Hello and Welcome to Tea ‘n History, with your Hostess, Felicia Angel.
My first home computer was an Apple. It was old, had AOL 1.1.2 on it last I checked, and was used by my sister and I to play MYST, Mario Teaches Typing, and maybe some of the 8-Bit games that my dad liked, which were Risk and Galactic Empire. When he got us a PC to use for our homework and play time, the Mac became my dad’s toy for Sundays, where marathon runs of Risk and Galactic Empire were common.
About 5 years ago, the Mac finally died. My dad was not happy, and it took him until about a year ago to get a new computer, another Mac.
In general, my dad enjoyed Macs, and I could understand why. Because I had little money when I got my first computer, I have been getting a succession of PCs, both desktop and laptop, which either last a good while depending on how well you care for them, but almost always end up with some sort of a virus or dying if I haven’t gotten them plugged into a wall socket.
One of the first iPods I got, however, I gave to my sister. It still works, and she is still using it. My dad’s Mac doesn’t always have the same problems mine did, and seeing the new Windows mode where the stuff was on the bottom screen (same as the Mac my dad got a year before the Window’s version came out)…it’s safe to say that Mac innovates fairly well, and when I have the money and this computer dies…it’ll probably be replaced by a Mac.
Earlier this week, Apple announced that Steve Jobs had died. Those who were Apple Geeks, or at least knew him marginally from all the presentations of the iPod, iPodTouch, iPhone, and iPad, soon learned more about him and his influence on Apple. He’d been the first to show off Apple II, a home computer. He’d been able to get the Apple marketed as a computer for everyone, leaving it the first to have those icons you click on to get to a file, rather then writing in the code for it. Yes, all your clickable icons…that’s a Mac idea.
However, sales slumps and problems lead to him leaving Apple, during which he created the first home computer to be a server for Web, bought Pixar (then The Graphics Group) from LucasFilms and helped get a deal between them and Disney for some computer-based films, starting with Toy Story in 1995. When Disney bought Pixar, Jobs was then the largest shareholder of Disney stock, beating out even Disney’s own family, and helped with getting some of the other computer animated projects.
When Jobs returned to Apple, who had bought his NeXT computer (the first web server), he returned and soon the Mac OS X was created, as well as…well…ok, I remember this and I love it so…
I want one of those so badly….
By now, we all know that he’s gotten famous for being the one who shows off the new shiny item – the iPod, iTunes (which was based off Napster), and all the others. Wiki announces he has about 338 US Patents, and in general he seemed a likable guy. A few have mentioned he was a terror to work with, but I will admit to have a few terrors as supervisors, and despite that, they were good people to work with. Not all, but most, and they mostly just demanded excellence, or at least your best. Many have compared him to Edison, Ford, and other manufacturing geniuses of the past, with just as many pointing out that it felt too early for him to leave, that there was still new ideas to be had. A whole university was started to study his sales ideas. The generation that grew up with early home computers and remembered 8-bit games and floppy disks have a great deal of technology that he helped pioneer. Even without knowing him, many mourn his passing. Apple helped change and challenge the world. Jobs’ ideas gave us computer-animated films going up for best picture (and getting shafted by the creation of best animated picture…*grumble*). If not for Pixar and Toy Story, we wouldn’t have Shrek and Dreamworks. If not for Apple creating computers for everyone, how long would it take PCs to make that leap? Apple helped revolutionize touchscreens and tablets, computers with no towers (which HP is only just getting to) and a whole variety of others.
My first computer was a Mac. I got it when I was young, back when the internet’s main use was porn, science, and maybe a few downloads. It died 5 years go. My second iPod, a older generation Mini, is still used by my sister after dealing with the wear and tear of Navy life. I have dropped my current iPod a few times and it still works. Before I could afford Microsoft Office, I used OpenDoc, something Jobs helped create. I cried through all three parts of Toy Story.
The world has lost a great person. And I’m only one of a billion others who obviously thinks so. Rest in Peace, Mr. Jobs. You’ve changed our world.
Tea 'n History 