> overwhelmed by the death of a celebrity stranger
Jobs, like Lennon, was not just a celebrity. Both stood for what they believed and, by doing so, inspired countless others to do better. I know working with him was impossibly painful, but I wouldn't have thought twice at the possibility.
For some, that may sound masochistic, but, when my muscles hurt after a workout, I remind myself the next time I'll be running longer and faster. The people who work at Apple touch the lives of countless others and their quest for merging technology and art inspires us.
I don't think I would have been the same engineer I am now had I not used an Apple II+ as my first computer and had I not opened the case and been struck by its absolute elegance - if you are reading this, thanks, Woz, for being our profession's Mozart.
When I go over a post I made here (doing it right now, and there are few things humbler, in the literary sense, than a discussion board post), rephrasing everything until I'm happy with it, I feel satisfied you'll read something much better than what I would be able to do in a couple seconds, even if you miss the cut/copy/paste/type action.
The Apple II looked like a piece of grey plastic to me. So did the NES, but at least it was a lot more fun than the Apple II. Steve Jobs: the man who made purchasing consumer electronics a revolutionary act.
It depends on when you were born. If your first contact with the II was in the mid-90's, I would understand someone finding it underwhelming. It's also an understandable feeling if you were never curious enough to peek under the easily removable hood.
If, however, you compared it to its contemporaries, the S-100 machines with serial terminals, the TRS-80 and the PET, "revolutionary" would be the only possible word.
And, if you had the curiosity to peek under the hood of a II after taking a look inside an IMSAI, you'd understand what an elegant electronic design looks like. Every time I think that the computer in front of me is a not significantly evolved descendant of the original IBM PC, I despair a little. This triumph of the mediocre is not what I studied for.
> I don't think I would have been the same engineer I am now had I not used an Apple II+ as my first computer and had I not opened the case and been struck by its absolute elegance - if you are reading this, thanks, Woz, for being our profession's Mozart.
Jobs, like Lennon, was not just a celebrity. Both stood for what they believed and, by doing so, inspired countless others to do better. I know working with him was impossibly painful, but I wouldn't have thought twice at the possibility.
For some, that may sound masochistic, but, when my muscles hurt after a workout, I remind myself the next time I'll be running longer and faster. The people who work at Apple touch the lives of countless others and their quest for merging technology and art inspires us.
I don't think I would have been the same engineer I am now had I not used an Apple II+ as my first computer and had I not opened the case and been struck by its absolute elegance - if you are reading this, thanks, Woz, for being our profession's Mozart.
When I go over a post I made here (doing it right now, and there are few things humbler, in the literary sense, than a discussion board post), rephrasing everything until I'm happy with it, I feel satisfied you'll read something much better than what I would be able to do in a couple seconds, even if you miss the cut/copy/paste/type action.