I am going to talk about Steve Jobs. It will happen. I have a French test tomorrow. But I am going to talk about Steve Jobs.
Last night when I retweeted “RT if you’re touching an Apple product” I had to slam a bit furiously on the keyboard. On the giant 30-inch Mac in front of me, the monochrome theme of Apple.com displayed a single simple message. Steve Jobs has passed away.
I have never owned a Mac computer, though I do have a 6-year-old iPod (black classic, 5th generation, 80GB) permanently attached to the speaker system in my room. I bitch about Mac’s limited customization and the delusion that Mac computers are somehow more secured than protection-enabled PCs (newsflash: that Macs’ market share in the world hasn’t attracted hackers yet does not mean Mac OS is inherently safer than Windows or Linux). I complained about overpriced devices and restrictions on app licensing, but for what Apple offers, it satisfies and far exceeds the expectations of any average user.
Now that sounds like I don’t appreciate Apple products. While the little nerdy, obnoxious tech junkie inside of me screams in frustration about the limited nature of the “Apple ecosystem,” I have to appreciate the aesthetics, stability, and user-friendliness of Apple products (needless to say, the me who is obsessed with color pallets and font designs and the me who wants to program an open-source app on a Samsung Galaxy disagree with each other A LOT). All of that is to say, I really, really adore what Steve Jobs has done to the technology scene. To quote a tweet, “R.I.P. Steve Jobs. You touched an ugly world of technology and made it beautiful.”
Few people know this, but Jobs was the first to get it into his head that everyone should own a computer, hence the birth of the first mass-produced microcomputer in 1977. How much has the computing scene evolved in the last 34 years? (Give me a moment to feel self-conscious because Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak were 22 and 27 respectively when they assembled what turned the personal computer market on its head).
I’m sure there are thousands of articles on every news and tech website detailing every time Jobs knew and created what the customers wanted (or needed) even before they realized it themselves. The iPod on 2001, iTunes in 2003, iPhone in 2007, the App Store in 2008, the iPad in 2010. This man was an unstoppable machine.
Even more than the ways we use technology to our advantage (music in your pockets? All the songs you want in the same store? Your phone i.e. your computer? A computer in your coat pocket?), Jobs change the way we see and demand of technology. Pleasing color schemes? Check. Simplistic design? Check. Intuitive learning of a new software or device? Check. Do you appreciate the “preview” button that lets you see immediately the changes your preferences make in design software such as the Adobe Creative Suite? Do you like that your computer fits in your lap instead of a 3x7ft. room? Think about Steve Jobs for a second.
So here’s a PC user’s tribute to the man who deemed Windows unimaginative and doomed with a permanent decline. Steve Jobs, you were a brilliant businessman and pioneer in human-machine interaction. Your talent will be sorely missed.
