Bummer - Steve Jobs

[Ozark Lee]

As everyone likely knows by now Steve Jobs died this evening.

After my Commodore Vic 20 I graduated to an Apple II - it wasn't much of an upgrade but it had a cooler case. From there I was one of maybe 10 people on the planet that actually owned an Apple III.

I never understood Jobs success. One of the great innovations was to introduce Macs with different colored cases but the tale of the tape tells the story. That is why he made the big bucks and not me - I don't give a flying crap what color my computer is.

I have missed the "I" generation. I don't own an "I" anything. Both of my kids have I Pods but their "smart phones" are Android since I guess I phones are not hip with the college crowd since most of their dads have one. If your dad has one it is definitely not cool.

May Mr. Jobs rest in peace.

I could make some statements on the appropriate estate tax but I suppose that would violate the forum rules.

...Lee

[matthew1]

I'm a little crushed. Here's an email I sent out to some friends...

I got my first Mac, courtesy of my parents, in December 1991. It was a midrange Mac LC, with matching Apple display and StyleWriter printer. Back when the logo was multicolor, and was embossed (surprisingly large if you look at one today) into the keyboards, displays and computers they made. I was thoroughly enamored.

It came with System 7*, and I'd spend hours merely messing with the Control Panel, changing settings. Same with a screensaver named After Dark. I'd watch in amazement as it drew random patterns (slowly) on the screen. I one day learned about screenshots**, and made a few of those patters which I still have to this day.

I copied MS Word for Mac onto a floppy at the CSU computer lab one day, moving the "Copying MS Word for Mac onto a floppy" message as far off the screen as it would let me, so that if a lab monitor walked by they'd have a hard time detecting the theft.

That LC was the first of a string of Macs, of which I'm on my tenth. Plus a few orphans that happened to end up in my arms. I did use Windows PCs for about five years at various jobs in Seattle (Microsoft HQ), in case you might think I was stuck on Apple because that's all I knew.

I made my first connection to the Internet, and wrote my first HTML page on a Mac.

Without making a choice back in '91 to go Mac, and because of my parents' generosity, I'm not a journalist today (my degree). Not that that would have been bad, but my true love -- besides photography -- is creating Web sites.

A friend of mine in LA wrote this today, "Thanks, Steve. My life would have been completely different, and less colorful, without you. I'm sure that goes for many of us here. The Macintosh literally gave me my career."

Exactly my feelings.

~ ~ ~

* To give you an idea of the timespan, System 7 was followed by System 8 and then 9. Each release was, and is, a major effort involving thousands of people working for years; these aren't quick updates. Then in 2000 I got my OS X Beta cd in the mail, and it was awfully slow and buggy on my Mac Cube, but it was a watershed era for Apple because it brought the OS up to modern standards like multitasking and strong security. It was all new from the ground up. I got OS X Version 1 the day it was released. Each version was numbered sequentially, like software releases generally are. We're now on OS X Version 7, "Lion". I guess that makes ten Mac OSes and a matching ten Macs for me over these 20 years.

** Years later a demo of Photoshop 2.5 was included in my second Mac, on a CD. It wouldn't let you save, that was the catch to make you buy it (somewhere between $500 and a grand(!) for version 2.5). I thought I was outsmarting them by taking screenshots of my finished Photoshop creations. I really wasn't, because the quality of a screenshot was only good enough to print something the size of a business card. But I was happy.

~ ~ ~

http://www.apple.com/ and http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/
http://lisenstromberg.wordpress.com/201 ... teve-jobs/




"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
-- Steve Jobs, Stanford commencement address, 2005


With Sadness,
Matt

[jblackburn]

We used to have entire computer labs in elementary school full of Apple II's - we basically had 2 things that we used them for: Oregon Trail (best thing EVER), and an old Spanish Program.

Then came around the pathetic PowerPC Mac models that were a computer and screen all in one, and I hated them. And then the candy-colored iMacs. I actually loved the concept of the iMacs, but just about anything you did on either of those 2 models would result in a cute, chintzy little noise and a "fatal error!" message saying you had to completely restart the entire computer. The stability was worse even than Windows 95.

Somewhere along the way, Windows XP came along and I think most people lost interest in Macs for a while. I've had enough of Windows now, though, even with 7, and Macs have become a huge player - easy to use, FAST, and just don't do the stupid crap that Windows computers do. I want one - I'd actually looked very closely at getting a Macbook Pro 8 months ago when I bought my new computer, but they were just too darned expensive. Nearly $1000 more for the exact same specs in the Dell laptop I bought.

I thought 7 would be better, but I was wrong...my best friend has a 3-year-old Macbook Pro, and it's still faster at most normal tasks than my brand-new computer. I definitely know which route I'm going next time.

But I will say one thing - the iOS system is intuitive and easy to use, and the iPhone is easily THE BEST cell phone I've ever owned. I had LG's, Samsungs, Motorolas, and the awful Android crap before. The release of the 4s was a bit disappointing in that it wasn't an entirely new model, but they basically took the 4 that I have and made all of the things that needed to be improved...better! So, not entirely sure why so many people are complaining that it's not a new model. The processor alone should make the thing much quicker to use, and the capability to work on both AT&T AND Verizon networks - from the same model phone - is an amazing feature.

I've had iPods along the way - 3, actually, and I loved them all. I had a Creative Zen before those (back when they were huge bricks), and there's really no competition even still.

The world lost a great person. I was watching the iPhone presentation yesterday, and remembering the last one that he did and what a great presenter he was. RIP Mr. Jobs.

[matthew1]

I want one - I'd actually looked very closely at getting a Macbook Pro 8 months ago when I bought my new computer, but they were just too darned expensive. Nearly $1000 more for the exact same specs in the Dell laptop I bought.

Buy refurbs. Perhaps half of my ten Macs have been refurbs.

They're 100% perfect, not one came with even a fingerprint. The boxes just aren't as nice.

And hey, they're probably better than regular retail machines. They've been to the factory twice.

Watch that Stanford U address. It's the most valuable 14 minutes you'll have all day.

[FCPEURO]

I agree with Matt about buying a refurb mac. I always buy them refurb. They are in great shape and have the same warranty as a new one. Seems like a now brainer.

Anyway, back on topic. Steve Jobs will be greatly missed. I don't think apple will ever be the same. Did he have any kids?

[matthew1]

Yea, he had kids. Two, I think.

30 hours later and I'm still stunned and saddened. Fk cancer.

[FCPEURO]

Cancer is a real B.I.T.C.H. He was taken way to soon.