Background to Steve Jobs's last words
Steve Jobs was a dynamic and hugely successful entrepreneur and was at the heart of the revolution in personal computing that took it from the age of punched cards into the graphical touchscreen interfaces of the 21st century.
He is widely seen to have something of a Jekyll and Hyde personality. From one perspective he might be seen as an archetypal California hippie, taking LSD, following Buddhism and favouring the music of Bob Dylan and the Beatles. On the other hand many others knew him as a ruthless autocrat and driven businessman who took Apple from nothing to its place as the most financially successful company in history. This dichotomy is exemplified in the adoption of the name Apple, which although it came from his admiration for The Beatles, who had chosen that name for their own company, he nevertheless refused to change when the group claimed a copyright infringement.
He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003. His response was to ignore medical advice and to undergo a regime of alternative medical treatments. This path wasn't a successful one and he died at his Palo Alto home in October 2011.
His final words, reported by those present at his bedside were: "Oh wow", repeated three times.
