BBC reports: News that Apple boss Steve Jobs is stepping down permanently as chief executive of the technology giant prompted an outpouring of tributes, analysis, sadness and gallows humour on the web.
Here are just a selection of some of the reactions.
On the popular tech site Techcrunch, Saul Hamsell described Mr Jobs as the "the patron saint of perfectionists". The most amazing thing about Apple's revival under Mr Jobs' leadership, he wrote, was that it happened at all.
Most of the digital innovations that have transformed our lives have been logical outgrowth of increasing power and decreasing cost of semiconductors. Someone was going to invent personal computers, cell phones, the Internet, even search engines.
But there was "nothing the slightest bit inevitable" about Apple's success, he adds.
Writing at CNet, Jay Greene said Apple's fortunes, and those of Mr Jobs, were inextricably linked to Microsoft and Bill Gates. The firms and their bosses were rivals in innovations throughout the 1980s, the writer notes, and Steve Jobs was publicly critical of Microsoft during its 1990s heyday.It's hard to think of anyone besides Steve Jobs who through the sheer force of will, self-confidence, vision and perfectionism could upend the powerful forces of technology to make so many products that delighted so many people precisely because they were improbable.
At the time, and for many years after, those words often seemed like sour grapes from an executive whose company had been surpassed in so many ways by Microsoft. But in the end, Jobs proved his vision right. His design chops and vision helped launch the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad, industry changing products that turned Apple into a more profitable and more valuable company than Microsoft.
News website The Daily Beast collated tweets from Apple employees as they reacted to the news.
Among those was Chris Espinosa, Apple employee number eight:
On May 31, 1985 I walked by Steve and his team sitting under the tree outside Bandley 3. Today I saw him leave Apple again.
Mike Lee, senior engineer at Apple, was brief and emotional:
I knew this day would come. I didn't expect to cry.
Another emotional writer was Om Malik, founder of the GigaOm network, who said he had a "lump in my throat and a tear in my eye" as he wrote his post. He, like many others, was quick to note that Mr Jobs' announcement raised concerns over his health.
The first thought that ran through my head was about Steve's health, and I thought to myself that this cannot be good. I don't care about him being the CEO or head of Apple. What I really do care about is his health. He wouldn't be making this decision unless things were pretty dire.
"Today, we are living in a world that is about taking short-term decisions," Mr Malik continued.
And then there is Steve and Apple - a leader and a company not afraid to take the long view, patiently building its way to the future it envisions for itself. Not afraid to invent the future and to be wrong. And almost always willing to do one small thing - cannibalize itself. Under Steve, Apple was happy to see the iPhone kill the iPod and iPad kill the MacBook. He understands that you don't walk into the future by looking back - if you do, you trip over yourself and break your nose.
Outside of the tech elite, ordinary Apple users took to Twitter to mark their appreciation for a man they never met but who influenced all their lives.
"Thanks #stevejobs for years of innovative design. Something few companies embrace. You are greatly admired. (Typed on my Macbook)" was one typical tweet, by Matt Grube, while Caitlyn Pardue, of New York, was even more succinct: "#stevejobs You are inspirational! #genius".
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