Goodbye, Steve Jobs.

The world has lost a visionary. The founder, and artist extraordinaire, Steve Jobs breathed his last this evening at ~ 7:30PM EST. He died peacefully, surrounded by family, leaving behind millions of fans, shell-shocked and grieving. He embodied Apple, and transformed it from the failure it was back in ’97, to the most valuable company in the world. He dared to think different, he dared to reinvent and re-imagine the world, and by being a round peg in a square hole, he redefined how we think about technology, business, human interfaces, and workflow. He gave us the iPod, the iPhone, and my beloved iPad and iMacs. His vision, and undulating support for emphasizing form and aesthetics over norms and dogma, resonated with the world, and projected his persona to larger than life proportions. He led technology to avenues others had not deemed profitable, or downright impossible, and he made these ventures into unmitigated successes.

As I look around, surrounded by devices, from the iPad, to my iMac, and everything in between, I am struck by how one mans vision, and drive made these possible. How one mans ambition, coaxed the creation of these devices, making the leap from what was science fiction, not five years ago, to products and devices we can’t dream of living without.

Steve Jobs will be sorely missed. Not for his contributions alone, but what this extraordinary man could’ve gone on to innovate. Of the current ilk, I fear none have the drive, passion, or the ability to think or push the bounds of possibilities. As the pithy goes, “whither do we go from here, and what shall be our endeavors?”. Time alone will tell. Today however, we turn inwards, and pay tribute to the most brilliant visionary of our times. Requiescat in pace Steve Jobs. Thank you for everything.