Steve, oh Steve, we hardly knew ye

The news that Steve Jobs is resigning as Apple CEO is not surprising, but still a little shocking. Given the state of his health in the past, we suspected that this day would come. It makes it no less bitter.

As a developer, I have strong opinions about Apple and their Lockdown approach to managing apps. For years, we lauded Apple and excoriated Microsoft as the grand Satan. Now that Bill Gates has retired and his company has been reduced to the next IBM,. the red horns and pitchfork are being passed off to the next great evil empire, Apple.

Single handedly, Steve Jobs defined how the second
decade of the 21st century will be shaped. 

But, despite this resentment of Apple procedures and controls, I couldn't help but hold a great admiration for Steve Jobs. No one in the past 20 years has so affected the world. No one has so changed the course of popular culture, technology, and the path our future is now wandering.

It was only a little more than a decade that Apple was the footnote of high tech history, with no seeming ability to move beyond being a niche product for designers and geeks.

Then came the iPod. Then came the iTunes. Then came the iPhone. Then came the iPad. Every single on a game-changer. Every single one so immensely successful that they changed the paradigms to suit themselves. Single handedly, Steve Jobs defined how the second decade of the 21st century will be shaped. There are few corners of our lives now untouched by Apple.

I am sad to see him step down; just when you thought you understood how society was unfolding, he introduced a new product that changed it all before your eyes. I guess it will be nice to see the world get back on an even keel for a while.