Steve Jobs - An Eulogy

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A view of dying and re-birth.
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Tara Cox
Tara Cox
2,498 Followers

Death and dying. It is not something that most of us like to think about. I would go so far as to say it is a subject that a lot of people avoid. Yet when someone in the public domain dies, as Steve Jobs did this week, we are forced to consider it...if only for a moment.

Of course, the Internet, Facebook and Twitter are full of articles, commentaries and eulogies for the man that has changed the face of computing, if not the world as we know it. But one of these articles in particular caught my attention. It was about Jobs' own view of death. His 2005 commencement address at Stanford University sheds some light on this very private man.

"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away."

This from a man who was battling a rare and deadly form of cancer. To see the bigger picture...that we are all expendable.

In the summer of 1988, Yellowstone National Park experienced the worst wild-fire in its almost one-hundred and twenty year history. Over one million acres of forest in and around the park were destroyed. Many people though the park would never recover. But scientist and rangers knew otherwise. The same fire that brings death also is an essential part of life. In the spring after the fires, the freshly cleared land was teaming with new life. The soil was rich with nutrients from the ash that had once been mature vegetation. The heat of the fire had burst open pine cones, releasing seeds that took root in this rich soil and grew at astonishing rates. Bugs that fed on the detritus brought birds in abundance. Over twenty years later, the transformation is remarkable.

The rest of his speech that day gives us a blueprint for bringing that same re-birth to our own lives.

"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 others' 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."

In this world plagued with the need to conform, to fit into the molds that our parents, our society has for us, Jobs encouraged these young people to live as individuals. To follow their own dreams. Their own path. For me, the words...follow your heart and intuition; they already know what you truly want to become...sang through my soul like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. At forty-six, I am as close as I have ever been to living the life I have always dreamt of. I begin each day as I have this one...typing away at my laptop before the sun rises her shining face (assuming she does in London). I pour my heart and soul onto the blank screen, filling it with stories of people, love and life. Thanks to this amazing new world of the Internet and e-books pioneered by men such as Steve Jobs I am able to share those words with others around the world. It feels as miraculous as the new birth that filled the void left by those forest fires at Yellowstone.

Jobs finished that speech at Stanford with the story of the Whole Earth Catalogue, a magazine of his youth that he likened to Google. He spoke of its demise and parting wisdom. He described how on the back cover of its final issue there was a picture of a country road and the words...Stay Hungry. Stay foolish. This reminded me of one of my favorite poems, The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost. It is the story of two paths in the woods...or life. Frost, Jobs and other great men and women choose to take the path less traveled. The path of following their gut, their intuition, their dream. That poem ends with the words...

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

Following our dreams always makes a difference, in our lives, the lives of others and the world. So as we go about our lives this week remembering this man who brought us the personal computer, the iPod and iPhone. Remember too the things that he replaced...the typewriter, the Walkman and the bulky, short lived car phone. Ponder also the unimaginable things that his death might birth...what young minds might envision and build in this void that greatness has vacated.

Tara Cox
Tara Cox
2,498 Followers
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tazz317tazz317about 12 years ago
SOME PEOPLE, NO MATTER THE ROAD

or the selection, are destined for greatness. TK U MLJ LV NV

SalamisSalamisover 12 years ago
From the competition

I was sorry to hear of the passing of Steve Jobs; he was a man I came to greatly admire. Jobs story is one of rags to riches, success, and failure; it highlights the role of personality and passion in the development of the American technology sector.

For almost three decades I observed Jobs from my seat with his largest competitor, IBM. When the IBM PC was introduced in the summer of 1981, Jobs heralded the announcement with a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal welcoming his larger competitor. It was a gutsy move, one typical of Jobs who wasn’t afraid to be different.

However, the Steve Jobs of the 1980’s was a control freak, a micro manager. When the IBM PC hit the market it did so with an open design, with published specs that invited others to create both complementary hardware and software.

In contrast, Apple kept their system closed, with Jobs opting to share his specifications with a relatively small number of selected hardware and software developers. The result was a closed system and a strategy that ensured Apple would never be the standard in the computer marketplace.

Thirty years later, the IBM PC compatible accounts for a 91% market share and Apple’s computer systems are stuck in single digits. Found mainly in grade schools and in businesses, where graphics and visual creativity are key, Apple computers have a small but zealous following.

Jobs was making computers designed for a consumer space but trying to sell them in a business environment. The machines were slick, compact and very easy to use. They were also expensive and lacked the portfolio of software and complimenting hardware found on IBM compatibles. They were the wrong machines for the wrong audience; small wonder that the premiere offering by Apple to businesses was the Lisa, and it turned out to be a colossal failure.

Seeing some deficiencies in his strategy, Jobs hired a business manager who eventually unseated him at Apple. Undaunted, Jobs founded his own computer company called Next. The company boasted a computed that looked like a black box and ran software that was advanced and innovative. However, Jobs still misjudged his audience and Next was floundering until it was purchased by Apple.

