On this day 54 years ago, one Steven P. Jobs was born.

As Jobs is now not only taking a break from the company, but also apparently unplugging himself from the internet entirely in an effort to regain his health from what has been only referred to as a "hormone imbalance," there's no word on what St. Steve and his family have planned for the occasion. One can imagine, however, that it would be rather low key and consisting of a fair bit of reflection on Jobs' own part.

It's hard to argue that over those 54 years anybody has done more to shape the consumer computing market than Jobs. While he and his company didn't invent the GUI, it was Jobs that saw its potential and spearheaded both the IP acquisition from Xerox and the development of the Macintosh.

His commitment to producing a small, elegant device for the masses to use was evident through the development of the Mac, iPod and now iPhone. While his personality has been much-maligned at times, there's no denying his vision.

Happy birthday to Steve Jobs and here's to hoping that if his 55th birthday doesn't find him back in the CEO chair at Apple, it at least finds him in better health than 54 did.

25 Feb 2009