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STEVE JOBS is dead. I¹m still reeling from the news. Although he had been ill for the last six years, and resigned his CEO position at Apple just six weeks ago, somehow it seemed like Steve Jobs would live forever. After all, he was only 56 years old! And he was such a force! Steve Jobs is in many ways the founder of the personal computer we use today. He had the incredible foresight to know that people would want computers to ³just work.² He knew that, although there is a large group of techies out there that get satisfaction from fixing things, reinstalling software, and fighting against computer viruses, there is a significantly large group of people who much prefer to hook up their elegantly designed computer and have it work in an intuitive fashion. That has included me for the past thirty years. People laughed at him when he introduced the Macintosh in 1984, with that incredible Super Bowl commercial. But that computer was the first to really integrate the graphical user interface (in color) that Microsoft copied with Windows, and that we all use today. A year later, he was forced to resign from the company he founded because they had brought in John Scully (from Pepsi) to bring Apple computers to the masses. Over the next ten years, Apple floundered under unimaginative leadership, and began losing money. When Jobs left Apple in 1985, he sold some of his Apple stock and bought Pixar from George Lucas. Pixar made computer animation software called Renderman, and wasn¹t in the movie production business. But under Jobs¹ leadership, they became the most successful animation company in the world, earning hundreds of millions of dollars, multiple Oscars, and going public in 1995; with Jobs keeping a large proportion of the stock. He also started Next, a computer company that built high-end workstations using the Unix operating system. Ironically, in 1996, Apple buys Next, Jobs becomes an advisor to the company, and CEO the next year. The Next operating system becomes the basis for the very successful OSX that powers all Mac computers today. Under Jobs¹ leadership, Pixar began a very successful partnership with Disney that brought high-end computer animation to the old-time company. And in 2006, Disney buys up Pixar, which makes Jobs the largest stockholder in the Walt Disney Company. He also gets a seat on the board. Of course, we all know what he accomplished back at Apple: * Introduced the iPod, a revolutionary device that allowed us to keep thousands of songs in our pockets and play them anytime. Apple has sold over 300 million iPods in the ten years since their introduction. * Opened the iTunes Music Store, which allowed users on Macs and PC¹s to buy, manage and play music (and later videos). It also moved the entertainment industry into the digital age. Over ten billion songs have been sold through the iTunes store. * Introduced sleeker, lighter and more reliable laptop computers (MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air) that are the best selling laptops in the world. * Introduced the incredibly popular iMac, the all-in-one computer that includes a large color display. * Introduced the iPhone, a smartphone that has stayed well out ahead of the competition. It includes all the ease of use of a Macintosh computer, with a video iPod, digital still and video camera, and a communications device. Apple has sold over 100 million iPhones in just four years since its introduction. * Developed the concept of an ³APP,² a piece of software that runs on the iPhone, is designed and supported by thousands of independent developers, and is sold directly through the phone, or through iTunes. The APP store was added to iTunes in January, 2008, and they have facilitated 18 billion downloads since then. * Introduced Mobile Me (soon to be ³iCloud²), a cloud (network based) system for synchronizing email, calendars, and contacts between multiple computers in an automated fashion. * Opened over 300 retail stores around the world that are jammed with customers from the day they open. Apple was losing money and lacking any real direction when Jobs returned in 1996. And in the next fifteen years, under his brilliant leadership, Apple has become the most valuable public company in the U.S. They edged out Exxon Mobil for the top spot in August, 2011. Steve Jobs was a very private person. But in 2005, he gave the commencement speech at Stanford University, and shared some of his personal life and his values. I find this video so inspiring: http://youtu.be/D1R-jKKp3NA Farewell Steve Jobs. Thanks for all the wonderful years. Howard Brainen Howard Brainen TWO CAT DIGITAL, INC. 14719 Catalina Street San Leandro, CA 94577 USA 510-483-1220 x201 [log in to unmask] www.twocatdigital.com Scanning and Digital Imaging Consulting ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mail submissions to [log in to unmask] For information about joining ARLIS/NA see: http://www.arlisna.org/join.html Send administrative matters (file requests, subscription requests, etc) to [log in to unmask] ARLIS-L Archives and subscription maintenance: http://lsv.arlisna.org Questions may be addressed to list owner (Judy Dyki) at: [log in to unmask] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~