“While the reaction following Jobs’ resignation was powerful, the reaction to his passing has been nothing short of amazing,” MG Siegler writes for TechCrunch. “Former employees, colleagues, celebrities, adversaries — even the President of the United States paid tribute. But once again, the most fascinating group of people showing their support are the ones who did not know Steve Jobs. It’s the everyday people that simply used and loved his products.”
“This type of global unity tends to happen when a major celebrity passes away — think: Michael Jackson — because nearly everyone on the planet knows who they are. People always look for common bonds, and those are easy ones to establish. That’s because pop culture shoves them in our faces for years if not decades. And the type of fame they achieve goes hand-in-hand with celebrity,” Siegler writes. “But Steve Jobs was not a celebrity — at least not in the traditional sense. Sure, he was famous, but he did not seek fame. Nor did he need it.”
“People have been writing about their profound sadness over the loss even though they’ve never met Jobs,” Siegler writes. “And many of them have noted that they didn’t expect to feel this way. Thinking about it, I believe this is related to two things.”
Siegler writes, “First, Jobs died young. Even though his illness ravaged his body and made him appear far older than he actually was, Jobs was only 56 years old at the time of his passing. The average male life expectancy in the U.S. is just about 76. For the world overall, it’s 67. To be fair, those ages are calculated at birth, but Jobs was also a billionaire with access to any doctor in the world that he could have wanted. He was simply dealt a bad hand with cancer. And it robbed him of at least 20 years on this planet. But it didn’t just rob Jobs. It robbed us too. That’s why people who haven’t met the man care so deeply.”
Much more in the full article – highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: When we watch videos like the one below, not only do we reflect on the life of an amazing man, we also relive our working lives. We remember each event and product introduction as if it happened yesterday. We loved every single minute of it and we can’t wait to see what comes next!
Here’s to the crazy one:
[Attribution: Daring Fireball.]
Last paragraph; so true.
I like what Jon Stewart said about the fact we weren’t done with Steve Jobs yet and hadn’t wrung every last bit out of goodness out of him as we did Edison and others who contributed greatly to society and lived to a ripe old age. And Steve would have been delighted to comply. Steve really was only getting started and now others will have to carry out his mission.
We may have never met him but, like music artists, and actors, we knew him through his work.
Steve knew what his Dilbert-est competitors didn’t. These weren’t gadgets that he was producing, but personal devices that we spend a great deal of our days interacting with. Our livelihoods depended on them and we interacted with our friends, family, and colleagues with these things.
This is why so many of us feel a personal attachment with Apple and Steve.
Will NEVER forget him, we are gonna miss ya, Steve …… We love you …
“think: Michael Jackson ”
Umm, no thanks.
To me it’s an affront to mention Steve Jobs alongside a flamboyant pedophile widely called “Whacko Jacko”, for whom *nobody* gathered upon his death nor the anniversary.
Sorry to disappoint you but MJ never was a pedophile. It’s a pure media invention and attention seeker trying to take advantage of his fame. MJ was simply too big for a human to carry!
MJ and SJ are both geniuses bigger than life that’s why people loved and will always love them.
@Loloontheair
I hate to tell you but he was. My wife worked for the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services and knew people who were working on the case. His money and celebrity allowed him to “get away with it”.
That video brought tears to my eyes…damn it..
his right, many of us don’t even know why we do feel so sad, not even i can explain to myself. still today i can’t believe Steve Jobs is gone. so much to give to us, to give to the world…
The part that saddens me the most is not entered to the ‘Apple world’ sooner, more precisely in 2006 when i got my first MBP, and since then i’ve gotten more and more in love with Apple, i felt that Apple was par of me, part of my life, that Steve Jobs was someone like a father a brother to me, someone really close. This…this was really devastating. For the last 3 or so years i’ve seen all of those 90’s keynotes and ads, well pretty much every video of Apple events and such. It’s a touchy feeling text i know, sorry, but this way i can get it out of my system. From a portuguese Apple fan, Steve Jobs you’ll always be with us.
