October 5, 2011: Apple Computer has announced that Steve Jobs died today.
That sucks, and I’m saddened.
I remember an evening, many years ago, I think a Tuesday, at the regular monthly meeting of the Homebrew Computer Club, which was held at the Stanford Linear Accelerator building.
I’d ride my (somewhat small) 360 Yamaha motorcycle down Interstate 280 from San Francisco, and my tushie was frazzled by the time I arrived. But it was worth it. Those were exciting times, with new announcements about CP/M and new peripherals for the Altair. Some of the people attending have now become household words, and I met the infamous Captain Crunch there, who was imprisoned for hacking long distance calls with a whistle that came in Captain Crunch cereal boxes.
And on that particular night, there were two scuzzy guys in the foyer. They weren’t on the regular program, so they’d set up just inside the door but before you went into the auditorium where the “real” program was going on.
They were demonstrating a board they’d just developed that displayed … (gasp!) … colors. (At the time, displays were black and white.)
These two guys reminded me of my hippie days. Steve and Steve, their names were. Wozniak and Jobs.
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In the wake of his departure, here’s one of my favorite quotations, and maybe it has even more meaning today …
“Almost everything – all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.” — Steve Jobs
Thank you, Arthur. Very touching. And, thank you for sharing the quote at the end, a message of Truth that is succinct and useful.
Thank you.