Steve Jobs and what we've missed.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/8-things-didn-t-know-life-steve-jobs-172130955.html


So, it's obviously no longer news to any of us that Steve Jobs passed away last week. We sat there in shock and watched Dateline, we teared up when discussing it in class, we thought about it every time we opened up our Macbooks... but what might be news to us are the parts of Steve Jobs' life that people didn't always think about- the parts of his life that had absolutely nothing to do with Apple.

First interesting fact- while some of us knew that Jobs was adopted, it was news to me that his biological father was a Syrian- I personally never would have guessed that Jobs was part Arab. I personally think this is rather cool, since I'm mostly Turkish- power to the darker haired and not always remembered nationalities! Secondly, we all hear about how Jobs dropped out of college. Like Edison and Einstein, we use this as a sign of his higher genius- 'I heard Steve Jobs dropped out of college. It just wasn't challenging enough for him! He's so brilliant'. This is true. The facts behind the dropout, though? The college- Reed College in Portland, Oregon. The duration of his college education? One semester. The reason for the dropout? Not lack of intellectual stimulation, actually. Quite the contrary- Jobs cited his reason for dropping out as being the steep tuition costs.

Another thing you might not know about Jobs- he and Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak worked for Atari back when Pong was first being developed. Jobs reportedly lied to Wozniak about the payout they received for their developments, though, and only handed over $375 of the $5k they were given. This is one of a few facts about Jobs that show him in a less idolistic light- he was human, after all. He made mistakes, both with work and with his partnership. One relationship he seemed to have no public mistakes to leave behind with, though, was the one with his wife, Laurene Powell. They met while she was receiving her masters at Stanford, and the rest is history. Not every relationship he had was as perfect and romantic, though. In 1978, Jobs and his high school girlfriend had a daughter who Jobs denied paternity of until she was in high school. He went on to pay for her Harvard education, but had even gone as far as to claim sterility in court documents predating the mended relationship with her mother, his ex. He also at one point was reported to have had a brief fling with folk singer Joan Baez, and officially dated Diane Keaton before meeting wife Laurene.

Human. Jobs. Love him, hate him, remember him... I sure will.