Editorial: Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, dies at 56
Late in the night on Wednesday, Oct. 5, my iPhone started buzzing furiously on my desk. I took my eyes off my iMac and looked at the smaller Apple device now showing over a dozen new messages; the news I saw came so hard and swift that for a moment I contemplated whether I would have preferred a literal blow. Steve Jobs had died.
The 56 year old founder and former CEO of technology giant Apple had long battled with pancreatic cancer and many rumors were passed around regarding the state of his health. Still, no one in the general public quite expected Jobs to pass away so soon, especially this close to Tuesday’s announcement of the iPhone 4S.
Mere moments after the initial press statement from Apple was released, Twitter and Facebook were afire with kind words and mourning for this loss. Besides being the brains behind Apple’s now legendary iDevices, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad, Jobs was a philanthropist and public speaker who touched many lives with his insight and willingness to think outside the box.
For the Forum, Jobs’ passing is more than just a newsworthy topic. For the past three semesters, layout and editing for the print editions has been performed on an iMac. The website, piedmontforum.com, was designed and has since been updated from an iMac, as well as through the mobile browser on an iPad. These computers have been an infinitely valuable asset in the creation of what the Forum has become in recent years, and it is because of Jobs’ ingenuity and inspiration that they were invented.
Trying to summarize the life Jobs lived in a short article is near impossible. His impact reaches into so many different territories and fields, that the sheer volume of material could fill multiple books.
Perhaps the most fitting tribute to the man who inspired the world to “Think Different” would be a quote he used in the first commercial after his 1997 return to Apple, a quote which sums up his life just as well as the image he made synonymous with his inventions: “Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes … the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules, and they have no respect for the status quo. … You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things. … They push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the people who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”
[Photo Credit: Ben Stanfield]
