I wanted to write about Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple Inc., straight after he passed away on the fifth of this month. However, the approaching defeat of Muammar Gaddafi, and then his capture and death, as well as the developments relating to the other Arab uprisings, were all more important for a writer in an Arab newspaper. And when I finally decided to return to Jobs last weekend, a much more important event took place, namely, the passing away of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, Rest in Peace. Yet there is a ‘silver lining' to this delay. For one thing, it allowed more material to accumulate on this genius who first caught my attention when I found out that he was born to a Syrian father, Abdul Fattah Jandali, and an American mother. He then took the name of an American family that had adopted him, and this is how the world came to know him as Steve Jobs. From time to time, I find a reason to regain some of my confidence in the nation. Arabs are indeed able to be creative, if given but half a chance, and can compete at the highest international calibers, if given equal chances, instead of squandering their lives running away from the security services or running after their daily sustenance. Steve Jobs is my proof that the Arabs have not lost those abilities that were the forerunners of the Renaissance, which other nations saw and benefited from. Of the material on Steve Jobs, I content myself with a part that I will present here briefly. It is a complete testimony in favor of the man and his genius, a testimony that I have seen nothing like it, or as lengthy as it, even when the heads of major states had died. Newsweek dedicated its cover for Steve Jobs after his death, and twenty pages in the same issue, including two that featured magazines from around the world that had put the picture of Jobs on their covers and his achievements. The title of the lengthy report on Jobs was “Thanks for the Future” – in the sense that he gave the world its future. With this same spirit, the Economist said in an editorial entitled “the Magician” that the technological revolution that Steve Jobs started was only just beginning. The Economist also ran a report entitled “A Genius Departs” that highlighted the most astonishing achievements of the late Apple CEO. The Observer chose to run an ‘inspiring' speech delivered by Steve Jobs at the 2005 Stanford University commencement, where he only completed one semester before dropping out to start Apple Computer Inc. with two of his friends and pave the way for the future of the world. Before his death, the same newspaper had published a report on Jobs entitled “What made Steve Jobs a giant among the world's greatest communicators?” Then both the Guardian and the Independent talked about Tim Cook, who succeeded Steve Jobs as Apple CEO after his condition deteriorated, and the main gist of both reports was that it will be difficult to fill the void left by the departure of the company's genius CEO. The Times, meanwhile, dedicated a full page for a writer who expounded on an interview he conducted with Steve Jobs, as though the latter was as important as the Pope. The newspaper had also run many articles on the man's life, death, and how peculiar he was, and also about his ability to conjure technological miracles. I can say with confidence that every single newspaper in London published many articles about him, sometimes ten or even twenty articles, with ensuing comments and responses that all included words like genius, inspiring, intriguing and innovative. When he resigned, I had quoted the Western press and how he was compared to historical geniuses like Thomas Edison, a comparison that the Washington Post repeated after his death. A majority in the media and among the readers considered him more important than Edison and John Rockefeller, and other top inventors and businessmen. It appears that Steve Jobs was peculiar, both in his life and his death. For instance, there is a new book now that offers a biopic of the late Apple CEO, in 650 pages, written by Walter Isaacson, who says that when Steve Job's condition deteriorated, he resorted to so-called “alternative medicine”. For example, he postponed surgery for nine months, preferring to follow a diet of vegetables and other popular recipes. I also read that doctors insisted that the cancer he had could have been treated through conventional medicine and surgery, but that Jobs refused it until his cancer spread dramatically. Equally strange is what the book mentions about Apple's war with Google, and Steve Jobs' threat to wage a ‘thermonuclear war' against Google. As I read about this genius who was born to a Syrian father, I think of the limits of the abilities of any Syrian or Arab who is given a chance, and I think about the situation in Syria today, and all I feel is sadness. So I take refuge in the mirage of hope, hope for a better future. [email protected]
