Respect: Subtle Tributes to Steve Jobs Across the Internet

It's a pity Steve Jobs will never get to see the outpouring of emotion and respect that followed his passing. Without a doubt, few individuals have had the kind of impact on their industry and the popular imagination than Jobs did while at the helm of Apple.

By now, there are many fantastic homages to Jobs (if you haven't read Steven Levy's piece yet, you're missing out). But as I read through these, at some point I started to wonder whether there were other, more subtle tributes that were being paid to Jobs by Apple's rivals and peers in Silicon Valley.

True to form, Google provide me with an answer to that question, by including a one-liner underneath the search bar in their deliberately sparse landing page:

I must admit, however, that I was a little disappointed that Google didn't upload a Doodle to pay homage.

Later on, as reaction to Jobs' passing started coming in from every corner of the world, Wired changed their landing page into a dedicated tribute to Jobs:

Likewise, the folks at TUAW made it a point to pay their respects to Apple's founder:

Of course, one would expect hat tips along the lines of the above. But I was surprised that other companies also made it a point to explicitly pay tribute to Jobs in their own small way.

For instance, Amazon placed a very prominent mini-banner on their landing page linking directly to Apple's announcement of Steve Job's death:

I guess I found this surprising, considering that Amazon simply didn't have to do it. But I must say that I admire the gesture of respect.

Meanwhile, Microsoft's landing page also had Jobs' passing mentioned in the "latest news" column on the site's layout:

Of course, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer had expressed their own sadness at Job's passing, though neither statement found its way to the Microsoft landing page.

But I must admit I was plenty amused that Adobe made it a point to include an item about Steve Jobs on their website:

Granted, it's a remembrance of Jobs with Adobe's founders. But considering that Jobs once wrote a scathing public letter about Adobe Flash, it's a nice gesture all the same.

Of course, this is just a smattering of the subtle tributes I stumbled upon in the hours after news of Jobs' death came out. I'm sure there are many more, in various other shapes and forms.

It's been about two days since Steve Jobs passed on, and to me it feels as if the world is already a less exciting place. But at the same time, I know it's become a much more interesting place to be in just because he was a part of it. In his short fifty-six years on this earth he taught us to think differently, expect more, and demand nothing less than perfection. We are, all of us, the better off because of it.