The Foundations of Tomorrow

[Robby]

The Foundations of Tomorrow
(News from Hero Engine)

by: Neil Harris, President & COO of HeroEngine
Steve Jobs has passed away and everyone is talking about the man, his life, and his legacy. Some cynics are already asking what his long-term impact could be compared to some of the greats who came before.
One thing I can say is that thanks to Steve Jobs we’ll all have high-powered network-connected game machines in our pockets. The power of the iPhone/iPad platform is changing everything.
The cynical stories remind me of a poem I’d like to share:

Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said—‘Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.’​

Depressing? The moral of the story is that everything is ephemeral.
I own, and love, an iPod Classic, an iPhone 4, an iPad 2, a MacBook Pro, and a brand new iMac. In ten years, who knows what new and even cooler gadgets we’ll be playing with?
In ages that passed, the pedestal of Ozymandias remains. Nothing is built in a vacuum, everything, however disposable, is built on the foundation of something that came before. Steve Jobs had the unique ability of continually innovating on top of the most slender of foundations. Today’s Apple gadgets are certain to be key building blocks for the future. So thanks, Steve Jobs, for today’s devices and more important thank you for laying a sturdy foundation for future generations.
That is truly a legacy to admire.
About the author: Neil brings more than 30 years of gaming, software and technology management experience in his current role as COO of Idea Fabrik and President of HeroEngine. Prior to Idea Fabrik, Neil held executive and management positions with Simutronics, GE, Atari and Commodore. Neil has a BS in Business & Management from the University of Maryland and an MBA from Wharton’s University of Pennsylvania.