With Steve Jobs, we learned how to walk in the digital world. When he launched the first iMacs, he taught us that computers were not only useful and powerful but also friendly, attractive, and easy to use.
When the iPod came, we started running. There are thousands of digital music players, but no others like the iPod. None is so easy to use or so effectively combines sophistication and simplicity. Then the iPhone was launched, and there was no doubt that Jobs had radically and irrevocably changed our world.
He taught us so much that recalling it all today would be impossible. He made us see that design is not just about appearance but also about the way his wonderful electronic devices— the delight of millions around the world—function, connect, and enchant their users.
This concept, together with his other foundational principal, “Focus on simplicity,” was the driving force behind one of the most significant paradigm shifts in the last century, exhibited in this century by the iPad.
Above all, Jobs was the first to think of users as the central axis for development of electronic products. In a time when technology was still dominated by technophiles and specialists, his dream was that anyone on the planet could use his devices, and he made the dream come true.
About a month ago, when he resigned his position at Apple and questions about his health multiplied, we wondered about future of his company after his retirement.
Today, we wonder about our own future after his death. Despite our sadness, however, we who respect and admire him cannot look back at his life without rejoicing.
Jobs was the great inventor of our time. Like Leonardo da Vinci, he will be the genius remembered by generations for creating a new way of life. Take a moment to remember and compare what life was like before Steve Jobs and how he changed it. Quite likely, the Windows operating system you are using right now would not exist if it weren’t for him.
His influence and legacy goes beyond the genius of Apple products to include his up close and personal relationship with death that taught him life was fragile. Maybe his most important gift to us was the example of his passion and determination to take advantage of every second and to give his best to every undertaking.
“Your time is limited; do not waste it living the life of someone else. Do not trap yourself in dogma that means living according to someone else’s way of thinking. Do not let the noise of alien opinions drown your internal voice.” These are a few of the hundreds of insights Jobs has left us.
Today we say good-bye to a father, a person who taught us to live a new life, a genius who left an indelible mark on our society. We say good-bye with deep grief for the loss of the exceptional person who is gone, but also with optimism and joy for his enormous legacy and gratitude that he taught us to think differently.
