By Yun Suh-young
The legacy of Steve Jobs transcends national boundaries, ethnicities, and languages.
Following news of the death Thursday of the greatest IT guru of all times, netizens worldwide mourned the death of Steve Jobs online, re-tweeting the URL of the speech he gave in Stanford in 2005.
Twitter was the most active platform in which online users sent their condolences to the former Apple CEO.
“RIP Steve Jobs. You left your mark on our desks, on our ears & in our hands,” said an online user by the name Rovell on Twitter.
Veland, another netizen, said, “The real legacy of Steve Jobs was how he made technology work for us, instead of us working for technology.”
Some users posted quotes of Steve Jobs like, “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life."
Koreans, a very IT-conscious nation, enthusiastically praised Steve Jobs and mourned his death online. More than 200 posts were uploaded every minute on Twitter about Steve Jobs.
“If Bill Gates succeeded in placing computers in every office desk, Steve Jobs succeeded in placing computers in the bedrooms, living rooms, handbags and pockets of people,” said a Tweeter by the ID: @__In**.
“Seeing the wave of condolences, I realized that Steve Jobs was an innovator and an artist even before he was a capitalist. He was a ubiquitous artist who changed the lives of people. Today, Steve Jobs is in the hands of all people,” @cinem*** tweeted.
Words like iSad, iCloud, iHeaven, mimicking the names of the Apple products that started with “i,” floated around the Internet ― on Twitter, Facebook, and on YouTube ― as an expression of condolence.
A Tweeter by the ID: @hanan*** said, “Out of all the comments posted below Mark Zuckerberg’s posting, what catches my eyes is the comment, ‘He’s up in Heaven installing iCloud.’”
Korean celebrities also sent out online condolences.
“I could focus on the ‘dots’ of the present thanks to his speech at Stanford. He was my teacher. Today, I even respect his bad temper or his flaw in character,” said Park Joong-hoon, a Korean actor and movie star.
Lee Oi-soo, a renowned Korean writer, said, “Although you’re gone, the Mac you left is still on my desk. Rest in Peace.”
Steve Jobs, the creator and former CEO of Apple, likely died of pancreatic cancer diagnosed in 2004. Apple released no official statement on the cause of his death.