Thank You, Steve.

(October 5 – This is the blog post I wrote in August when SJ resigned the CEO position.  It was a harbinger of today’s sadness.)

I’ll never forget the time Steve Jobs came back to Apple.  It was 1997, and Apple was in dire straits. To get the foundation for what later became Mac OS X, Apple acquired NeXT, the company that Jobs created when he was ousted from Apple in 1985.  SJ came on as a consultant to Apple in the process- but everyone knew he would again lead his company.

That day, I was doing my job as a Mac tech, working on a Power Mac 4400 for the first time. I hated it.  It represented everything wrong with Apple at the time. It was an overpriced beige PC box – almost identical to an Acer PC that my employers also sold – running the same 3-year-old System 7.5.  That same System 7.5 was now on Mac clones too that were cheaper and faster, but overall not much different.

There was nothing special about any of them.

But when CEO Gil Amelio was ousted and SJ became iCEO you could just tell things were getting better.  The clones were killed and replaced with very fast Power Mac G3s, the Think Different ad campaign came out, and less than a year later : the first iMac.  The iMac was unlike anything we had seen before; the exact opposite of the 4400.

To me, working on a Power Mac 4400, then Steve Jobs returns, and we have iMac the next year… that is a microcosm of what Steve Jobs means to Apple.   Innovation, original thinking, careful and thoughtful design.  This is what I love about the Mac.  It’s what stagnated for years under leaders who didn’t “get it.” It’s what has thrived under Steve Jobs.

I don’t need to list every innovative Apple product of the last 13 years.  Odds are you’re using one right now.

Today’s resignation announcement saddens me. Steve Jobs didn’t die of his cancer today.  And we all had an idea that this day might be coming, so it’s not a surprise.  But seeing him leave Apple’s top position is a step in a direction I hoped we would not see him take.

I’m not too worried about Apple.  This is important to those of you who might not be as emotionally (not to mention fiscally) invested in Apple as I am.  Apple will be just fine.

Unlike in 1985 when Jobs was forced out, his hand-picked people are running the show.  They get it.  Corporate culture, especially at a large company like Apple takes years to change.  They probably have a bunch of great new products in the pipeline for the next couple years.  What will really seal the deal and cement Steve’s legacy is Apple delivering something really new long after he’s left us – something on the magnitude of Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad… and I think Tim Cook and co. can and will deliver.  I am mournful that the product won’t be presented in the awesome style of a Jobs keynote.

I’m sorrowful for SJ himself – of course he’s had a fantastic life that many of us could only dream to match.  But I can’t imagine how painful it must have been to cede that his health wasn’t going to let him run his business, his company, his mantra anymore.  It’s depressing because someone I genuinely admire, even idolize for his unique intellect, wisdom, and passion is going to pass on because he’s as human and frail as anyone else.

Mostly I’m sad in the same way that you might feel at the end of an epic tale where the hero saves the day and everyone is better off for it, but the hero himself is mortally wounded and won’t survive.

And what a great story the history of Apple and Steve Jobs has been – especially in taking mid-90s Apple from worst to first; it’s inspiring.  Apple and those of us who use and support their products will be fine.  I’m just downhearted that my favorite “character” is in his final chapter.