Remembering Steve Jobs Ten Years Later

I took this screenshot of apple.com 10 years ago this month. It's remained on my desktop ever since.

Steve's untimely passing 10 years ago today affected me more than the death of any other celebrity. I certainly don't have any other celebrity remembrance keepsakes on my desktop. I don’t know what that says about him, or me. Technology, especially Apple, plays a big part in my view of the world and I suppose Steve seemed to me to be the larger-than-life figure that was steering us to the future.

As far as Apple itself goes, I don't have the same reverence for it that I have for Steve. There's a separation there in my mind. I’m afraid the "it" factor that Apple possessed (Steve) is no longer there, and that it’s been running on fumes for the last 10 years (a large amount of fumes, sure.) Apple has swollen into a lumbering behemoth instead of being the nimble, purposely-slimmed down visionary company that Steve would have built. Having a hand in so many separate endeavors dilutes the mission, in my opinion, of Apple. How can a company change the world for the better when it devotes thousands of employees to Apple Maps and Apple Music and Apple TV+ and the unannounced self-driving car? (We badly need accident-free self-driving on-demand electric cars, but I'd be surprised if Apple is the company to make this happen.) Perhaps I'm wrong, and Apple will continue to make impactful, helpful, positive changes to society. I guess I hope I am wrong, in which case Steve's legacy as a company-builder would be even more impressive.

Edit: a previous version of this post was less coherent.