Putting the user at the heart of the vision, he drove the company to create usable, aesthetically pleasing products that we wanted to own as much for the sheer pleasure of playing with them as for what they could do for us. Other companies produced versions that were backward-compatible, had more functionality, could be more tailored to individual tastes, would be cheaper - but few were as intuitive, neat and beautifully engineered, and none were as fun. Jobs is, actually, not the creative force behind the designs of his best-known products - that accolade has to go to Jonathan Ive, the quiet (English) designer who is SVP of Industrial Design at Apple, who, in the best traditions of design, has been strongly influenced by previous iterations of designers, notably Deiter Rams of Braun. However, Jobs created the corporate culture and belief that attracted and nurtured him - and the many other designers, engineers and computer scientist - to work on what is now the set of definitive products that are the strongly beating heart of consumer technological consumption.

But Jobs did more than drive the development of Apple. He also co-founded and was CEO of Pixar, the animation studio now owned by Disney, bringing us the laughter, joys and innovation in a series of classic modern animations. Not only did they develop fantastic technologies to develop the visual effects, they created entertainment like never before: the Toy Story series, Monsters, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, and so on. Whilst, as a computer scientist, I can appreciate the technological wizardry behind the scenes, the wonderful thing is that, when you watch the films, you forget all about that: you are absorbed in emotional journeys that transport you to new worlds where belief is not suspended, but instead fully present - of course Buzz will come through, clearly Mrs Incredible can stretch that far, we feel the pain of Nemo's father. These stories bring entertainment and joy to millions, and that's a remarkable legacy.

Jobs is now dramatically reducing his role in Apple. He is severely ill - and all the money in the world cannot cure that. But his achievements ought to make him happy, and all the money in the world cannot buy that either. We have a lot to thank him for, and we wish him well.