Steve Jobs has passed away, tech world mourns

Steve Jobs has passed away, tech world mourns

Takeaway: Steve Jobs, the long-time CEO and co-founder of Apple, has died. Here is the official statement from Apple, a note from Bill Gates, and more.

Apple co-founder and long-time CEO Steve Jobs has passed away today after a long fight with pancreatic cancer. Jobs resigned as CEO in August and didn’t appear yesterday at Apple’s launch of the latest edition of the iPhone - iPhone 4S.

Statement from Apple

Here is the public statement from Apple’s board of directors:

We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today.

Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.

His greatest love was for his wife, Laurene, and his family. Our hearts go out to them and to all who were touched by his extraordinary gifts.

Tribute on Apple.com

Apple has placed a simple tribute to Steve on its homepage:

Statement from Jobs’ family

The family of Steve Jobs released this statement:

Steve died peacefully today surrounded by his family.

In his public life, Steve was known as a visionary; in his private life, he cherished his family. We are thankful to the many people who have shared their wishes and prayers during the last year of Steve’s illness; a website will be provided for those who wish to offer tributes and memories.

We are grateful for the support and kindness of those who share our feelings for Steve. We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.

Tim Cook’s email to Apple employees

Here is the email message that CEO Tim Cook sent to his employees at Apple:

Team,

I have some very sad news to share with all of you. Steve passed away earlier today.

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

We are planning a celebration of Steve’s extraordinary life for Apple employees that will take place soon. If you would like to share your thoughts, memories and condolences in the interim, you can simply email rememberingsteve@apple.com.

No words can adequately express our sadness at Steve’s death or our gratitude for the opportunity to work with him. We will honor his memory by dedicating ourselves to continuing the work he loved so much.

Tim

Note from Bill Gates

Jobs’ longtime friend and rival Bill Gates of Microsoft released the following statement:

I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.

Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.

The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.

For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.

Note from Steve Ballmer

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer offered the following statement:

“I want to express my deepest condolences at the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of our industry and a true visionary. My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone who has been touched by his work.”

Notes from Google founders

Google CEO Larry Page made this statement:

“I am very, very sad to hear the news about Steve. He was a great man with incredible achievements and amazing brilliance. He always seemed to be able to say in very few words what you actually should have been thinking before you thought it. His focus on the user experience above all else has always been an inspiration to me. He was very kind to reach out to me as I became CEO of Google and spend time offering his advice and knowledge even though he was not at all well. My thoughts and Google’s are with his family and the whole Apple family.”

Google co-founder Sergey Brin made this statement:

“From the earliest days of Google, whenever Larry and I sought inspiration for vision and leadership, we needed to look no farther than Cupertino. Steve, your passion for excellence is felt by anyone who has ever touched an Apple product (including the macbook I am writing this on right now). And I have witnessed it in person the few times we have met.

On behalf of all of us at Google and more broadly in technology, you will be missed very much. My condolences to family, friends, and colleagues at Apple.”

Note from Marc Andreessen

Web pioneer Marc Andreessen said that Jobs beamed products from 10 to 20 years in the future.

“He was the most amazing product visionary our industry had or will ever have.”

Note from President Obama

U.S. President Barack Obama released the following statement:

Michelle and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators – brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.

By building one of the planet’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.  By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.  And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last.  Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.

The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to Steve’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Steve’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him.

CNET video tribute

CBS News video tribute

Steve Jobs on mortality

In his commencement address at Stanford University in 2005, after he had just came back from cancer the first time, Jobs said:

“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 others’ 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.”

Here is the video of the full 15-minute commencement speech at Stanford:

My take

A century from now, people will still marvel at how Steve Jobs changed the world by humanizing technology. That will be his legacy.

10 ways Microsoft can make Windows 8 a game changer

10 ways Microsoft can make Windows 8 a game changer

Windows 8

Takeaway: Now that we’ve had a chance to see some of the things Windows 8 can do, let’s talk about a few of the things it SHOULD do.

Tons of speculation has surrounded Windows 8, and while the recent Microsoft BUILD event and release of the Windows 8 Developer Preview have answered many of the questions, there is still plenty of time for Microsoft to unveil new features and strategies for the OS. Here are some things Microsoft can do to make Windows 8 a true game changer in the industry.

1: Better legacy apps experience

Right now, the experience of using legacy applications in the Developer Preview is just awful. You bounce between the slick Metro UI to a Windows 7 style desktop that is utterly crippled. For example, there is no Start menu. It feels like the old Windows 3.1 days, where many apps were still DOS apps and running them under Windows was a completely different experience from Windows apps — and that is not a good feeling. If Microsoft wants Windows 8 to get quick uptake, this needs to change.

