// The Apple of my eye.//
Why am I sad? When I found out the news, it’s as if a piece of me died. You might as well now make the bite mark on the Apple logo a little bigger now that Steve Jobs died. I didn’t know him. How could I have sympathy for a person I never even came in contact with? Lack of sympathy is a sign that your either a serial killer or a comedian. Everyone should thank the Gods that I’m the latter. Simply put, the man was the futurist of our present and as I write this I remember how profound Apple’s innovations were in my past.
I’ve been a Mac guy practically all my life. I hated people pushing religion on me; however, I had no problem converting people to Apple. Very hypocritical I know, but in my eyes I couldn’t see a person achieving pure computer bliss without typing onto a beautiful Apple computer. Again, I see the correlation, but I was willingly brainwashed as a kid. I became a die hard Mac head in High School. I remember the school I went to had Apple computers for use in classes as well as any other use (except porn.) I liked the sleek designs, ease of use, and never having to worry about viruses. It was my computer teacher, Mr. Joe that made me a firm believer of Apple. His office was filled with the latest Apple hardware. Back then, Steve Jobs got reinstated as the Apple CEO and was reinvigorating their computer hardware. This was before the iPod, iPhone, and iPad revolutionizing every aspect of media and making our lives easier. I remember Mr. Joe’s office being the mecca of knowledge when it came to anything Apple. There were no Apple stores to see the latest products, I had Mr. Joe to rely on that task. Each passing year, Apple was always leaps and bounds beyond the competition. I remember being fascinated by the Apple G4 Cube at how simple yet complex it looked. However, looking at the outside of a Mac was just the icing on the cake. The real gem was on the inside.
The most important innovated leap that Apple computers did, in my opinion, was the iMovie. It became possible for everyone to create a movie using ease of use software. I remember having more fun editing than I did actually shooting. I was impressed at how fast the digital information from the camera came onto my computer via the firewire port. I remember years later I tried the same thing on a Windows computer and recall the situation being absolutely dreadful. To this day, I love editing on Apple computers as I moved past iMovie and got into more sophisticated software like Final Cut. I didn’t stop there. I was also moving from illustrating on paper to a digital format. Apple granted me the opportunity to show different sides of creativity that I didn’t know I possessed and that was at the heart of every Apple product.
When the music industry was in turmoil, Apple came in to save the day with their iTunes store. I remember how exciting it was to have a digital shop for music. Napster proved that you know longer have to go to a record store to access music; however, Apple brought the record store and the fun of discovering new music to the comfort of my parent’s house. I remember buying anything and everything that caught my ear. Most people would think I was crazy for buying music but, as a fellow artist, I didn’t want to steal from them. My brother would later get an iPod which I was very envious of. Keeping in line with the sleek designs and ease of use never failed to impress me. It was the invention of the iPod that truly made me realize that we were getting closer to the idea of the future we had in our heads. With hover boards and flying cars, the iPod had it’s place in technology that was deemed “futuristic.”
Later versions of the iPod made not only their product inferior, but the competitors as well. Apple was at the forefront of innovation. They set their own path rather than follow the same road. Yet, no other product truly embodies the future living in the present than the iPhone. A remarkable machine that made even a phone exciting to use and a lot of people to gloat about it’s features. This was the turning point of people becoming dicks by showing off their new iPhone and making you feel less of a person because you didn’t have one. I fell victim to that many times. Regardless, I held my head higher than the people that waiting 5 days in line to get the phone because I was an Apple guy way before they were. In my eyes, they were just trying to catch up. As I sit here typing on my, you guessed it, Apple computer, I can’t help but think of the man that created it all. Steve Jobs, you will be missed. You were a pioneer, innovator, artist, but most importantly, you taught me to “think different.” For that I’m grateful. Everyone should be as well because if it wasn’t for him, you would be able to watch all your different varieties of porn without resorting to go to a sleaze ball shop. Oh, and fuck Bill Gates!
