I haven't been able to post for too long, because I've been snowed under by too many other responsibilities, but I had to force time to make this post.
Steve Jobs had been involved with computers about as long as I have. I was never rich and famous like him, but when I first got involved with computers he probably wasn't rich or famous either. The first "personal" computer I ever laid my hands on was an Apple II. The guy that brought it into computer class told us the story of how it was made by these two guys that started in a garage.
In those days there was a lot of people doing stuff in their garages. You could walk into computer stores and buy programs that came in zip-lock bags with a dot matrix printed label. The programs were usually either on 5 1/4 inch floppies or on a cassette tape. Apple II's had 51/4 floppy drives and Commodore 64's had 5 1/4 floppy drives and cassette decks called a Datasette.
The point is that everybody involved in personal computers was pretty much just starting out. No one knew where it was going or if or where it might end. But there were two men who stood out more than anyone else and that was Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. They each had there own vision for the future and they pressed on no matter what obstacle, good or bad.
In those early days it was mostly a divide between Apple people and Commodore 64 people. Just like now you hear "Windows is garbage, Mac rules!", or "Mac is garbage, Windows rules!", in those days it was Apple II vs C64. Apple II had an expandable case with internal adapter slots and C64's was cheaper. I went the cheaper route and bought a C64.
Years later I was given an old Mac by a customer and I was intrigued by it. I was doing Windows support since Windows needed more support than Mac. I explored this old, all in one Mac, with it's tiny built in black and white screen, with great curiosity. The OS (operating system) was an alien world to me, but I could see the genius behind it. I could see why Mac lovers were Mac lovers. I gave that Mac to a family that couldn't afford a computer of their own but years later, after retiring from doing computer support, bought myself an iBook. I became a Mac lover.
After getting a Mac I started paying attention to the Mac world. I read an article ( I don't remember which magazine it was in), that talked about how Steve Jobs could be so passionate about even the small things, like how an icon looked. He paid attention to the smallest details and that attention to detail was what brought back the flare and beauty to the Mac OS environment.
It was once said that if the Queen of England hired Steve Jobs and Bill Gates to each build her a dining table, that Steve Jobs would hire the world's greatest carpenters and buy the finest and most expensive wood. He would tell the carpenters to only use hand tools and no electrical tools. He would have them use wood pegs to join the wood together instead of nails to make sure the joins never loosened. He would tell them to make sure they do a great job no matter how long it takes, but it has to be perfect. When it was done it would be one of the most expensive tables ever built, worthy of a museum and it would last forever.
It was said that Bill Gates would spy on Steve's workers and buy the cheapest materials like particle board, plywood, and fake wood laminate. He would show them a picture of Steve's table and tell them just get it as close as possible without making it look exactly the same. He would tell them to just get it done fast and as long as it's close enough it's OK. The workers would use nails, staples, wood glue, etc. When it was done it would look like a table you'd use to play cards on in your garage. You would be able see the glue where it had spilled out from under the laminate, and if you weren't careful you'd get splinters from it. Every time you played cards on it, you would have to stop in the middle of the game to put one of the table legs back on.
There may be some exaggerations in this, but it a good example of how people saw Steve Jobs. He was a man who was passionate about anything he did and obsessed with getting it done in a great way. There was no "good enough" for the man, there was only perfection.
I have since moved away from Macs to what I call a "poor man's Mac", an IBM compatible with Ubuntu installed, but I'm still inspired from my Mac days. Even when I customize my desktop I tend to remember the look of OS X, and I admit my desktop often tends to look very OS X'ish.
To some people Steve Jobs was like a computer world messiah, and to some he was thought of as a Bill Gates in sheep's clothing. However you saw him he made an impact on the computer world that hopefully will never be forgotten.
I'll miss you Steve.
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