Steve drove the PC, and now the mobile industry! His contributions to OS, user interface and product design, media and software marketing are simply unmatched in the history of technology. Period.

Steve drove the PC industry in many respects by creating something MS had to at least attempt to do as well or better than. Apple has more control across the OS-hardware so they have a better time presenting a system that is truely integrated with the hardware.

Any other company that comes even close, is emulating Apple, Sony Vaio comes to mind I love my Sony, and I like picking up a 16″ laptop with one hand, light as a feather. And I’m very clear on the fact that my Vaio would not exist, would not be nearly as nice, would cost far more, etc if it was not the fact that they had a MBP to copy and steal ideas from.

And MS would work half as hard on their OS if they didn’t have Steve breathing down their neck, threatening to license Apple OS if MS starts sluffing off and losing market share.

Mid-90s, I agree Apple had little vision and no direction, was crap OS, patches, bother. I abandoned my Macs, couldn’t take my machine crashing so much. And Windows 95 at some point was simply better. If only because there was 10 times more software available and the OS was fully backward compatible with old PC software, where I was paying to update Apple software to get it to run. Linux was interesting too, so lots of alternatives to expensive machines that crashed constantly from Apple.

But since purchasing an iPhone, I’ve seen some new light from Apple. It surely surpasses the BSD with an new windowing system that is OSX. The gestures and the ideas presented in the interface, as well as the itunes software installs, all just stunning works of usability in computing. It’s more of a PC than a phone, but it has done much to merge media, communications and computing into one portable platform.

By far the most innovative product of the new millinium, the iPhone without question is driving the heart of the mobile industry just as the MBP drove the heart of the portable PC industry, just as the desktop machines Apple first released with OSX raised the bar and drove a great deal of PC innovation and copy catting by MS.

One facinating thing is the Goolge is far from matching what Apple has done, with it’s mobile Android. And Vista is only now getting close to what Apple has had with MBP for a long time now. My Vista Viao is wonderful, once I spend an hour configuring Vista to be efficient to use, turning off it’s security and installing my own.

But Apple has always appealed to a smaller market of high end users willing to pay for the best. And that has limited it’s direct market, as people are willing to wait for the knock-offs from the rest of the industry 1, 2 or 3 years down the road.

I think we take this aspect of Apple for granted. and will see a very different industry if Jobs leaves Apple, left to it’s own and I’d give it a year or two tops, before they start down the typical road of a company without it’s visionary founder.

One caveat; the vision of Steve is great, he has no ambition to leave Apple to start a new company, as he did with NEXT, and so he will be willing to share his long range thinking, unlike last time he left Apple on the rocks… (NEXT was just a way of creating a new platform and OS, and selling it back to Apple at a profit.)

I imagine that Steve Jobs can be an SOB to work for (and I heard the same about Lockheed’s Kelly Johnson). But their people are (were in Johnson’s case) dedicated and darn good at their work. An inspirational manager who knows what he’s doing can be tough cookie to work for but, for the talented, immensely satisfying.

My guess is that Jobs has cultivated a culture at Apple that breeds success.

Rush Limbaugh had an excellent monologue last week praising Steve Jobs’ business acumen and devotion to success at Apple. Rush said the country needs more Steves. Ditto that.

It is better to put your trust in the current generation of Medical Professions .
They frequently get a good outcome.

Not that most people appreciate them .Still go in for saying “Thank God” when they recover.

Seriously, Steve will remain in my prayers for as long as they are needed. It’s really quite nice to have a crush on someone with a BRAIN in addition to their attractive packaging. Just don’t tell my husband I said that….