Steve Jobs dies

[Ecurb Noselrub]

A truly great American innovator has passed.  In his own way, he changed the world.

[wildfire_emissary]

He did fine. Was he an atheist?

[KingPhilip]

He was Buddhist if I remember correctly.

[Asmodean]

That's the Apple-guy, yes..?

[Will]

Yeah, he was the CEO of Apple.

My first computer was an Apple PowerBook, back in 1992. It was this amazing, portable computer on which I could do my homework with Write Now and I had several programs in File Director, including a few games. It was an amazing little machine. Before then, I'd used the Apple II in school, but was never really allowed to explore what a computer could do back then.

After the PowerBook died, I got a Macintosh Color Classic, which had this gorgeous 10", 512x384 display with an unbelievable 16MHz processor and 4MB of RAM, which was more than I thought I could ever use. The first time I ever ripped music off a CD was with an external CD drive hooked up to my Color Classic.

Then came the iMac. I'd never seen a computer like the iMac before, it was really ostentatious and bold, but it was also built to bring the internet and media experience to the home user. Gone were floppy drives and beige exteriors, and suddenly computing was cool. I like to think of 1999ish as the dawn of geeks being cool in mainstream culture. I had the Bondi Blue model and my brother got the cool Snow version that came out a bit later.

eMac was supposed to be an investment for school, but it ended up being the best computer I've ever owned. I believe I bought my eMac in 2003, when I was in college, and I didn't end up finally selling it until like 2008. In computer years, that thing was with me for like 200 years. I had totally upgraded it when I first got it, with a 1GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, along with an 80GB hard drive that I manually changed over the years up to I think 200GB. It had wifi, it had a sleek CD drive, it had a huge 17" screen (flat screen!), firewire, USB 1.1, and these great little speakers. I even got the optional stand.

The last Apple computer I bought was the Mac mini. After years with the eMac, I started to want more of a regular desktop, a tower that I could open up and I could swap out the monitor and all that jazz. Because the Mac Pro was way out of my price range, I picked up a Mac mini off Craigslist and learned me how to upgrade the little thing. I had a blast with this little guy, in fact, I still have it. My little brother is using it right as I type this. I use it for Garageband and other Apple-specific tasks.

I'm not a crazy fanboy that will insist that Steve Jobs is the greatest living innovator or the ultimate iteration of capitalism or whatever. I will say, though, that he was involved in making great consumer electronics and entertainment. It's nice to know that someone in charge had both vision and fortitude. There are so many pretenders and imitators, folks like Jobs end up being particularly important.

He will be missed. I hope he didn't suffer and I hope his family and friends find peace.

[Tank]

A world where Steve Jobs had not been around would be one where Bill Gates would have had no practical competition at all. 

[wildfire_emissary]

He was Buddhist if I remember correctly.

So he's technically atheist, no?

[iSok]

Rest in Peace, you'll be missed.

He was Buddhist if I remember correctly.

So he's technically atheist, no?

Actually, he was a Muslim in disguise, which means that Islam is true.

[Asmodean]

Actually, he was a Muslim in disguise, which means that Islam is true.

But then, of course, PC is better than Mac, so satan is better than god.

[hismikeness]

A great loss to the computer industry. I've heard stories that he was a total hard ass and would berate people when they messed up (read: didn't live up to his standards of perfection). When Apple released MobileMe, a form of cloud syncing across multiple devices, it didn't work. It was a rare swing and a miss. The story goes that he gathered the MobileMe team in a conference room, just him and them, and asked someone to explain what MobileMe does. Someone gives an answer and he responds "Well why the fuck doesn't it work!?"

Arguably, he was the best in design, retail, packaging, marketing, hype-machining, hyperbole (magical...), worldwide releases, and animated movies. That is quite a resume. 

Anyway, I've been a Mac guy for a long time. I have iDevices. But I wouldn't call myself a fanboy. I'll probably skip the new iPhone, even though that voice stuff is sure intriguing.

I hope he passed his visions on to others at Apple. It has been said that they as a company are several generations of devices and gizmos ahead of what is released, so what is in the works now, Jobs had at least a hand in. But it will be interesting 2, 3, 5 years from now when the gadgets start coming out that Steve had no input on, and if they will remain as quality as they've been.

RIP.

[Siz]

10 years ago we still had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope & Johnny Cash ....now we have no jobs, no hope & no cash!!

[Ihateyoumike]

10 years ago we still had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope & Johnny Cash ....now we have no jobs, no hope & no cash!!

[Tank]

10 years ago we still had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope & Johnny Cash ....now we have no jobs, no hope & no cash!!

[xSilverPhinx]

10 years ago we still had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope & Johnny Cash ....now we have no jobs, no hope & no cash!!

[Godless]

Although I was never really a fan of Apple's products, I must give credit where it is due. The man was a genius that pioneered the world's most popular music player, cell phone, and computer.