but I'm a Linux fanboy at heart (Android FTW!!!!).
The announcement of the death of Steve Jobs today showed how the world has changed, because from what I see online, on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, the outpouring of grief and memory is not reminiscent of the passing of a CEO and inventor, but the passing of a head of state. Steve, in that context, was the president of the nation of Apple (and some would say the head of its church).
But that's really how this feels. And I'm not saying that it's a bad thing, not even that it's a good thing. But in a world that is so dependent on technology, not just for us Geeks, but for the everyday person, it is fitting that some of the Greats - Jobs, Gates, Wozniak - are seen with such a view. Earlier today, I was listening to the Macbreak Weekly podcast, and a clip was played of Obama in an interview saying that Steve had given him an iPad a few days before its release, and a comment being made about "when the President of the United States name drops Steve Jobs"... it says something about the state of the world. Wired.com on its tribute page has a quote from Obama about Steve's passing. The modern age, where heads of corporations are heads of state.
This is also the start of the end of an era in some ways, the first of the consumer computer pioneers to pass. He was instrumental in the creation of the PC industry, and reinventing it with the Macintosh and then OSX. Regardless of how you feel in the OS wars, by pushing the GUI and then OSX and then iOS he forced the competition to step up their games. And I think it also says something in the way rivals/competitors such as Bill Gates, Larry Page,and Sergey Brin expressed their condolences. Google's search page, below the search box simply had:
Steve Jobs, 1955 - 2011
If there is an afterlife, I'm sure that he'll shortly be making the halos look a bit better, and the teleportation will take .00000001ms instead of .00001ms, and you'll arrive at your destination with chocolate cheesecake. RIP, Mr. Jobs. |
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