When Steve Jobs died of cancer earlier this year, the "weeping and wailing" seemed to go on for weeks. It was as if America's greatest hero had passed away, and all the techies with their "i-things" were lamenting his passing.

Then, over the following several months, articles and TV biographical specials let America know a little more about Steve Jobs, such as his rise from a marketer of an early personal computer invented by a friend in the back of a garage to the grand marketer and wizard of all those "i"—phones, pads, pods, tunes, and "apps," as in Apple. But the more we learned, the stranger this great entrepreneur became. Frankly, Steve Jobs was not a very likable guy. Even his own company fired him once, though they later hired him back. He had a mean temper, and if things did not go his way, well…then hit the highway.

It just so happens I am not an i-thing user. My PCs have been IBM/Microsoft since the 1980s; however, I understand that Apple and Mac users are true believers, and that i-things can do a marvelous job. Like Bill Gates of Microsoft or Facebook-creator Mark Zuckerberg, young geniuses, as Jobs once was, can play a mean game, often with their most faithful partners. Consideration of others is not foremost in their minds. Their single-mindedness is for the product, the tool, the next invention and its marketing—even if they spend 24/7/365 working and begin to emit odd aromas around their offices.