Bloomberg accidentally published an obituary for Steve Jobs. You can read it here.

The opening paragraph: "Steve Jobs, who helped make personal computers as easy to use as telephones, changed the way animated films are made, persuaded consumers to tune into digital music, and refashioned the mobile phone..."

Even if you know how your obit is likely to read -- the achievements or scandals or celebrity or mix of those things that define you in wire-copyese -- it must be odd to have that Tom Sawyer moment and actually read it.

The gaffe is all the more jarring because of ongoing concerns about Jobs' health.

But the big lesson for companies is on the Bloomberg side: a mistake on the net, no matter how quickly corrected, is probably out there forever. Bloomberg's article, along with notes and contact information for follow-up stories, is now replicating across the web. And these guys are publishing professionals, a sobering thought in an era when every company is in the publishing business.