We loved SJ because he won. He's that person in all of us who knows we are right and has to fight the battle against those who are obviously wrong. SJ proved that you can win as long as you don't give up.<p>We'll never know if somebody would have pulled off the same feats if SJ hadn't. Even today with Apple's shining examples of how to do it right other companies (Google, Yahoo, MS) manage to screw up UX so wonderfully.