It's exactly twenty-four hours since I first saw the news about Steve Jobs' passing. Instead of completing the final stages of my routine 'go to bed' maneuver, I stayed up until 3am watching Leo Laporte's live coverage and reading the initial outpouring of shock and reflection. I awoke this morning and felt as if a family member had died. It's been a low kinda day.

I've been in London most of the day and away from my keyboard and it's late and I really ought to get to bed, but it doesn't feel right to miss the slot and chance to say something about it.

Along with all the emotion and sentimentality that most people seem to be unexpectedly dealing with today, for me one of the most profound things I've reflected upon is what Steve Jobs did not for consumers, but for people whose job it is to design, create, market and sell technology products. Steve Jobs showed a generation of technology designers and product marketers how it should be done.

I first really caught the Steve Jobs bug in July 2004 when still a devout - if wavering - Windows user, if finally I relented and bought my first iPod. And literally ten minutes after unboxing it, my own awareness and capability as a technologist somehow advanced. I blogged about the sense of enlightenment I felt that afternoon.

Prior to my iPod awakening, I'd blogged about how disillusioned I'd become watching the once vibrant PC industry become moribund and boring.

Nobody can say that today's world of technology is boring. We have Steve Jobs to thank for that.