R.I.P. Steve Jobs
I never met him, but saw him twice in person (once while driving his black Mercedes with “NEXTINC” as the plates) and the other was at a Steve-note introducing the too-little-too-late NeXT Stations.
Only a few months ago I figured out what made Apple’s equipment so good to use. Normally we think of performing a task on a computer as a going from A to B. The in-between part is the time spent watching the computer work, or not work in some cases. Microsoft didn’t bother with that, all they were concerned about was that you could eventually get B done. Whereas with Apple, the middle stuff was nearly as important as the final results. They made waiting fun, which made completing a task fun. All of the transitions in states on the Mac have been designed to delight. And delight they did.
Farewell Steve, you were insanely great.
