Thanks Steve

I was sad to hear the news today that January's MacWorld conference would be Apple's last, and that Steve Jobs would not be present for the final keynote. Apple's press release was upbeat, mentioning the number of visitors that they can now reach through Apple stores, or through their web site, and that the influence of trade shows was waning, but to me it was the end of an era.

I can remember so many Januarys, furiously refreshing the web pages of engadget or MacWorld as news trickled out of the keynote, and alternately clicking back to Apple.com to see if the store was back up, to see the new product pictures & specs. Evetually, they would be there, the new greatest thing I didn't know I needed. And I would want it.

I want to thank Steve Jobs for what he did at Apple. I think his second period of leadership was more significant than his first. OS X, the iMac, the titanium Powerbook, itunes, the iPod and the iPhone have not only changed Apple in their turn, but looking back, each embodied an idea, that things could be better if people worked hard enough to make them that way. They were always a physical manifestation of cool. And you didn't have to wait long. He wasn't talking about stuff they might do. They had already done it. He had one in his pocket, "these are shipping today."

Thanks, Steve.