The Legacy of Steve Jobs

I do not own a single Apple product.  I have purchased them over the years as presents for my daughters (iPods & helped with the purchase of an iPhone or two), but I have never found them appealing for two main reasons:

1. I think the designs (hardware & software) tend to be over-simplified.  I like having lots of options and choices to make with the technology I use.  For example I hate the whole "automatic sync with iTunes" thing that iPods make you do; I want to make the choices of what is on my music player; I don't want anything to happen automatically. 
2. I think most of their products are over-priced.  The one exception I can think of is the 16gb iPad, which at $499 seems to be moderately priced relative to the competition.

The above noted, you can't help but admire the fact that Apple puts so much emphasis on design and product experience.  Compare this Microsoft's products, which tend to have clunky, sometimes non-intuitive designs.  Yes, it makes all the sense in the world to click on the "start" button to stop the computer.  Oh, and let's not forget the ever-feared "blue screen of death"...

...which we all tend to face from time to time.  Yes, I think there is something of a stark contrast between Apple and Microsoft...well more appropriately Apple and the rest of the technology world.  I suspect that this is the legacy of Steve Jobs.

Speaking of legacy, what better way to end this post than with the words of Steve Jobs.

"Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle."
– Stanford commencement speech 2005

Well spoken.