I'm a PC and Steve Jobs Could Have Cared Less

Over the years, particularly the last 10, I've been ridiculed for my choice in internet browsing appliances (which is what a computer has become for me). It's been implied that I'm uncool or conservative - I've had to explain my choice to workmates, friends, and my kids. But, here's the deal - Steve didn't care. Because he knew better than anyone that eventually a device from Apple would make sense and I would purchase it.

As I look around my house filled with iPods and review my ATT phone bill that now has three iPhones on it, or check my email on my iPad in the morning, or trip over the MacBook that my daughter left on the floor in her room last night, it's pretty obvious that the genius of Steve's vision did indeed enter my sphere. He just focused on his vision and kept creating products that provided solutions for my life. Before I knew it, I was right where he knew I should be.

Don't get me wrong - from my earliest days in the tech business, Steve was my tech hero. So much so that after the birth of my first child in 1988, while job hunting, I didn't think about sending a resume to Apple. I wanted to work for Steve, so tried to get into NeXT. I wasn't successful and went to work for a bank (my job was to help bring down one system and bring in the IBM PC) and eventually dropped out of the workforce for several years while I raised our three kids. A PC has been all right for the contract jobs I've landed in the last 7 years, so I haven't bothered to switch. Yet.

I lost a very good friend to pancreatic cancer several years ago. The time between diagnosis and death was less than three months. As I saw pictures of Steve over the last few years, I couldn't help but feel that he was going to lose his battle soon. When my daughter's text announcing his death came to my iPhone yesterday, guess what I was doing? Waiting in my car for my other daughter to finish up school. And downloading an app.

Thank you Steve, for elegant design, for helping others create, for making my life easier. For caring about the big things. For your vision.