Thursday, October 6, 2011

RIP Steve Jobs

Like many millions of people in the US, I saw Apple's now famous "1984" commercial introducing the Macintosh. Being fairly geeky, I was impressed and curious.

About a week later, I was in Dallas at a training course, and Sooz came down to visit. We stayed an extra night downtown, and went for a walk before dinner.

An office-supply store had a new Mac in its window and I went in to see one. It's hard to explain how quickly and completely that little computer found its way into my heart. I remember that moment in perfect detail; it's no exaggeration to say it was one of the significant moments of my life. It's a good thing my girlfriend was with me, otherwise I might have stayed there all night. I might have quit my new job. I might have moved to California. It was that powerful.

I bought one, of course; it cost $2500 and I had to take out a bank loan. That little guy traveled all over with me for the next few years, even to Stockholm in 1989. I sold it then at a good price to a banker on Tomtebogatan. It was hard to let go but I had moved on to the ridiculous Mac Portable, which I happily dragged all over Europe in the early 90's.

In the late 90's, Apple was struggling as a company and its existence was in doubt. I was making plans to buy the most powerful Mac I could, just in case, to tide me over for a few years. Instead, I made a totally emotional decision to buy Apple stock, as a form of solidarity I suppose. Today that stock is worth nearly a hundred times what I paid for it.

But that financial gain is nothing compared to what I've received from Apple over the years. I'm a different person, I think a better person, because of that little Mac I saw all those years ago.

Thanks for everything, Steve.

1 comment:

Sooz said...

A fitting tribute to the man who invented the little machine that was,from the beginning,and has remained such a huge part of our lives.
RIP indeed,Steve.