[marcalc]

To the very end. That's incredible and sad. I don't know him personally, but knowing his biography, the kind of person he was and the impact he has on my daily life, man... i feel like having lost a close relative. Sad... :( May he rest in peace, for he have inspired us.

[TomOfTTB]

This is terribly tragic and don't take anything I say after this as meaning anything other than that.

But the more I think about this the more I think this is somehow the way things were meant to be. I mean, as much as we wish it wasn't true people do get diminished by age. The dashing young actor loses a little when you see him as a 60 year old. Your memory of him gets altered in the smallest of ways.

Steve Jobs is now enshrined in the world's collective memory as the magic man in a black shirt and jeans. He'll always be that now. I'd certainly trade his legend for a few more years of his life but at the same time the world needs legendary figures.

Would it have been better if Abraham Lincoln had been around for two terms? Yes. But would he have inspired generations of Americans if he'd gotten mired down in the politics of reconstruction and been forced to act like "just another politician"? I doubt it.

So it's horribly sad that Steve Jobs died but the fact that he was amazing to the very end is what will make him a legend going forward.

[hugh3]

There's something to be said for retiring at the right time, but no, I don't think Steve Jobs' legacy would have been robbed of anything if he'd lived to enjoy thirty years of comfortable retirement.

Even dashing young actors aren't diminished by age. If Sean Connery had died young he would have robbed us of some great roles. And if Paul Newman had died young he would have robbed us of some tasty salad dressing.