Steve Jobs, I Hardly Knew Ye

Apple announced the sad death of Steve Jobs yesterday. Now whatever you think of the man and his products, whether you're a Mac-devotee or anti-Apple, I hope you can see Steve's passing for what it is - the loss of someone who achieved a great deal in his chosen field and, by daring to be different, someone who fostered a creative competition with the MS/IBM empire, a competition that gave rise to revolutionary, visionary products. The Guardian has a decent obituary for Steve.

Today is National Poetry Day, so the hack poet in me has come out of retirement with a tribute to Mr Jobs.

Steve Jobs, I Hardly Knew Ye

Steve Jobs, I hardly knew ye.
I've never owned a Mac,
An iPod or an iPad.
I took my Newton back.

The Luke to Gates's Vader,
The guy in the white hat,
The underdog, the mouse that roared,
The PC saw to that.

You polarised the IT world,
Evangelical - touch the screen!
If you'd teamed up with IBM
Who knows what might have been?

You ended on a high note,
A monopoly of your own.
With an app for everything it seems
The world loves their iPhone.