Remembering Steve Jobs: One Last Thing

PBS Documentary One Last Thing is an interesting view of Steve Jobs' passion, ambition and his life until his passing on October 5th, 2011; a tribute to his success and the events in his life that made him who he was ---a smart, sharp businessman.


So, on the last day of the year, here's "one last thing" about him (apparently "one more thing" was his catchphrase in presentations)...the gadgets he presented over the last thirty years did more, and more and more than the teams he pitched them too ever expected.

Graphic by Jonathan Mak, 2011

The documentary starts with the meeting between Jobs and Steve Wozniak, that began with a mutual friend (Fernandez) (who, sadly, when asked the join the company and be paid in stock, not cash...held out for the cash). Wozniak was the engineering wizard, Jobs was the design whiz, and together they created a company that changed our world and how we communicate today. They started out tricking the telephone system (of the early 70's) into thinking their computers were telephones, and letting them phone long distance for free. It takes us back to the $20 000 GBP Apple II and then more forward into the tagline Think Different.


Jobs was a ruthless businessman, but also a meticulous artist who studied calligraphy at Reed College in Oregon, with calligraphy artist Robert Palladino. He studied Zen Buddhism in India and themed his boardrooms after famous artists like Picasso.As one of his Buddhist teachers said, "he infused zen buddhism into his products". Jobs found great ideas -like Xerox's first mouse --and got his team to copy it, but make it better.

Some say that Bill Gates is a better friend, Jobs a better businessman and a friend when he needed you. The interview with them both, as "friends" after Jobs' diagnosis with cancer, is also shown in this short film.Others attest to their lifelong friendship with and devotion to Jobs; still others, from Pixar for example, attest to his ruthless takeover of the company. Yet, many know that Apple (after Jobs left it) was about to be bankrupt---the "second coming of Jobs", as the PBS documentary says, was what changed our world.

Photo from mac-history.net

  

Some say that Bill Gates is a better friend, Jobs a better businessman and a friend when he needed you. The interview with them both, as "friends" after Jobs' diagnosis with cancer, is also shown in this short film.Others attest to their lifelong friendship with and devotion to Jobs; still others, from Pixar for example, attest to his ruthless takeover of the company. Yet, many know that Apple (after Jobs left it) was about to be bankrupt---the "second coming of Jobs", as the PBS documentary says, was what changed our world.

"Once you discover one thing..that the world you consider life was built by people who are not any smarter than you....the world is yours" --Steve Jobs.

What great words to lead us into 2012! Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs. Happy New Year, everyone!  I absolutely can't wait until 2012 ---this is my year, I know it!