Steve was diagnosed in 2004 with neuroendocrine tumour, a rare form of pancreatic cancer, and though the tumour was successfully removed, he had to undergo a liver transplant in 2009. At both these occasions, he had to take months off from Apple, and his shoes were filled by Timothy Cook, who later took over when he finally resigned as the CEO in August this year.
I still find it hard to believe.
Though he had lost considerable weight and appeared thin during and after these surgeries, Jobs dealt with the disease very gracefully, and still delivered very energetic and passionate speeches. Just yesterday, a colleague commented that watching Steve Jobs present was like watching a movie.
Steve was the kid who dropped out of college and managed to assemble and sell his first computer when he was 16. He was the genius who laid the foundations of a company at the age of 21 that would later change the face of consumer electronics in particular and technology in general. He was the founder who was fired from his own brainchild at 30. He was the courageous, persistent fighter who then founded another company called NeXT, which was then bought back by Apple 11 years later and Steve was appointed the CEO the next year. This Act II changed the world, with innovative products like iPod, iPhone and iPad.
While Apple has replaced the home page on their website with an obituary and created an email id to share thoughts, memories, and condolences, a statement from his family reads "Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family".
Even though I am an open-source proponent and was never an Apple fanboy, I must admit there was a certain class imbibed in his products by Steven that no one else could ever match. The rare combination of genius, creativity and passion Steve Jobs had is awe-inspiring. You will be deeply missed by billions of people.
The world is at a loss.
Here is a list of few inspirational reads about Steve Jobs. Please feel free to add more in comments.
- One of the very impressive articles I read about Steve on TechCrunch: It Just Works.
- A detailed report about Steve's health issues, ultimately leading to his demise on LA Times.
- What Steve Jobs did when he was fired from Apple on DNA India.
- Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Address video, and the transcript.
Sad :(
ReplyDelete“Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” - Steve Jobs
ReplyDeleteQuoting Steve himself from his Stanford 2005 commencement address: I didn't have a dorm room, so I slept on the floor in friends' rooms, I returned coke bottles for the 5¢ deposits to buy food with, and I would walk the 7 miles across town every Sunday night to get one good meal a week at the Hare Krishna temple. I loved it. And much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on.
ReplyDelete