Howard Roark is dead. Long live Howard Roark.

Steve Jobs died today. I am deeply saddened by this. To me Jobs was the modern-day incarnation of the Howard Roark archetype. Please read a little about him and the history of Apple and you will see a supremely talented, fearless man who had a deep personal vision and had no quarter for anything else. It was inspiring to see a company run mercilessly according to the vision of one genius, rather than a swarm of moochers passing second-hand ideas around (e.g. Microsoft). When you bought an Apple product you know that Jobs himself had had an intimate involvement with every aspect of it.

Now illness has struck Jobs down. Will his successor be another Howard Roark? Probably not. But there are more Howard Roarks out there. If you’re reading this Howard; you are right: stick to your guns.

 

ps.

Contrary to the belief of some fools Apple products are not themselves “Beta”, they just happen to be popular with Betas. The exception is iPads, which definitely are Beta.