Goodbye to the man who Thought Different
I decided to wait a few days before putting my thoughts down about the passing of Steve Jobs. So much has been written about this man by writers who are much more eloquent than I’ll ever be. But here goes…..
Steve is one someone that future generations will never know like we did but will benefit greatly from what he began. He’s one of those extremely rare human beings that not only shaped world communications and consumer electronics, but he lived in my lifetime. Steve Jobs is not someone I need to read about in a textbook or a biography. Along with those of you of a certain age, I lived through the entire evolution of Steve and Woz in the garage to 1984 to NeXT to Pixar to iMac and all the way through the iPad.
Two guys working in a garage come up with a computer to sit on a desktop, they got it. One man who sees an HP prototype of this thing called a mouse with a GUI interface and gets it. A stubborn man who is forced out of the company he created but then finds Pixar and gets it. The stubborn man who comes back to the company he created an immediately slims down the product to concentrate on making the absolute best personal electronics the world has seen. He totally got it like no one else of our generation.
For the man who revolutionized the home computer, Steve proved he was simply the master at creating some of the most simple and technologically advanced consumer electronics. He brought simplicity and style to what was once the realm of bulky, boxy products from the “major electronics” manufacturers.
Not only design, but connectivity. The products are beautiful, but Steve made sure they could all talk to each other and work together, as seamlessly as possible. We all know that Steve implored the world to “Think Different” but he also introduced us to “It Just Works.” As in, we have done all the hard work in the background so all you have to do is touch the screen.
It’s because of Apple that many many of us in the Film and Video production industry, especially the Post Production, have had the opportunity to have successful careers. The influence of the company drove down the introductory costs for people like me to start our own companies and “level the playing field.” For that many of us will be forever grateful.
The saddest part of Steve’s passing is that the world was denied another 20 years or more of what might have been. I wondered last night as we were driving to dinner what would have been Steve’s influence as the world moves to electric and alternative fuel cars? Would he have had an impact on the design of an electric car, possibly with Apple as an electronic partner? It would have been fun to see another 20 years or so of “what’s next” from someone who quite simply saw the world completely differently from the rest of us.
56 is simply too young, not only for Steve, but for all who are taken from us too young from cancer. There’s no more I can say than Thank You.
Visit the American Cancer Society website to learn more about what you can do to help move research forward.