I still remember May 3rd, 2008, the day I got my first Apple product - the white Macbook. It was an adorable and well polished creation. Just the hardware itself had spelled me enough to love this white glistening machine, with a glowing Apple sign behind the screen. Being extremely light weight, it was a pleasure to work while holding it in lap. Unlike most of the other laptops, there were no exhaust openings at the bottom or sides and it was absolutely silent in operation. I recently came to know that Jobs had learnt this from his father - even the parts which are not visible should be well finished.
The battery backup was 5 to 6 hours - travel all day long without worry; wake up from sleep was unbelievably fast - open the lid and it was on. Browsing through the Apple website for help, somewhere it said "Mac might appear very unconventional initially but in a week you would feel as if you have been together for ages". I am glad that Apple has kept all its promises as this one. The bond has grown stronger everyday. The operating system and applications have been packaged to give a soothing experience. It came with all the essential softwares with easy to configure steps for which I would have to spend whole night on a new PC. I rarely had encounters with a waiting cursor or any virus. The best part was that it was well consistent and organized throughout the OS and all applications. Help is actually helpful as it is easily available and most of the things are accessible in not more than a couple of clicks. It was a design marvel and a source of inspiration. It was only after working on it for sometime that I realized how much change I had undergone. I was learning to do things with perfection till the last bit of it. I had always hated making documents and presentations - found them really boring, in MS-Office; organizing my folders and desktops was a tedious job. I tried iWork for one day and now I was loving every document, because of its limited and yet equally powerful controls.
During my internship in Sweden, I came across Steve Jobs' commencement speech at Stanford. I liked his passion for doing something new and good. By that time iPhone 1st generation was already launched and 3G was about to be launched in July. Around the end of June, I was browsing through the iPhone pages on Apple's site. I was already using an HTC P3300 Windows phone and I never really liked it except for its mp3 playing capability. I looked up used iPhones on Ebay/US and was fortunate to win one of the bids for ten thousand rupees. My first day with the phone was amazing. More about it : here. It was something beyond our imagination. With time, I moved to 3G, 3GS and now iPhone 4. Not a day has passed in last three years, when I have not adored it - consistency again. It has really simplified my life giving me more time to focus on real problems. Be it accessing my mail on the go or video chat on 3G or finding my way in any part of the world and of course the games, google, camera and iBooks, its much more worthier than any single handheld device can be.
Looking back, if there was one single person behind the technological revolution which made these possible, it was Steve Jobs. His contributions are countless. With Wozniak, he invented the first small computer, introduced the mouse, the amazing Mac, the multi-touch interfaces and various other things which make up today's Apple products. These in turn has inspired many other products which make our life easier. His insight into user experience was amazing. At the same time he was a true businessman who knew how to bring people together and make them work towards one big target. But more than anything he was a great visionary who paved the way for generations to come. He mentored many other companies which have contributed to many more technological revolutions. He laid down the foundation of a world where things would magically work, where a user would just relish the technology while the computer would understand his master and do all the work. Rest in peace Steve, the world will miss you.
The picture below, one of my favorites, shows him passionately holding the first Apple computer. The video below that from a 1983 Apple event where Steve is playing game with Bill Gates and others. The second video is a documentary on him - it has some really classic pics of him. Third one is an interview of Walter Isaacson who shares some of his pics and audio used in writing his biography.
