At first, I didn’t believe it. We had been through this before. This time it was different. The news came to my iPhone via the CNN. When Apple announced that Steve Jobs had stepped down as CEO, I never though it was as bad as it turned out to be.

Apple computers have had a profound effect on me. It all started in the early 80s. One of my cousins had an Apple ][+. When we would visit, I would hack away at the machine, and quickly learned a few DOS 3.3 commands. In 1983, my grade school acquired an Apple ][e and I was hooked. I bought a floppy disk from our principle, and used that computer as much as possible. I pestered my parents enough that they purchased an Apple //c in 1984. That computer was my main computer until the early 90s. It is the computer that I used to access BBSes (to the tune of 2 $500 phone bills,) as well as the “internet.” At some point, I acquired an Apple IIgs and spend a lot of time and money tricking it out. This as eventually replaced with a PowerBook (165c,) and finally transitioned to the Macintosh. I had my fair share of Newtons too.

At some level, I know that Steve Jobs didn’t create any of these products, but he personified Apple. He may not have built or programmed the original Macintosh, but he did rally the troops and was the leader of the “pirates.” I was a fan of Apple throughout the 90s. As bad as it was, I never realized how close the company was to bankruptcy. I wasn’t always happy with Steve Jobs decisions, but in hind sight thing are a lot more clear. I was a big fan of the Newton, and I lamented it’s demise. I do however realize that it was necessary for Apple to focus on the Mac.

I remember scrambling to schedule viewings of every keynote, just to see what was going to be announced. It seemed that every time, Steve Jobs would announce something amazing: iMac, PowerBook G3, PowerBook G4, iBook, Airport, iTools, iCal, iTunes, iPhoto, etc. Even when Apple was just introducing a branded / packaged industry standard (i.e. Airport) it felt like they were taking it to the next level.

I completely agree with John Gruber. Steve Jobs’ greatest creation is Apple. It is interesting that Apple has worked to document his ideals so that they can carry on without him.

I am very thankful that Steve Jobs got a second chance, and was able to pull Apple out of it’s mid 1990s tail spin so that it had a chance to create the devices that we use today.