They are linking to the home page of Android's competitor. Google's statement says this event transcends money, transcends business, transcends all rational thought.
Observe a moment of silence and reflect. We all lost a great man whose vision changed everything - I just smile a little at the comments from people who say Steve Jobs didn't affect their life, because they don't carry an iPhone, or because they are a DIY guy, or because anything else. You didn't have to own an iDevice to have been touched by Steve Jobs - you lived in a world in which he tinted every facet of technology with his genius.
Also unheard of, Microsoft.com has a link on their homepage. Amazon, normally squeezing money out of every pixel has reserved a block for him (and it doesn't link to a book). Oddly, Pixar has nothing.
For all of the catty infighting we, as an industry, engage in at times I have been pleasantly surprised with how sincere and heartfelt a lot of the responses to this event have been. We are in danger of over-using the adjective "classy", but it seems apropos in most cases and this is yet another example.
I think we sometimes forget while we're bickering about this vs that how much mutual respect there is in the tech industry.
I strongly suspect that there are Android and iPhone fans who dislike each other massively more than those working at and running Google and Apple do. Reasonable people don't undertake these feats of engineering without admiring and respecting those who've been on similar journeys.
I know they did a similar tribute for Edsgar Dijkstra in 2002. Are there any other times Google has done a home page tribute for a single person, like this?
Yes, but do you mean on their death, or "at all". I seem to recall Asimov and Turing both having tributes at one time or another for event other than their death (obviously).
Quote: While designing Gmail, the Apple mentality led me to approach design decisions from the standpoint of ‘what can I remove’ rather than ‘what can I add’.
Newspapers and the press in general normally have an obituary team who write and update obituaries for noteworthy people who are still alive. That way if anything happens, they can be quick off the mark and publish a well researched article about the person. Occasionally these are published in error when the person in question is still alive.
Observe a moment of silence and reflect. We all lost a great man whose vision changed everything - I just smile a little at the comments from people who say Steve Jobs didn't affect their life, because they don't carry an iPhone, or because they are a DIY guy, or because anything else. You didn't have to own an iDevice to have been touched by Steve Jobs - you lived in a world in which he tinted every facet of technology with his genius.
Truly my hero of heroes.