Apple founder, CEO and visionary Steve Jobs passed away yesterday after a long illness. It’s a sad time for all of us who grew up in the digital age. I first used a Macintosh computer in 1986 to lay out a magazine for a small publishing company I worked for in Westport, Connecticut – a pioneer in what was just starting to be called “desktop publishing”.
As the years went on and I started my own business, Steve Jobs and his Apple products have never been far from reach. iPhones, iPods, iPads, iBooks. For the self-employed person, working out of a home office, Jobs’ vision to make computers personal resonates deeply. The devices keep you connected and help bring balance to work and personal life. My iPad doubles as a conference call and communications command center when I’m working and a movie, music and social platform during downtime. Yes, sometimes work and play overlap, collide or just plain go together. That’s life in the 21st century. That’s the digital lifestyle Steve Jobs has enabled many of us to lead.
He has famously said (and this quote is being Facebook’d hard):
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”
Thank you, Steve Jobs for also reminding us that Silicon Valley gave us “The Whole Earth Catalog” as well as the microchip. For naming your company after a piece of fruit. For applying “taste” to your technologies. And for the “digital lifestyle” in which so many of us thrive. It has made all the difference.
Kathy Drasky regularly writes about online culture. Her marketing and communications work with the ANZA Technology Network, Advance Global Australians and with various Australians and Australian enterprises has led to at least a dozen trips Down Under.
An accomplished digital photographer, her photos have appeared in 7×7 Magazine, the San Francisco Chronicle and Google Schmap.
