5 Things We Should Thank Steve Jobs For

A few days ago I was walking upstairs, carrying my most recent acquisition – a MacBook Pro. On top of it were perched my iPad and my iPhone. I looked at my husband and said “Wow – I look like I’m some sort of Apple addict!” This is a big change for me – I used to be purely a PC kind of girl but over the past few years Apple products have inveigled their way into my life. So I was sad this morning to wake up to the news that Steve Jobs had died.

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Apple have produced some wonderful innovations that have changed the technological landscape – Steve Jobs was the creative force behind that. And we, as computer users, web users and WordPress users have got a lot to be thankful for. I thought that in a change to our usual WordPress related content I’d take a look at some of the things we should thank Steve Jobs for.

1. Taking a Calligraphy Class

In his Stanford Commencement Address, Jobs talks about how he dropped out of college and how, while he was hanging around, he decided to take a typography class. He says:

Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

At the time, taking the class was just something he wanted to do because he was interested in it. But ten years later, when they were designing the first Mac he insisted on including beautiful typography. He goes on to say:

If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, its likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out [of college], I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do.

If he hadn’t taken that calligraphy class who knows what typography on our computers would look like right now. Typography has a huge impact on the way we interact with computers, and how we design. What would your WordPress website be without the ability to use great typography?

2. Taking a Tour of Xerox

In 1979, Steve Jobs took a took of the Xerox research center in Palo Alto. There he saw the Xerox Alto, a computer with a GUI (Graphical User Interface) and a mouse to control it. He got ridiculously excited and used it as the basis for the Apple Lisa – the first commercially available computer with a GUI. While the computer itself had poor sales, the GUI is now standard in every commercially available computer. In fact, there are no doubt people who are unable to conceive of a computer without a GUI.

People of my age (can’t believe I just said that!) will remember spending hours fiddling around with Command Lines. As a kid I used to love playing around with DOS – sticking in commands and poking around in file systems (#lame). The first time I saw a GUI I was totally amazed (of course, since I was still a kid I would only do thing like changing all of the fonts to Comic Sans or trying to get the computer to look and sound like a jungle) (#superlame).

Now I’m writing on the WordPress GUI, because of some guy who decided to take an idea and make it available to everyone.

3. Getting Fired

Steve Jobs getting fired was a big moment in corporate history. Apple got rid of their creative drive and the company started to flounder. It was bad for Apple, but good for the rest of us. Jobs went on to set up NeXT and bought Pixar from George Lucas. And it’s Pixar that makes me really happy (and no doubt it made Jobs happy to as it made him a billionaire). As a direct result of him being an asshole and getting fired, we, all of us, got one of the best animation series in the world ever – Toy Story. And Toy Story 2, and Toy Story 3 (to a lesser extent, though it did make me cry). Obviously that’s not WordPress related, but it’s awesome related so it’s worth including.

4. Making Portable Music Easy

For me, the greatest invention of the last decade has got to be the iPod. Before that I had a minidisc player. Remember them? With their stupid little disks that always ended up broken. And before that I had a walkman – I would tape music off the radio on cassettes that would inevitably would get chewed up.

Of course, Apple didn’t create the MP3 player, that accolade goes to Kane Kramer who invented the portable music device in 1979 (!!!). They didn’t even bring out the first commercial one but quickly the iPod became the market leader and made having music on the go incredibly easy. No more carrying around tapes, CDs or Minidiscs. No more decisions about what music to take out on a journey.  Prior to owning an iPod, I had a Creative Zen and a Sony (something) – both had problems. The software (iTunes) and the UI on the iPod were far superior. It’s made having music easy. I don’t own CDs anymore, why would you? Music can be in your pocket, and it’s a wonderful thing.

5. Being an Asshole

In a perfect world, I would have nothing to do with assholes, but they would be there, out there, doing stuff. Not your mundane, everyday asshole (which unfortunately there are too many of) but creative assholes – they tend to be the best assholes to have around. The thing about Steve Jobs is that, while he appeared to have mellowed out with age and illness, he could undoubtedly be an asshole (especially in his younger days). But the thing about creative assholes is that they have no qualms about driving through their vision – and usually they’re right. Sometimes you need someone who doesn’t give a damn about people’s feelings to push things forward and innovate.

Many of these innovations have had a massive impact on my life – maybe they have on yours. I travel a lot (as much as I can). Four years ago I went to America for 3 weeks and needed to drop into an internet cafe every other day. Three years ago I spent time in Spain and had to walk to the top of a massive hill to get to an internet cage. Two years ago I spent a month in Turkey and brought my 1st Gen Asus EEE (which now feels like a toy). Last year I didn’t have a holiday. Last month I spent the whole month in America, with my iPad.

Traveling with my iPad is a joy. I can take my photographs off the camera (we ended up with 2,400 photos…..), I can get on the internet, I can work, I can look at Twitter, Facebook, I can scratch the endless itch that comes with needing to check my Gmail. It fits in my bag and isn’t heavy, I don’t need my laptop. The majority of communications devices I own are a direct result of one man who was unafraid to be an asshole.

Of course, Apple aren’t the only company producing tablets or smartphones or MP3 players, but they are innovators. And Steve Jobs being a creative asshole has been the drive behind those innovations. The iPod, iPhone and iPad have each been game changers, and where Apple go, others follow.

In light of his death, I’m hoping that there are more creative, innovative assholes out aren’t afraid to know they’re right and make other people know it too.

It’s a sad day, so here are some words from the man himself to inspire you.