Steve Jobs Presenting an iPhone.
On January 24, 1984, Apple introduced the Macintosh, the first personal computer to have a mouse and a graphical user interface. Almost twenty-eight years later, there is the Macbook Pro: portable and a tenth of the size, complete with a built-in camera, high speed Internet and state-of-the-art Intel processors. Not only has Apple created the most popular computers, but also the most popular phones and portable music devices in the United States. None of this could have happened without Apple’s co-founder, Steve Jobs.
Steven Paul Jobs was born in San Francisco on February 24, 1955. He was an infant when Clara and Paul Jobs adopted him. The lower-middle class family lived in Mountain View in California’s Silicon Valley. His father was a machinist, and would show his son how to take apart and reconstruct electronics. When he reached high school, he frequented after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company and was later hired there, working with Steve Wozniak as a summer employee.
After high school, Jobs enrolled at Reed College in Oregon, but dropped out after one semester because he “couldn’t see the value in it.” Two years later, he and Wozniak started Apple in the Jobs’ garage. In ten years, Apple had grown into a $2 billion company with over 4,000 employees.
Jobs was fired when his partner, John Scully, and the Board of Directors disagreed with his plans for the future of Apple. During the next five years, he started NeXT and Pixar. When Apple bought NeXT, he returned to his previous position. In a commencement address he delivered at Stanford University, he said, “I’m convinced that the only thing that kept me going was that I loved what I did…Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
Steve Jobs died on Wednesday, October 5 of respiratory arrest caused by the pancreatic cancer he was diagnosed with in 2004. The news hit the nation within hours. In the last week on Facebook alone, 283,707 people posted his speech from Ted.com entitled, “How To Live Before You Die,” 1,270,707 people “liked” his Facebook page and 979,032 people had his name posted as their status.
Jobs’s death affected not only his loved ones, but also anyone who has ever owned Apple products. Freshman Matt Safian credits Jobs for his passion in design. “If it weren’t for Steve Jobs and his constant attention to detail and aesthetics, I might not have become interested in it. After I got my first Macbook, I aspired to achieve Apple’s level of design, which Jobs embodies.” Jobs was not the only man involved in creating outstanding products, but he was the face of Apple, and his opinions were heavily weighed in every decision.
Not only did Jobs affect futures, but also perspectives on life. “It’s not even the fact that he created an empire. It’s about why he created it. He did it because he loved it, not for the money or the fame. How many people can say they are successful and love their job? Very few,” said Dan Winey, a San Francisco architect who works closely with Apple. “Now I know that wanting to go to work in the morning is more important than wanting the money.” Jobs focused his work around what he thought people would want, not what would make him wealthy.
Connecticut College students have been lucky enough to watch Apple progress. We grew up with Apple. We all remember the dial-up Internet, and odds are we all remember our first, second, third and fourth iPods. We remember the feeling of opening up a laptop screen for the first time. Steve Jobs is the reason I can write this article today and it can be printed tomorrow.
No matter how much you like Apple, or whether or not you have a Macbook or an iPod, it can’t be disputed that Steve Jobs was a visionary. His dedication to the company is evident through his plan, which lays out Apple’s milestones for the next four years. As a result, he has ensured that his legacy will live on. •
