Spotted: Your comments on Steve Jobs's life and legacy

A man photographs tributes to the late Steve Jobs with his iPad outside the Apple Store in London. (Suzanne Plunkett/Reuters)

News that Apple co-founder Steve Jobs has died at the age of 56 is generating an outpouring of condolences from CBC community members.

The majority of you have expressed great respect and admiration for the man who revolutionized technology through his design, marketing and creation of personal computers and mobile devices.

The most agreed upon comment on the story was simple: "Cancer takes another great man," by ReddHerring. (Jobs was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2004. Although no official cause of death has been announced, many have speculated cancer was the culprit.)

Here are a few themes we spotted in your reactions.

The Genius of Jobs

Many of you compared Jobs with historical figures who changed the world with their insight and innovation. You called him a "game changer," "an incredible visionary and leader," "one of the truly great entrepreneurs of all history." Scores of you simply called him a "genius."

• "I will remember Steve Jobs as a visionary and modern-day DaVinci, a man who could predict (or coerce) what the public wanted, a man who pioneered the concept of combining practicality and performance with elegance and style," said AThinkingMan.
•  "...love him or hate him, you can't deny he was a force to be reckoned with. The success of Apple is proof that his arrogance was matched by his skill. He understood the inevitability of disruptive technology (today's word for progress) and chose to be the disrupter rather than the disrupted," said rcomeau. 
• "Thomas Edison gave us the light bulb and the phonograph, Alexander Graham Bell gave us the telephone and Steve Jobs put it all together and put it in our pockets," said roverguy.
  

The Great Rivalry

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who knew Jobs for more than 30 years, had kind words for his friend and competitor:

"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 honour," Gates said in a statement.

Many of you said that the healthy rivalry was good for both men -- and for the entire industry.

• "Steve Jobs was the only guy that could go toe to toe with Bill Gates. I believe their rivalry, helped make Apple and Microsoft the powerhouses they are today," wrote Canadian Viewer.
•  "I agree with Canadian Viewer: he and Bill Gates and their teams spurred one another on. And Bill Gates has matured a lot, too, over the years," added PeggyO'Neill.
• "He dared to challenge Bill Gates and Microsoft and made a very successful computer company into a giant," said TDRHR1.
  

Quotable Quotes

In order to express why Steve Jobs will go down in history, many of you could not help but quote either Apple's unique marketing or the man himself. Here are two of your borrowed sentiments: 

• "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. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About 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 people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do." - Apple Inc., 1997 (Quoted by kEiThZ)
• "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. 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, commencement address 2005 (Quoted by garrettg13)
  

As always, thanks to all of you for sharing your opinions on this story. We really appreciate your feedback.