"I knew this day would come," wrote former Apple engineer Mike Lee in a tweet sent shortly after the announcement that Steve Jobs, Apple's pioneering chief executive and co-founder, would be stepping down from his role as CEO. "I didn't expect to cry."
As The Daily Beast initially reported in a must-see compilation of tweets, numerous Apple employees, such as Lee, have shared their reactions to the news on Twitter, weighing in on their experiences working with Jobs, their feelings about the change, and their hopes for the future.
"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," tweeted Chris Espinosa, Apple's eighth employee.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak also spoke with Bloomberg to offer his take on Jobs's legacy and what lies ahead for Apple.
"He's going to go down in history as the most important technical leader we've ever seen in our lifetime, at least," Wozniak said of Jobs in an interview with Bloomberg. "He thinks very much about getting technology out of the picture. From the very start until today, it's about how you make something seem like it's not a piece of technology in the way that you don't have to learn all these geeky, techie steps to get something done."
He expressed optimism for Apple's prospects moving forward and confidence in Tim Cook's abilities to lead the company, though noted that he is no longer as close with Jobs and Apple as he had been in the past. Asked about Jobs's health, Wozniak replied, "I don't know more than you."
"I just hope Steve is happy and feels Apple is really...in the best place he could have set it for the future," said Wozniak. "He doesn't do this for something like money. It's been a personal goal of his to be the implementer of technology that would improve people's lives. He was born for that, he told me once."
"Well, you know, the goal is not to be the richest man in the cemetery. It's not my goal anyway," Jobs said in a 1994 interview with Rolling Stone. (See more of his most memorable quotes here)
"So much still to come," tweeted Apple's Jack Behrens. "So much inspiration."
WATCH: (See more on YouTube here.)