I think it's a little funny how huge of a deal people are making out of Steve Jobs dying. Just 3 days after his death, Dennis Ritchie (creator of C and key developer of UNIX) also died and I haven't seen it publicized anywhere. His work has had a much greater impact on society.
It's not surprising at all, and this is not about comparing merit. You can't even compare the two, because each of them has been visible in a different "market". Dennis R .was not a mainstream public figure. I doubt many programmers, developers and hitech figures even knew of the guy, let alone the grandma playing with her laptop or iPad.
But I can d*amn bet anyone that the vast majority of the world knows about Apple, its products and Steve J. So despite the fact that SJ wasn't known to seek personal publicity, he was enough of a colorful person, providing great services and products worldwide, to receive the after-death attention he's been getting.
I bet Bill Gates (may he live long and prosper) will get the same attention after he leaves us.
/Admin