Rest in Peace, Steve

Steve Jobs is dead. I am sad about his early departure. In a way, Steve Jobs ruined me. I plotted and schemed to buy a computer for about fifteen years. In 1994, I purchased a discontinued Mac. It was a great machine but it ruined me.

Then as now, if you bought a Mac, it did what you wanted it to do. No blue screens, no crashes, no data loss. It was like buying a TV set, You bring the Mac home. You plug it in. It works. User is happy.

Mac owners did not spend their hours visiting help sites that offered tips to insure that applications worked the way they were supposed to work. They might have backed up their data in case of fire or flood or nuclear war. Sure, you have to prepare for eventualities, but you how often do we get nuked?

I can remember in the mid 90's two coworkers--Windows users--discussing recovery disks for longer than I thought it was possible to discuss the subject. I can remember overhearing another workplace conversation revolving the frequency of Windows reboots. I was scared but Apple was dwindling. I went over to the dark side in 1998 and I have never gone back.

In the year 2011 Windows users download accessories like Revo Uninstaller to perform basic functions that Microsoft has trouble performing. That is, Windows Vista and Windows 7 have trouble cleanly uninstalling software. This is absurd! But Revo is popular.

For a long time, I resisted the whole install-a-second-set-of-windshield-wipers-because-you-know-damn-well-the-factory-parts-don't-work mentality. I fervently resisted it. In that sense, Steve Jobs ruined me. If you start out with an electronic ignition, you probably will not be impressed with those happy fools who take pride in their gold-plated cranks. I thought that Windows would either improve radically or Moore's Law would make Apple the new Volkswagen. Neither scenario has played out. Microsoft still produces a mediocre operating system and Apple is more concerned with mystique than saturation.

Steve Jobs is an American Hero. But he's also the reason my PC talent never developed. Rest in peace, Steve.