Editorial – Growing Up in a Steve Jobs Era

On Wednesday October 5th 2011, the world lost Steven Jobs – the co-founder of Apple Incorporated – to pancreatic cancer at the age of 56. Love him or hate him, there is no denying he was a pivotal force in shaping the computers we know today. As I write this, I am flooded with memories past.

Being a child of the 1980’s, I grew up in exciting times; the rise of the microcomputer. For the first time in history, computers were no longer large, almost arcane machines that filled entire rooms just to add numbers together. They had miraculously shrunk to something that you could put on a desk; or beside it. Those of us growing up in those times saw a glimpse of what the future was presenting, was immediately enamored by this new technology and hungered to be part of it. We were the first generation of people who grew up alongside the birth of the Personal Computer.

The first computer I ever used was the Apple II back in 1981. My Grade 8 teacher brought in this new machine into the classroom to show us students what the promise of the future held. For me, it was like lighting had struck. Here was something that seemed to have leapt out of some science fiction movie that allowed you to create literally anything out of your imagination. The Apple II was the first computer to have colour graphics, 8 colours to be exact which pales in comparison to computers today. But since other computers like the IBM PC back then only had monochrome green or orange displays, 8 colours seemed like a luxury. I lived and breathed computers. It was then I read everything I could about the men who created this awesome machine; Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs.

Fast forward to 1983 and my world was rocked again. With a project initially led by Steve Jobs, Apple had unveiled the Lisa. Once again, lightning struck and lit my imagination on fire. For the first time I had seen what a Graphical User Interface was and was completely blown away. No longer the domain of the boring Command Line Interface that the Apple II/IIe and IBM PCs had, the Lisa gave a further glimpse of the future; one of a computer that was as easy to use as moving and clicking on a mouse. I would later learn that Steve Jobs and his engineers developed the Lisa GUI with the partnership of Xerox from their Alto system. But with a price only companies could afford, the Lisa died a quick and valiant death. All was not lost. Due to disagreements within the Lisa team, Steve transferred to a low cost computer project. From those ashes Steve Jobs quickly parlayed the lessons he had learned from the Lisa into a smaller, more affordable version. In 1984, Apple released The Macintosh and the world would never be the same again. Like many others, I immediately fell in love with that first black and white Mac. Especially with its new graphics capabilities, coupled with the new Window and mouse-based operating system, the Mac offered creative possibilities previously unheard of. But what I was waiting for, was a colour version.

Afterwards came an explosion of Windows GUI-based computers; the Atari ST, the Acorn Archimedes in the UK, the GEOS system for the Commodore 64/128 computers, the Commodore Amiga and of course, Microsoft Windows for PC. The Mac II (the first full colour Mac) was also released, but with a price-tag I could not afford, it regulated the Mac II to my dreams. As a teenager, wanting a more affordable version of the Mac II, I gravitated towards the Commodore Amiga. All of which would not have existed if it wasn’t for the Macintosh.

But Steve Job’s brilliance wasn’t reserved just for Apple. After being unceremoniously kicked out of Apple by its Board of Directors in the mid-1980’s, Steve went on to form NeXT Inc. and developed the ground-breaking NeXTSTEP Operating System which for me, was light years ahead of Mac OS back then. I remembering drooling over pictures and tech specs for the NeXT computers in every computer magazine I could find.

But it wasn’t until he acquired a brand new, little known computer animation company called PIXAR that his brilliance really started to shine out. Initially started by George Lucas as part of LucasFilm, I remember seeing their first forays into the new field of Computer Animation with their early short films, “The Adventures of André and Wally B.” and “Luxo Jr.” and being astounded by the idea that computers can be used to create works of art and animation that does not exist in real life. No animation cells or acrylic paints, just pixels of light on the screen. But PIXAR was never fully understood or allowed to become fully realized at LucasFilm so George Lucas sold it to Steve Jobs for a cool $5 million dollars. He then infused the company with fresh cash, new computer workstations (I believe they were NeXT computers, but I could be mistaken) and a bold new direction as an animation studio; the rest is history. With their first animated feature film, “A Toy Story”, everyone in the world fell in love with PIXAR.

Fast forward to the mid-1990’s. Apple has had a string of failures and is on the brink of bankruptcy. In a last ditch attempt at saving the company, the then Apple CEO Gil Amelio decided to buy NeXT Inc. and bring Steve Jobs back into Apple. The rest is history. Steve became CEO in the late 1990’s and restructured both Apple the company and the entire product line. Steve would usher in the new age of Macs, Mac OSX (which was derived from the BSD-based NeXTSTEP OS), Final Cut Pro (which was bought from Macromedia), iPods and of course, the iPhone; turning Apple Inc. into a giant powerhouse in the consumer electronics industry.

So when I heard on Wednesday evening that Steve Jobs passed away that afternoon, I couldn’t help but feel a loss. As I sit here, typing away on my trusty old Powerbook G4 notebook I’ve had for far too long, I am reminded of how far reaching his legacy extends. Like it or not, Steve Jobs has left quite a mark on not only the computer industry, but everybody worldwide.

Thank you Mr. Jobs, you were a huge influence in my life over the years even though I’ve never known you personally. Thank you for bringing us products that let our imaginations soar. You will undoubtedly be missed.

Rest in Peace.

Image from Wikimedia Commons