I've read some people early this morning, saying that Steve Jobs' death is being a bit overrated, I guess that's just part of the consequences for being a genius: some will excessively admire you and then some will despise you with certain ignorance. I suppose these persons think that Jobs was just one more businessman in the world, but the truth is that he wasn't exactly just that, Steve Jobs was a visionary, as well as a modern day illusion-generator up to the same standard as Walt Disney and was also a genius who laid the foundations for something so prominent and important in our current times: the way we understand and consume computering at both home and professional levels. During the last decade he also established the lead model to be followed, he was a few steps ahead from his competitors who just couldn't do else but following the trends that he setted with his products and inventions.
Seeking a musical simile, some geniuses come to my mind (Wes Montgomery, Jaco Pastorius...) but there's no doubt that the one ringing louder in my head is Jimi Hendrix. They both were geniuses who laid the foundations for modern era in their respective fields, and you get the same effect with both of them: you can choose a side and decide to admire them whether you might decide to believe you feel some indifference towards them, but yet it's undeniable the impact and influence they've been in the way we currently understand how an electric guitar should sound or what to expect from a computer or smartphone, just to name a few examples. You might say "I do not like Hendrix, but I love Muse", the paradox is that, even supposing that the guys from Muse didn't like Hendrix guitar playing, their music wouldn't be the same or wouldn't exist in the same way it does if it wasn't for Hendrix's existence and talent. Same occurs with Jobs, you might say for example "I don't like apple brand products, my smartphone is Samsung" and still you get the same paradox.
It's because of these kind of reasons that Steve Job's death is so relevant, we tend to evaluate geniuses for the things they have tangibly created, but their true talent lies on the more untangible side of their existence: the big influence they mean to the world.
