Steve Jobs, Thank You
I remember coming home and seeing the box for a Macintosh LC III in the house. I was so excited. I grew up on Apple, hacking and breaking them as much as you could, trying to crack the security on the boxes at school. Today I was driving when I heard that Steve Jobs had died. I had to stop in the middle of the lane. He was a true genius, on the historical scale. Can you imagine how he could have changed the world had he lived a little more?
What Steve Jobs excelled in was not business or technology or even innovation, it was art, the intersection of all and more. In historical terms I think he’ll be remembered like Da Vinci, one of the greats. Here are some videos of him in action:
Mohsin Hamid, author of How To Get Filthy Rich In Rising Asia, has a nice 
I’m happy to be featured in Echelon magazine’s 40 Under 40 feature, profiling young people who contribute to the economy in some way, mainly in business but also in terms of innovation and thought leadership. It’s an interesting article not just in that I’m in it (mainly for work on indi.ca and 
I won’t add too much commentary, but just read I guess. The youngest Rajapaksa, Rohitha (Chi Chi) has given an amazing interview to the 
In 2009 this strange character appeared on the Sri Lankan Internet scene, getting angry, flaming, trolling whatever. Then he started naming anonymous bloggers, posting comments as people’s kids, nasty stuff, for which I removed him from 
He’s also responsible for making pixar what it is today. But he’s no da vinci.
I dont know a thing about him but from the reactions of people around me both young and old it would seem like he was, a DaVinci of our times, an innovator, an artist and a creator. Either there’s a lot I dont know about both of them (very likely) or you’re walking around with a jug of cold water these days
Shammi, the people around you, like indi, are simply blowing this man’s achievements out of proportion. Steve jobs was a great salesman who had a keen eye for recognizing markets.
Actually, your contact with what Jobs (and Wozniak) wrought goes back to before the LCIII. You were two plus (early 1985) when I used to walk with you over to the house on McDonald Street in Vancouver to the William Melody and Associates office. Bill was one of the earliest purchasers of the original Mac. At two you weren’t allowed to do much with the office computer. I think you paid more attention to Josee the office cat than the computer. But still I am sure I sat you in front of it to look.
It was huge leap. I still had a dumb terminal in the house that I was using for my PhD. The MTS word processing program that I used showed all the commands in among the words. And contrast that with this sleek little box. I have more sentimental attachment to the Kaypro that I started using later that year in Sri Lanka, but that was because I really wasn’t the principal user of the Mac.
Still your first contacts were not bad: Original mac for a computer; Paul Simon for the first live music performance and CD; Bush Senior for the first political rally; at least those were the firsts I was involved in.
Steve Jobs doesn’t seem to have bothered about the slaves who built his money making devices. Its a point that’s missing in all the hero worship that’s going on. At least one guy has exposed some of it
http://techcrunch.com/2011/01/31/exposed-apples-terrible-sin-in-china-tctv/
more background info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Daisey
Interesting interview that gives a frank picture of the labour abuses that Apple’s cult of secrecy allowed to happen
http://www.abc.net.au/lateline/content/2011/s3334201.htm
Yes Steve Jobs was a marketing and technical genius. But it came at a human cost that makes me question if it was worth it.
Something to remember when jumping on the “steve worship” bandwagon.
Perhaps not quite a da Vinci (given that man’s amazing artistry, designs and engineering skill for his time), but probably the greatest visionary in his particular field for a generation. One wonders whether the people who surrounded him at Apple can live up to his innovation legacy.