Thank you Steve

It certainly wasn’t my first computer experience, but it was the first time I used a computer in someone’s home. The year was 1984 and my friends and I were playing an adventure game called “Wizardry” on his Apple-IIe personal computer. It was a reality changing event for me to be using a computer outside of a school technology lab, even if it was for playing a game.

Whether you are solidly in the PC or Mac camp, or perhaps straddle the fence, it is impossible to ignore the contributions that Steve Jobs made to not only the world of personal computing, but our American lifestyles.

Yes, personal computers existed before Jobs and Wozniak invented the Apple™ (in the Jobs family garage!). They took the idea of a stand-alone computer and made it useful to the average person.

Digital media players existed before Jobs introduced us to the iPod™. He turned it into a “must have” and gradually eliminated the market for most other players, including the popular WalkMan™.

Smart-Phones were already well entrenched in the business world. Managers all over were glued at the hip to their Blackberry™ phones, but the introduction of the iPhone again put that technology into the hands of the non-tech oriented and set the standard for what a smart-phone had to be able to do.

Tablet PCs already existed, but then the iPad™ came along and showed us that a computer could be simple and intuitive, plus super portable. He distilled computing down to its most straightforward components with the idea that anyone could pick up the device and easily use it.

Steve Jobs was an entrepreneur. Of that there is no doubt. He was also an inventor that some are calling the Edison of our generation, holding 338 U.S. Patents or applications. He was a visionary that changed the way we all look at technology and computing. 30 years ago, no one could have convinced me that I would be repairing a computer who’s owner, an 80 year old woman, just told me that she “cannot be without”.

I found out last night that Steve Jobs had died after a long battle with cancer. I found out while sitting at my desk watching the announcement unfold in my Twitter feed on my Mac™ computer. A few seconds later, I got the information as a breaking news alert on my iPhone™.

Steve Jobs showed us that two guys can invent something in a garage and help change the world.

Steve Jobs 1955-2011