Hundreds of members of the Tufts community opened their MacBooks or turned on their iPhones yesterday to learn that the man behind these innovations had passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Love it or hate it, Steve Jobs' company revolutionized technology as we know it and, if nothing else, made lugging your laptop to class that much easier.
I was studying for a computer science exam in Halligan last night, and I think by approximately ten minutes after it happened someone had written ‘Rest in Peace Steve Jobs' on the white board, and I just thought that was very computer-sciencey.
—Matthew Taylor, senior
He contributed a lot to computer science and had a great product, but he's just another businessman. I feel like it's getting more hype than it deserves.
—Karl Gaebler, junior
I think that Steve Jobs is one of those people that is most recognized among our generation because he had such a great influence on not only technology, but also just the way technology has shaped our lives.
—FritiziPieper, senior
I'm a new Apple user. I've had every version of the iPhone and I just got a new Mac. I think he's made a lot of products that have impacted our entire generation. He kind of came up with the idea that if you make a really nice product, people will buy it, whereas before it was to make something cheap enough that people will buy it. He introduced the idea that if you make something really nice it can be expensive and people will still buy it. I hope that whatever his death brings, it's not the end of Apple, and that they keep their quality assurance and the respect they have already.
—Corey Mason, sophomore
I found out this morning; I was very sad. The only other celebrity death that has made me that sad was Heath Ledger's. I think Apple's a very unique company and everybody's probably a little worried about whether it's going to stay the course. Also, he was very young.
—David Schockett, senior
I feel like he defined the decade of our teenage life, he defined the 2000s. When you think about the 2000s, you think about iPods and all this new technology that came out.
— Brad DeBattista, junior
If I were to describe [him] in one sentence, I would call him the greatest role model I never met. Instead of setting the bar farther than anyone else has, he kind of showed us what the future can be and I honestly think we're going in a better direction because of him. People love to hate Apple, people love to hate on Apple, but you can't argue that he's [had an impact].
—Foster Lockwood, junior
I was kind of surprised to hear it, because I didn't know anything was wrong, and he wasn't that old. I'm kind of interested to see where Apple will end up going without their head guy now, I wonder if they'll continue ... the way that he was heading, getting more and more people friendly, or if they'll head in a new direction."
—Michael Lambert, junior
