This 2011 documentary looks at Steve Jobs through interviews with his contemporaries, people who knew him and worked with him. The segments are titled “Misfit”, “Whiz Kid”, “Entrepreneur”, “Artist”, “Buddhist”, “Innovator”, “Celebrity”, “Tyrant”, “Saviour”, “Genius”, “Visionary” and “Legacy”, revealing the different sides of this complicated character. His partnership with Steve Wozniak (and childhood friend Bill Fernandez) led to the invention of the first Apple computer. This has changed our everyday world, work, leisure and human communication.
This is a fairly intimate 60-minute portrait the life and legacy of Steve Jobs: his faults, his artistry and his achievements – what made him the man who gave the world just “one more thing” (the infamous catchphrase when he would reveal yet another innovation in a device) and his impact on four major industries : computer, music (iTunes, iPod), movie (Pixar) and the phone (iPhone, iPad).
What if Steve Jobs had never been born? I think it would be a lot diferent, like if Thomas Edison or Wright Brothers had never been born. Our lives are different because of him and his vision. In fact, one interviewee mentioned that Jobs was probably even greater than Edison in his achievements, affecting four major strands of human achievement, whereas Edison affected only three (electricity, music, motion picture).
Bill Gates had always been fascinated by Jobs who always dominated. They had a healthy respect for each other. Gates’ Microsoft company was interwoven into Apple’s history – they were partners for a long time : the earliest Apple computers had Microsoft parts and Gates financially pulled Jobs out of bankruptcy for him (Jobs) to regain his seat in Apple. Jobs believed Microsoft stoked his ideas, Gates felt he got more credit than he might have deserved.
Jobs was diagnosed with cancer and he withdrew from public life. He had a liver transplant and was very frail. Even when he was very weak, he loved taking walks. (This poignantly reminds me of a friend suffering from Stage 4 cancer who loved to take walks in her neighbourhood park until she was confined to a wheelchair.) He died on 5 October 2011, aged 56.
Job is not just a man who made computers; he changed the way we communicate. His legacy will transform people’s life in the future.
Goldenager 