2: 100% Binary compatibility with Xbox, Windows Phone

You know what would be awesome? Having one OS to rule all my devices and applications. Right now, we know that Microsoft intends for Windows 8 to be for desktops as well as tablets. By bringing the Xbox successor and phones into the mix, game developers wouldn’t need any extra effort to reach a bigger audience, and enterprises would be falling all over themselves to buy Windows 8 phones so their apps could be written only once.

3: Cloud selection

We’re currently seeing a fair amount of cloud integration (via Live) with Windows 8. Application data can get synced to the cloud, as can settings, so that you can effortlessly transition from one computer to another. It would be nice if the OS allowed you to specify a public cloud (great opportunity for Microsoft vendors here) or a private cloud (for enterprises and advanced home users) for this purpose. This would let enterprises feel comfortable having users syncing so much to a cloud, since they can pick it and control the data retention and storage.

4: Social networking hooks

Windows Phone 7 is innovative in its use of social networking. It is easy to have your pictures end up on Facebook, for example. While I doubt that people would want a desktop PC to tie everything to social networking, a level of integration like WP7 has would be great, especially when used on tablets.

5: Docking

Tablets are now powerful enough to run most applications pretty well. Sure, you don’t want to be running Photoshop or encoding video on a tablet. But for most basic productivity tasks, a tablet (or even a phone) can get the job done. We’re starting to see innovative devices like the Droid Bionic that can dock with other accessories such as monitors and keyboards to expand their capabilities. If Windows 8 has built-in provisions for this, in a way that applications can scale up or down (preferably automatically, without the developer needing to write special code), Windows 8 will be a winner for tablets and even phones.

6: Built-in Office

If Microsoft really wanted to impress us, it could put Office into the OS. Sounds nuts, right? Well, not really. WP7 devices already come with a portable version of Office that can handle Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote, as well as a separate Outlook version (that is much more integrated into the phone), which covers most people’s needs. Maybe Microsoft shouldn’t give away the farm with a full version of each application, but a stripped-down copy of each would be a real winner. It would ensure that Office maintains its dominance and keep Windows 8 useful. After all, why should someone pay for the full Office suite just to get features they aren’t going to use anyway?

7: A refocus on business capabilities

Windows 7 is a solid OS for business. Unfortunately, at least in the Developer Preview, Windows 8 is not. The legacy apps, as mentioned, feel out of place, which is bad for businesses that rely on all sorts of specialized applications. The Metro UI is just awful for multi-tasking or side-by-side work, which is a big problem for people trying to get important projects done. While there is multi-monitor support, of course, the idea of trying to perform tasks when applications must consume an entire screen is frightening for most kinds of sophisticated information work.

8: Lighter system requirements

Windows 8 needs to be lighter than Windows 7. While Windows 7 performs pretty nicely, Windows 8 needs to be usable on low-end desktops or tablets, if not phones. Microsoft is claiming that Windows 8 is much lighter than Windows 7, and it’s already been shown that system startup is lightning quick. Microsoft needs to do better. If they want Windows 8 to be a smash hit for tablets or phones, it needs to snap alive instantly.

9: Platform for locally hosted Web apps

One of the big changes in IT has been the move to Web applications. A real killer feature would be allowing applications to easily install and self-host a Web backend. This would allow developers to use their existing tools and code base, combine it with backend database synchronization, and instantly see applications with true offline capabilities without much additional effort. The pieces are already in place (IISExpress, LocalDB, and the cloud sync). The question is whether Microsoft can put it all together in one slick package. Enterprises would like to be able to self-host applications, either on the desktop or server level, rather than trust public cloud vendors. This would be a great step in that direction.

10: A price drop to free, or nearly so

This is the least likely of all, considering that Microsoft’s #1 source of revenue is Windows, followed by Office. Windows 7 took a while to start replacing XP, in no small part because while it was good, it wasn’t good enough to justify paying for an upgrade. By dropping the price significantly, along with reducing system requirements, Windows 8 looks like a good upgrade for existing machines, keeps the cost of Windows 8 powered notebooks, netbooks, and tablets low enough to compete with Android tablets and the iPad, and keeps the partners happy. HP has already announced that it’s pulling out of the PC game entirely, in no small part to cratering profit margins. Getting Windows 8 more attractively priced would help ensure better margins for those who are left.