Wow. This is a passing of a part of history.
He might have been known best as the founder of Apple, but his impact was a bit wider-reaching than just electronic device manufacturing. Think about it: Computers, then connectivity, then persistent networking and the advent of the internet basically marked a beginning of a phase for mankind. And he was there at the beginning of it. Hell, he was one of those responsible for one of the aspects of it: Personal computing. Him and Woz and a few others.
We're all aware that the advent of personal computing eventually led to inroads in music and movies/television. As well as the internet (although I’d argue that Apple was actually slightly behind the curve on that at the very beginning, back in the days when Jobs was running NeXT and everything was still Usenet, Archie, Gopher, and so on…). Because of that, I'd say it’s arguable that much of what we do in modern society – listen to music, watch entertainment, and use computers and network connections to do many, many things, including what we’re doing right now, right this minute – was affected by what he, Woz, Markkula, etc. – did back in the early 70’s.
For my generation, the advent of the internet was one of the major, historical markers for mankind. And we lived through that genesis and knew about the originators of it. Hell, some of my colleagues have met some of those originators. It’s weird, being part of that generation that’s grown up through this; it feels, in a way, like what those who witnessed the rise of the printing press must have felt. Or the advent of personal automobiles. Film and the rise of Hollywood. Things of that nature.
Jobs’ passing? Another milemarker in history. It won’t be long before all those guys – Jobs, Wozniak for Apple, Gates, Allen, and others for Microsoft, Ray Tomlinson (inventor of email), Vinton Cerf (only network geeks will know him, but without TCP/IP, we wouldn’t be doing what we do on this forum right now), Gordon Moore (founder of Intel, physicist who put into words “Moore’s Law”), Marc Andreesen (founder of Netscape, irrelevant now but an important part of the advent of the web) start being referred to in the past tense and thought of in the same way we think of Lincoln, Charlie Chapman, Mao, Babe Ruth etc., i.e. figures in history. And the internet won’t merely be something taken for granted, but also something who’s founding was in the dim past, barely recollected. That time is coming. But there are those of us who witnessed its start. And it’s a strange feeling to think about it in those terms. But that’s the reality: Time passes. And the new becomes the institution.
Here's one of the markers of that time passing. RIP, Steve. There were many people involved in the founding of the information society, but you were one of them.
