"The sweep of his imagination is illustrated by the caprice of his 313 registered patents: power adaptors, laptop hinges, display cases, operating system configurations, packaging, “graphical user interface methods.
In short, he was the Shakespeare of our time. Five centuries from now, the gasp-inducing sweep of his influence will be contested by humans we can barely conceive of, all using variations of the tools he helped create. No one will believe that one person could do all that he has done." (emphasis mine)
Even a business-oriented marketing enthusiast like Duane Morin over at Shakespeare Geek, who was somehow able to wax poetic over Jobs' 'humanities' bent-- "King Jobs"-- might agree with me on this one.
Late to the party, but yup, I agree with you on this one. :)
ReplyDeleteJobs took an industry that was arguably maybe 20 years old or less, and then spent close the next 30 putting his mark on it. Looking at it from standing in the middle of that window, that looks like eons. But compared to the 500 year mark? It's a blip.
The way we now compare an iPhone to what came before it, people in a couple of decades (or less) will be doing for Apple's products. Right now they're riding on a wave of charisma built by Mr. Jobs, and that won't last forever. Something else will come along.
Now, see, had this person called Jobs a modern Thomas Edison or something? I wouldn't have had a problem with that. I think that students of the history of technology will always know the name Steve Jobs, and study his contributions. But that doesn't mean that what he gave us will somehow remain frozen in time, perfect for generations to come, now that he's gone.