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Steve Jobs Obituary

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Smoke Signal Tribute To Steve Jobs

1955-2011

        Steve Jobs, the man, the myth, the legend, passed away on October 5th, 2011, a stormy Wednesday night. Jobs, and his company Apple, brought to us revolutionizing products, like the iPod, iPhone, and iPad. These products refashioned their respective industries, as well as the lives of the students here at MSJ. You can’t walk into any class without seeing a dozen iPhones on students’ desks, and maybe a half dozen more in their hands.

     Jobs was born on February 24th, 1955 to a single mother who had never gone to college. She put young Jobs up for adoption so that he could have a better life. Eighteen years later Jobs went to Reed College, but dropped out after a semester. It was at Reed that Jobs took a class in calligraphy and the fonts he learned in that class would later become the first fonts on the standard Macintosh computer.

     In 1985, however, Jobs was fired from the company he founded. Discouraged, but not defeated, Jobs proceeded to found Pixar and NeXT. Anyone who has seen Toy Story, A Bug’s Life, or Monsters Inc., is familiar with the stellar work of Pixar. In 1996, when Apple bought NeXT, Jobs ventured back to Apple, and soon everything he touched turned to gold.

     Jobs will be missed for his talent, for his work, for his image, and definitely for his keynote presentations.

Steve Jobs’ Milestone Inventions

Apple II (1977)
Considered one of the first successful mass-produced personal computers, the Apple II line was introduced in June 1977 and continued until November 1993. The Apple II was competitively priced and found its way into many households, businesses, and schools. Apple enthusiasts continue to use Apple II applications today via emulators or carefully maintained original systems.

Lisa (1983)
The Lisa was introduced before the Mac, in early 1983. However, it was more advanced than the Mac OS X as it included protected memory, cooperative multitasking, a hard disk based operating system, and a built in screensaver. The computer’s title is supposedly either an acronym for “Local Integrated Software Architecture” or a reference to Jobs’ first daughter, Lisa.

Mac OS X (1985)

The Macintosh operating system began in Jobs’ company NeXT after he left Apple in 1985. The success of NeXT gained Apple’s attention and the company bought NeXT outright. The Mac OS X was made publicly available in March 2001 and the system continues  as the Mac OS X Lion which powers most macs today.

NeXT Computer(1988)
The goal of NeXT was to create a better computer workstation for educational purposes. NeXT was created by Jobs after he resigned from the company. After Jobs returned to Apple, NeXT became licensed  back to Apple under the Mac brand. The first generation NeXT Computer had a 25 MHz CPU, a maximum 64 MB of RAM, and a 660 MB hard drive. This setup was marketed at higher educational establishments (university labs) for a base price of $6500.

Macintosh 128K (1988)
The first ever Macintosh personal computer, the classic beige computer debuted in a 1984 Super Bowl commercial at a low price of 2500 dollars. The computer came bundled with two applications – MacWrite and MacPaint. While it was discontinued in 1985, the Macintosh brand lived on into the Macintosh 512K, Power Macintosh, and many more models between and after.

Timeline of Steve Jobs’ Products 

Apple I- 1976 

The Apple I went on sale in July 1976 at a price of US$666.66. About 200 units were produced

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Apple II-1977

The Apple II, one of the first highly successful mass-produced microcomputer products, designed primarily by Steve Wozniak, went on sale on June 5, 1977.

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Apple III- 1978

The Apple III, was considered a failure in the market, due to serious stability issues that required a design overhaul and a recall of existing machines, it was formally reintroduced the following autumn. The introductory price was $7800.

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Apple Lisa- 1978

Apple Lisa development began in 1978 as a powerful personal computer with a graphical user interface (GUI,) targeted toward business customers.

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Apple Macintosh- 1984

The original Apple Macintosh personal computer, it had a selling price of US$2,495. The sales of the Macintosh were strong from its initial release and reached 70,000 on May 3, 1984

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Apple IIGS- 1986

Apple IIGS - The "GS" in the name stands for Graphics and Sound, referring to its enhanced graphics and sound capabilities.

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Macintosh Portable- 1989

The Macintosh Portable, September 1989, was Apple Inc.'s first attempt at making a battery-powered portable Macintosh personal computer that held the power of a desktop Macintosh

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Newton Platform- 1998

The Newton platform was an early personal digital assistant and the first tablet platform developed by Apple, released in 1998

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iMac- (General Macintosh Desktop Computers)- 2001 

The iMac is a range of all-in-one Macintosh desktop computers and was introduced in 1998

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iMac G3- 1999

Marked the first results of Steve Jobs return to Apple in 1997, the iMac G3 was the first model of the iMac line and was released in 1999

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iBook- 1999-2006

The iBook was a line of laptop computers that sold from 1999 through 2006.

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iPod- 2001

Apple introduced the first-generation iPod on October 23, 2001, with the slogan "1,000 songs in your pocket". The first iPod had a black and white LCD (liquid-crystal display) screen and featured a 5 GB hard drive

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iPhone/iTouch- 2007

Announced on January 9, 2007, the iPhone was Apple's innovation to redefine the smart phone market

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Macbook Air-2008

The World's Thinnest Notebook, Macbook Air, released in January 2008

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iPad-2010

The iPad, redefined the meaning of a tablet computer, it was announced in February 2010

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Quotes from MSJHS Faculty Members and Students

Karleen Densmore- Sophomore Secretary, “I don’t think we would be where we are today if he hadn’t been born to do what he did for us.”

Senior Michael Kagan- ” He standardized entrepreneurship by completely setting the bar so high. Now everyone looks to Apple as the model for a successful business.”

Junior Hari Ramachandran- “He was my idol, my inspiration, to the point where  I wanted to work with him. I always thought I would have the chance, but now I won’t. I’ve brushed by him many times on the Apple Campus; I once met him in an elevator and got his autograph. He was a source of inspiration and will leave an empty spot in my heart, and life. Here’s to the crazy one, the round peg in the square hole, Steve Jobs.”

Thank you Steve Jobs for your inspirational work. You will truly be missed.

“Stay hungry, stay foolish.”

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