Steve Jobs

I was never an Apple man, and perhaps because of that, I am able to assess Jobs's contribution to the tech world rather more dispassionately than some.  It was said on the news that he was the man who invented things you didn't even know you wanted, and certainly he always seemed to be ahead of the game.  Having said that, I always thought that Apple products were somewhat of a case of style over substance - they always looked good, but apparently didn't always perform up to their looks.  I remember one of my cars was a black low-slung sporty model - and I bought it on its looks - but its performance was average at best, and, although this was back in the days when Apple was still in nappies as it were, I have always thought of it as an "icar".  The other negative aspect of Apple - and I don't know whether this came from Jobs or not - was the way they sought to control the market - so if you bought their hardware you were restricted to using their software.  Indeed this was why I was never tempted to buy any of their products.  But having said all that, my kids and grandkids have ipods, iphones and ipads and swear by them.  So, Steve Jobs - visionary and astute businessman who died before his time.  Let's leave it at that.