I'm a Mac.

"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."

-Official Apple statement

If you had asked me a few hours ago, I wouldn't have thought I'd be so sad about Steve Jobs passing away, but the very fact of my typing this entry on a Macbook Pro right now with iTunes open and ready to sync my iPod is a testament to the incredible legacy he left behind. He was a brilliant man who built a history-shaping corporation with his innovation and sheer determination to create the best possible product on the market, or if necessary, to establish a market the world didn't even know it needed or wanted.

“We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here?” 

I didn't know Steve Jobs, so it would be inaccurate to say I'm in mourning for him, per se. His death is sad for everyone who did know him; despite his cutting all of Apple's corporate philanthropy programs and an unusual fondness for black turtlenecks, I'm sure he was a loved man. He was an infamous control freak, perfectionist, and micro-manager, sometimes called "a benevolent dictator, but a dictator nonetheless," and he knew it:

"My job is to not be easy on people. My job is to make them better."

He was also the kind of person whose personal experience auditing a calligraphy class in college inspired him to offer a variety of fonts for computer users to choose from -- a feature taken for granted today. Steve Jobs didn't believe in focus groups; he believed in Steve Jobs, with a confidence that led him to tell an interviewer that "it’s not the consumers’ job to know what they want.” Fortunately for us, he knew what he was doing.

“Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Steve Jobs really believed in his technology's potential to change the world. In courting PepsiCo exec Steve Sculley for the position of Apple CEO almost thirty years ago, Jobs won him by asking, "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want to change the world?" He saw the potential in a little computer graphics company that, under his direction, became Pixar Animation Studios; without Steve Jobs, there would be no Toy Story. He didn't even believe in the perceived Mac/PC rivalry (though he once disdained Microsoft products as "really third-rate" -- ouch), striking a deal with Microsoft in 1997 that exchanged their $150 million investment for his promise to pre-load Internet Explorer on all Apple computers, claiming that "we want to let go of this notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose" -- not only the ultimate display of corporate symbiosis, but evidence of a desire to succeed in the name of progress, not profit.

"Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me.… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful—that’s what matters to me."

Apple is a brand, but because of its founder, it was and hopefully always will be a little bit more inspirational than just the average company.

"Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Steve Jobs: February 24, 1955 – October 5, 2011

“We don’t get a chance to do that many things, and every one should be really excellent. Because this is our life. Life is brief, and then you die, you know? And we’ve all chosen to do this with our lives. So it better be damn good. It better be worth it.”