I actually thought about that a few days ago. Why do I feel like Bill won’t hurt as much when he eventually passes (sorry for being so crass). I think when it’s Bill, we will remember his amazing legacy, his incredible drive/competitive fire, and his wonderful pledge to 3rd world countries, and so on, etc, BUT, people won’t hurt the same way as with Steve.
Apple made products MOSTLY for Schools and Home Users (actually they made products they themselves wanted to use, that was the genesis of the company). Steve always regarded Apple as an Electronics company (much like Sony, Panasonic, Braun, etc) which is why it made perfect sense for them to get into the music business, etc. Enterprises were and still are the primary market for Microsoft’s Windows and Office businesses (don’t let the new ‘hip’ Microsoft image fool you: they get almost all their profits from Windows and Office, to this day).I don’t hurt because I think Steve was a friend of mine (of course not), and I don’t even hurt because I think Apple is in trouble (they have brilliant people there, they’ll be fine). I think it hurts because Steve was the idealist. 

Kinda like when John Lennon was taken (from an altogether different killer), we don’t just love the Beatles music (or the Mac) we love the Idealist. Like Howard Roarke (Ayn Rand/Fountainhead), Steve was a Businessman in spite of himself, he seemed to act in spite of his wealth, and in spite of traditional business thinking. Paradoxically, this approach to business and life, made him incredibly rich—rich enough to quit, at any moment. 

When he was 25 he was worth 100 million dollars. When he sold Pixar he was a billionaire. When he found out that his Cancer had returned in mid-2000′s, no one would have questioned his decision to step down. He quite literally had NO reason to keep working at Apple, but for his pure enjoyment of working on new products.

Apple was not a power trip or egomaniacal toy for Jobs: it was his passion. We all want to find that thing in our own lives, that makes us giddy to get to ‘work’, giddy to discuss, and learn about and work on. In many ways, we’re all jealous of Steve, for his unique mind, and his unbelievable discipline, and exceptionally high standards, and his love for … something that goes far beyond the material world.

When Bill Gates talks about Computers, he uses words like Standardization, Opportunity, Capitalize, Marketshare. Sorry to polarize and oversimplify these two guys, but the perception that they were completely opposite (even if it’s not true: perhaps Steve was just the cool workaholic who dropped Acid and Bill is the nerdy workaholic who didn’t) is why I think the public is so gutted right now, and may not have such a reaction to Bill.

Like Howard Roarke, Steve Jobs was the enlightened one, not because he was smarter than everyone else, but because he would rather do nothing, than produce middling products– it’s a seemingly self-destructive policy of exceptional high standards of design, finish, synergy, speed, and…well, zen, that anyone else in the world would abandon at the first sign of struggle, and compromise. Steve never did (ok, iPod Hifi and the Hockey Puck mouse were pure shite, let’s be fair), and if that doesn’t inspire you to greatness, I don’t know what ever will.

Rest in Peace you Crazy Fucking Genius.

ps. so i guess Koichi will be like “yeeeheehaaaaaaaaa!” when Bill Gates dies