One of my favorite pictures of Steve Jobs. Here he is demonstrating the iPhone 4 to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on June 23rd, 2010.
I have never been a huge fan of Apple Computer's products or the lifestyle philosophy that comes along with them. I am not afraid to admit that I have been a Steve Jobs fan the whole time. Although the film "Pirates of Silicon Valley" portrayed him as a self-important narrow-minded big shot, the real-world Jobs was far from it. It was his foresight and creativity that have won me over.
When Jobs was terminated at Apple, he said, "The heaviness of being successful was replaced by the lightness of being a beginner again, less sure about everything. It freed me to enter one of the most creative periods of my life." When I have lost jobs in the past, I thought of his words for a moment. I always knew something better was coming along.
Jobs went on to found NeXT Computer. The NeXT workstation was far ahead of its time. When PCs at the time had 4 MB of RAM and 20 MB harddrives, the NeXT system had 64MB RAM and a 660 MB drive. The NeXT platform stayed ahead of the everything else in the computing world. (Oddly enough, much like what the iOS products have compared to contemporary products.) What Jobs showed was what was needed for the future. The lesson, never settle for good enough or just to get the job done. Instead, strive for more.
"There's an old Wayne Gretzky quote that I love. 'I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.' And we've always tried to do that at Apple. Since the very very beginning. And we always will." - Steven Jobs
Without the NeXT platform, the world would not have two of the most ground breaking video games in history. John Carmack of id Software used the "NeXTcube" to build the games Wolfenstein 3D and the original Doom.
Around the time of his dismissal at Apple, Jobs bought the company The Graphics Group, which was later renamed to Pixar, for $10 Million. (5 of which was for operating capital.) Although it took nearly 10 years to create its first film, Toy Story, the company turned into an almost $10 Billion dollar megacorp. That is an increase of 1000% on the initial investment.
We all know how the world was changed when Jobs returned to Apple. Arguably, most new mobile products have a design feature spearheaded by Apple, and Jobs by proxy. His interest in touch interfaces brought upon a global shift mobile phones and media players with a better human-machine interface. Although I have been using a touchscreen phone since before his return to Apple, I always wanted more. Jobs showed me, and the world, that so much more was possible.
It is a shame that the announcement of his death was met with a dip in share prices of all the companies in which he had a stake. While the faceless and nameless business types may use his death as a chance to manipulate the market in the perverted way, I remember another Jobs quote that changed my view of my life as an engineer.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart. ... Stay hungry. Stay foolish." - Steven Jobs at the Stanford University commencement address, June 2005.
We are all shaped by the world around us. I am very happy to say that Steven Jobs's influence on technology has steered me in a good direction, and will continue to do so for the rest of my time.
“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me … Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful… that’s what matters to me.” - Steven Jobs to the Wall Street Journal, May 25, 1993
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Steve Jobs facts:
His name is listed as inventor or co-inventor on 338 US patents.
He was a Buddhist. Which accounts for much of his philosophy and outlook on life.
Was awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Ronald Reagan in 1984. (With Wozniak)
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger inducted him into the California Hall of Fame.
(images via Apple.com and archive photography)
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