I agree. I thought the tears were over, but I guess not. I was looking at a different tribute and realized how many products he launched that were in my house a week later. It was great!
i bought here in portugal the Time magazine, i just had to buy it, with a special about Steve Jobs? no way i would passed it by. and every time i look at the magazine tears appear in my eyes. what a loss we had =(
The video has nothing in it that we haven’t heard about many times. Yet I watched it too, and was moved yet again. Immediately after, my iPhone 4 did something that has happened but twice in more than a year: it froze and had to be rebooted. I am pretty sure it was weeping.
thats what i call a heck of a coincidence. it acted just like me, i froze too. at 6h30AM when i woke up for work…man what a week
Agree on the last paragrah and it sums up a lot.
Honestly what bugs me the most about his passing has nothing to do with apple or what he could have done with it going forward.
What bugs me is this…. and I think about it whenever i see anyone pass away far too young…. he’s going to miss the simple things that matter most.
He won’t be there to walk his daughters down the isle, to be that rock for the family that dishes out the right mix of a tender touch and tough love. He won’t be there to see where his best inventions go… and his best inventions were his children.
Apple will continue to be apple… it may see dark days again but someone who loves it will step up and lead it out of the abyss if that happens because the company was always more than just steve.
I hope his family is well… They have lost the most in this tragedy of life.
+1
Of all the outpouring on MDN over the past week, this says it the best. Yes, we feel a loss for a man who impacted our lives but whom most of us haven’t met, but the real loss is his family’s. Well said.
As I type this on my iPad2 in Istanbul, I’m poignantly reminded again what “true genius” means. Ever the showman, consumate innovator, and sales magician, Steve Jobs knew the future. I’m forever grateful he brought us along to experience it.
You’re welcome, Steve. You really are. But we should be the ones thanking you, and we have been. Now that you’re gone, we all feel it more than ever… We will miss you. :'(
It has to be weird for MacDailyNews. Only a relative handful of people have spent every day focused on Apple for such a long period of time. Their experience of Steve Jobs’ passing has to be very unique.
Actually, millions of people, who are using computers, still do not know who Steve Jobs was. These are the people who do not follow tech news at all. But when the mass media splashed the news of Steve Jobs’ death, highlighting his contributions to mankind, and for once in a moment of candidness, recognizing his genius, millions upon millions of people from around the world of various languages, would take notice of the uniqueness of Apple’s standing in the products that they use, whether or not they are manufactured by Apple or others: they would be shocked to know that Windows and Androids themselves are the bastardized cousins of Apple.
Of course, there are those from the lunatic fringe of Apple haters who simply do not want to acknowledge despite the naked fact. People like David Srere of Siegel+Gale and Hamilton Nolan, the punk at bottom-feeding “gossip” site Gawker (thanks to the Macalope for this information) take delight in the demise of Steve Jobs. They are similar to the religious fanatics, like Osama bin Ladin and company, who would prefer to hide behind their wonky ideology out of choice to justify terrorism or murder. This only represent a tiny minority who still sprout poison from their filthy mouths and evil hearts to malign the death.
But never mind, it’s the majority who did not really know that were really touched. This halo effect would definitely make the iPhone 4S a must-have and an eye-opener to many who had not considered Apple’s products in their lifetime before.
Here’s to Steve’s family. My thoughts are with them at this terrible time.
My father passed away 14 years ago aged 56 from kidney cancer, so I know the pain. As I walked my Mum down the aisle at his funeral, I was touched by the amount of people who attended. My father was a head teacher and the school had allowed any pupil who wanted to attend to do so… the church was full to capacity and there were hundreds more outside.
I remember my Mum crying, asking “why him?”, and wondering why all the murderers in jail are healthy. Cancer doesn’t play by any rules, it can affect anyone, and that could be why it hurts so much when “good” people are struck down by it.
I remember seeing a good friend in the church as we walked out after the service. I laughed. I don’t know why, but just seeing my friend in the crowd made me laugh. Grief is strange, it affects us all in different ways.
