Steve Jobs, Apple Founder (1955-2011) R.I.P
- Thread starter Gaze
- Start date
I wrote this yesterday. Talk about timing.
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I am 42 years old.
I have owned an Apple computer since 1977, when I was 8 years old. It was an Apple ][, and I taught myself how to program. That’s where the love began.
My first job was at an independently-owned computer shop that was all Apple. I was 13 years old. I got my Apple //e while I worked there, and I bought a Macintosh the day they were released. Mind you, the shop didn’t pay me unless I made a sale (and I made a handful), so I had to deliver a lot of papers, mow a lot of lawns, and shovel a lot of snow to afford that Mac.
My first “real job” was at that company that made the 68020 and G4 chips, as well as the Star-Tac cell phone. That job, working on an Apple Lisa, eventually became a Mac-based publishing department, and to say we had the best of everything would be an understatement.
From there I went on to do consulting, lithography, sound engineering, design, and training, and all of it was based around the use of an Apple Macintosh. Every job I have ever had has been based around the use of an Apple computer.
So why am I writing this? It’s because I want to share how I felt on the day Steve Jobs announced he was no longer going to be the head of Apple.
It felt like the passing of an era, almost as if something—or someone—had died. I cried. It felt like a foundation of so much of my experience was gone.
Melodramatic? Perhaps it is, as seen externally anyway. But no company and no leader of any company has had even close to the depth of effect on my life and my experience than Apple and Steve Jobs. His vision, aesthetic sensibilities, and obsession with the details most never see have influenced and inspired me in more ways than I could count.
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Rest in Peace, Steve, and thank you for all you brought to the world and shared with us all.
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I am 42 years old.
I have owned an Apple computer since 1977, when I was 8 years old. It was an Apple ][, and I taught myself how to program. That’s where the love began.
My first job was at an independently-owned computer shop that was all Apple. I was 13 years old. I got my Apple //e while I worked there, and I bought a Macintosh the day they were released. Mind you, the shop didn’t pay me unless I made a sale (and I made a handful), so I had to deliver a lot of papers, mow a lot of lawns, and shovel a lot of snow to afford that Mac.
My first “real job” was at that company that made the 68020 and G4 chips, as well as the Star-Tac cell phone. That job, working on an Apple Lisa, eventually became a Mac-based publishing department, and to say we had the best of everything would be an understatement.
From there I went on to do consulting, lithography, sound engineering, design, and training, and all of it was based around the use of an Apple Macintosh. Every job I have ever had has been based around the use of an Apple computer.
So why am I writing this? It’s because I want to share how I felt on the day Steve Jobs announced he was no longer going to be the head of Apple.
It felt like the passing of an era, almost as if something—or someone—had died. I cried. It felt like a foundation of so much of my experience was gone.
Melodramatic? Perhaps it is, as seen externally anyway. But no company and no leader of any company has had even close to the depth of effect on my life and my experience than Apple and Steve Jobs. His vision, aesthetic sensibilities, and obsession with the details most never see have influenced and inspired me in more ways than I could count.
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Rest in Peace, Steve, and thank you for all you brought to the world and shared with us all.
Steve Jobs understood many things more than most.
[h=1]“Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”[/h]
[h=1]“Here's to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes... the ones who see things differently -- they're not fond of rules... You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them because they change things... they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do.”[/h]
I never liked Steve Jobs or Apple - too restrictive, too proprietary, too expensive. But... I admired his capacity to come up with new ideas and new things! These days, that's in short supply. You have the dweebs like that Facebook kid who got rich off of reusing other people's ideas and companies like IBM who have been stuck in that same rut for 20+ years. Jobs was pretty much the only innovative mind in the computer industry and for that, I'll miss having him around 
I've never been a mac guy and I'm already sick of the hoopla surrounding his death. But he definitely had great ideas and this quote from him expresses much of my own life philosophy:
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don
"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don