Within a few years Apple was on its last legs and Jobs was brought back as a business consultant. Through sheer guile, Jobs managed to return to the helm and even solicited an equity injection from his arch enemies at Microsoft.

I mention all this to say that Steve Jobs was never a dominant player in the computer industry. His failures and missteps lost Apple and Next millions of dollars. He was being beaten and losing in the marketplace at every turn.

What makes Jobs so fascinating is that when he realized that he could not compete against the ‘big boys’ he retreated, regrouped, and then redefined his mission. For years Jobs had been designing products for the wrong audience. The customers who would appreciate Apple products were consumers, not businessmen. When the iPod was introduced it was readily apparent it was a consumer product. The product was compact, and minimalist with a simple intuitive interface. The iPod set a new standard in how to design a product that was easy to learn and use.

However, I give Jobs the most credit for the way in which he revolutionized the telephone. Jobs more than anyone, created the smartphone. He early recognized the power of proving simple and inexpensive applications on phones. It also helped that by the introduction of the iPhone Jobs also had the iTunes infrastructure in which to distribute and sell his applications.

Today, much of the dynamism in the software community is focused on smartphones. There are literally over a hundred thousand applications for the iPhone. And every day, new ones are being offered.

However, Apple is still Apple, and the same closed philosophy of development prevails. iPhone applications Apple’s iPhone and not on phones by other manufacturers. Conversely, Google with their Android OS opted to publish their specs to the world and it runs on phones made by many manufacturers. Android OS is growing faster than iPhone OS. Consumer interest seems to insure that the marketplace for smartphones will be dominated by these two companies. That’s bad news for Microsoft and Rim.

After the iPhone Jobs and his team refocused on the tablet. Tablets had failed in the past but Jobs in true fashion decided to venture forth again with a new design and with a portfolio of applications from the iPhone. The result was another hit, this time with the iPad.

You don’t often get that many opportunities to succeed in this industry. Steve Jobs took what was once a company on the edge of bankruptcy and grew them to be at one time recently, the company with the highest capitalization in the world!

Unlike Bill Gates, who has a list of critics larger than the Manhattan phone book, Jobs had an every growing collection of fans. Even competitors like myself genuinely liked the guy. He made all of us work harder to compete, and consumers have benefited from this competition.

Jobs has created one excellent creative team at Apple. The company will go on after his death, and we’ll expect further exciting products from them. But will they still have that passion, that fire, to make things simpler, better, more functional for their customer?

I hope so, but it won’t be the same.

Thanks Steve.

StarofAirdrieStarofAirdrieover 12 years ago
of death and dying

There were things I liked about this a lot but to me the most important thing about all of this wasn't who Steve Jobs was as far as his life in entrepreneurship, but that once stricken with cancer, he was given the world stage and on it, he wore a brave face. Returns to work, alternative medicine (withhold comment), talking openly of death and dying as you quoted from (I believe) his Stanford Commencement speech.

If you were speaking of Pancreatic Cancer, you are not speaking of a rare disease. It is the number 5 cause of cancer deaths in the US. We hear relatively less about it because it kills people so quickly. Steve Jobs had an uncommon Pancreatic Tumor, one of the reasons for his treatablity and longevity. Most of my clinical (and sadly personal - Mom, MIL, and Aunt) experience with PanCA has been a length of illness of months not years.

His quotes about death and dying give insight into what a wonderful resource the dying are - they have no time to lie to you and can teach you the most wonderful things.

A nice piece.

(guess it goes without saying I'm a hospice nurse)

AnonymousAnonymousover 12 years ago
Thank You

Thank you for so eloquently reminding each person who reads this piece that life is meant to be lived to the fullest. Regardless of ones' personal opinion of Apple, the company, Steve Jobs the co-founder knew how to practice what he believed- in word and in deed.

How many of us can say that?

Signed,

Another forty-six year old who is closing in the life she would desire and who enjoys Jobs' reminder in his 2005 speech to follow my dreams, to be the person I truly want to be: independent and free.

LoneStarRiderLoneStarRiderover 12 years ago
hey, Anonymous:

Really?

Of course they were agressively promoting their own software/hardware platform. It's called "business". What else would you expect them to do?! Advertise someone else's product? Promote someone else's platform?! IBM's 8086 and 8088 machinges were struggling, at best. Apple's product hit the market and took off like a rocket. In some regards, the early versions of Apple operating systems beat the socks off anything IBM had put out. You could manipulate it. If you halfway knew what you were doing, it was a cakewalk to move things, delete programs, add programs; all without a glitch. What I hate about Microsoft's assorted versions of Windows operating systems is that you basically have to ask permission to add, delete, or (heaven forbid!) move a program or a data file to some other place.

Your "nazi" reference is over the top.

Jobs and his partner were, so to speak, sailing in uncharted waters. You are correct in stating that Apple/Jobs motivated other companies to start making massive improvements in the available technology. But to accuse them of taking their own view of what was the most marketable equipment is rather like suggesting that Ford should be copying Chryler's vehicles.

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