Nectarine Group had a “Remember Steve Day.” We all wore black turtlenecks and sneakers.

Steve Jobs passed away this week. It’s strange how events like this bring people together. His passing hit this country like an earthquake. There wasn’t any physical devastation, and I think we will make it through without FEMA’s intervention, but people came together in much the same way.

There are piles of flowers and notes outside Apple stores across the county. And all over the internet major websites have transformed home pages to digital shrines to one of this country’s great innovators. Companies who compete with Apple every day, who have lawsuits sitting on lawyers’ desks right now, have taken time out to write articles about how this man defined the course of history.

I may bitch about Apple: this computer’s too expensive, this OS is too closed down; but he built this city. His ideas and drive and commitment made the PC what it is today–not a computer at all. Without the work that Steve did I wouldn’t have a desk to sit at everyday, or a computer to work on. I would be sitting with a less than beautiful machine looking back at me, probably building flash websites, and checking my blackberry.

So, thank you Steve, without your dedication to innovation, and your unwillingness to take no for an answer, this world would not be what it is today. We have lost a great man.