Rest in Peace Steve, and to the Jobs family, you are all in my prayers.
Peace. X
Please no associations to drug addicts. Steve Jobs is a different class all on its own. 🙂
Can’t better what’s already been said. It’s like being among family, the way we’re here together over this. Just wanted to be here and pay my respects.
God Bless Steve XX
to MDN, just a short note to say, please don’t stop the tribute links. For many of us it is how we are dealing with it, being able to see how the world, small and large, are dealing with it, helps.
We’re sad now, and we look online for comfort.
And I am one of those that cannot believe how much this has affected me.
Thx
People are mourning the loss of Steve Jobs not because he was ‘a crazy one’ – but because he was so profoundly sane.
I bought my first Apple Computer in 1986. I was 27 then. In the years that followed, I found myself spending what little money I made on all things Apple. Whether it was the latest computer, Newton, QuickTake, LaserWriter, or Color OneScanner… if Apple made it, I saved up and bought it.
I was fortunate enough to attend the MacWorld Expo in Boston in ’97 to see Steve’s keynote not long after he return to Apple. It goes without saying that it’s been an e-ticket ride ever since.
25 years have passed since I purchased my first Apple computer. In that time I’ve been witness to the many wonders Apple have brought to people all over the world. I’m thankful that I had the opportunity to grow up with Steve and share in the genius and the vision that was Steve’s love and life.
Like so many others, I cannot believe how much his passing has affected me. I’m really going to miss the keynotes; the product introductions; the interviews. Most of all, I’m going to miss the man!
Identical path…however I was a bit older (32) in 1986… And have followed Jobs through every twist and turn. E-ticket indeed! He will be missed.
I think the best of Apple is yet to come. I think what Jobs left behind was not only his technology, but his views on how to approach solving these technology problems. His managerial meticulous attention to detail has been passed on to the people who are currently running Apple. What Jobs will be remembered most, is not what he left behind, but what he forged for our future.
I will be proven right, you will see.
I try to find some solace in remembering all the stuff Steve DID get to see. The success of the iMac, success of the Apple Stores, the market share expansion, just about everyone wanting and owning at least one of Apple’s products, Apple’s stock soaring, Apple’s market value at the top, making Michael Dell look like an idiot, making Ballmer’s predictions of Mac products look stupid. I know there are more, but I can’t think of them right now. At least we can take heart in so many things Steve did get to enjoy before he left us.
Back in 1988 I bought my first Mac. I remember hearing that the inside of my Mac SE 2/20 had all the signatures as part of the mold. I immediately opened it up to see and look for Steve Job’s name. There is was among the others. I only stared at his name, somehow feeling connected to him.
I’ve been crying since the day. Knew I would be very sad. I’ve loved Steve since the late 70s. It is really nice to see the respect now after going through decades of scorn. Since the 1st time I saw Steve’s picture and read what he was saying, I knew he was an extraordinary being, full of Light and Truth packaged in a sumptuous rebel utterly new model. Have enjoyed following every single snippet. When he returned to Apple I was ecstatic and bought one of the very 1st Rev A bondi blue iMacs that rolled off the assembly line, still have it.
A soul as vibrant and great as Steve, with such overwhelming lasting passionate love for Apple, is not gone. He will follow Apple and all of us hands-on users from a different place, and it would not surprise me at all if he engineers breakthrough methods of heaven to earth communication.
It’s amazing how the death of one man that I have never met can make me so profoundly sad…
I can’t get enough of these videos, but they make my heart ache at the same time…
I’m an Apple zealot. I always have been, always will be, and I’m proud to say so.
We will miss you Steve, but your legacy will live on!
Yeah, I watched this tribute in a Korean hotel room. Despite all bickering and crazy nationalism in Korea, they’re not delusional: they know Steve Jobs had a huge hand in creating the computer and consumer electronics industry. Samsung will take a week off from their photocopying and get back to work later.