Steve Jobs is gone.

And it makes me sad.

http://gizmodo.com/5838847/

"Prior to Steve Jobs, computers were alien to most of us. They were accessible to few people without an engineering degree. Not merely because of their complex operating procedures, but also because they were so cold and so inhuman. Jobs understood that they could be something more than that. That while computers would never be people, he could endow them with humanity. He could transform them into machines that not only anyone could use, but that everyday people would enjoy using thanks to the art of great design. He made them something that would be part of our lives. And he did that again and again."

Very sad indeed.

Pancreatic Cancer is a bitch. My sister worked at a photography studio for 10 years (since she was 14), and her boss/the owner was diagnosed with pancreatic and liver cancer about a year and a half ago. He passed away about two months ago. Since it's yearbook season, the studio has been off the wall, and a lot of unexpected errors popping up. I've been spending a lot of time there, helping out as much as possible. On the upside, I plan on delivering lots of ski stoke this year with an older camera I'm borrowing from the studio.

Very sad. What a visionary he was. Great obit/bio in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/06/business/steve-jobs-of-apple-dies-at-56.html?_r=2&hp

From that article: "...Jobs’s genius lay in his ability to simplify complex, highly engineered products, “to strip away the excess layers of business, design and innovation until only the simple, elegant reality remained.” "

Typed on a MacBook Pro.

SBR - Mac user/evangelist since 1988

My first Mac was a Mac Plus, also circa 1988 (?).

The thing that Jobs did was bring computing, and ultimately the internet, to the masses. The original Macintosh interface, that Apple invented - with dropdown menus and drag and drop functionality - changed our lives.

Other computer companies first derided the Mac, and then saw the numbers and copied it.  IMO every successful internet/computer company that followed - Microsoft, Cisco, Google, Facebook, Twitter, ETrade - owes a debt of gratitude to Apple and Steve Jobs.

I am no Apple fanboy (quite the opposite, actually) but Jobs's influence can't be overstated. The innovations that Apple led the marketplace on defined the trend of computing much like Gates and MS wanted but ultimately failed to do. That said....

Harvey44 wrote

The thing that Jobs did was bring computing, and ultimately the internet, to the masses. The original Macintosh interface, that Apple invented - with dropdown menus and drag and drop functionality - changed our lives.

UUUUGHH, I've always hated that Mac interface with the drop down menus. That and one button mice. I could probably transition to a Mac now without much difficulty, but the display and interface of previous generation operating systems always killed me.

Harvey44 wrote

My first Mac was a Mac Plus, also circa 1988 (?).

Me too!  Mine was in 1987 - freshman year of college. I remember having to feed the little floppy discs back and forth in order to save a document.  Things sure have come a long way since then.  Our whole house is filled with Apple products now, each one cooler than the next.  His death is a real loss to society.  His kind of creativity doesn't come around very often.

Truth be told, I remember Poindexter's first computer.  Being middle class, I couldn't afford a computer in college and had to use hers.  I remember those floppies fondly.  

Discs that is...

Yea, not many girls in college have floppies. They're usually rather pert....inent.... eager to learn and looking for instruction....hoping for a climax of a higher degree and a better positon for them to be satisfied in.