Thursday, October 6, 2011

Thank you, Steve Jobs

Last night just before 7 pm CST I learned of the death of Steve Jobs, entrepreneur, visionary and former CEO of Apple. A man who was in the prime of his life at 56 years old whom I'd never met changed the life of just about everyone I know.

My first exposure to computers was in eighth grade (1981) in Mrs. Strain's math class on an Apple II. We did a little bit of programming and from what I can best recall we created mosaics. Big stuff for a girl from a tiny Texas town (West Columbia). In fact that computer may have been the ONLY computer in our junior high school at that time.

Thank you, Mr. Jobs for being a part of that first exposure.

So as I was driving home tonight after speaking at Social Media Club Texas State, I thought about what I'd done in my life that wouldn't have been possible without Job's innovations. Yes, I know he was the end all be all to Apple and there were many hundreds of people who helped their products, but he was the face of Apple to me. And while I have a strong sense of who my savior is and who my God is, I'd have to think that if I leaned toward believing in demi-gods then Jobs would be right up there in my top 10 list.