I bought my first Apple in 1984.

It was the Mac. I just had to have it. I had no practical use for it. I had a computer at work (a PC) and didn’t bring work home. I didn’t have a business. No need to do spreadsheets. There certainly was no internet. I just wanted the hot thing. So the Mac sat on my desk next to all my other gadgets like my TRS-100 and my Osborne. I believe in technology. It doesn’t always believe in me. But I believe in technology to transform life. And that I suppose is the reason we mourn Steve Jobs.

He gave us all the right tools.

He didn’t tell us what to say or do. He left that to us. But he gave us the tools to live our dreams.

Jobs really was the anti-corporate ideal. He was a true corporate rebel. And he won. Even after being fired from Apple, he came back and led its rebirth. I wonder why more corporate heads don’t adopt his style. The difference isn’t just generational or about the tech business.

He did something really revolutionary. He made products for the people. Products for the rest of us.

They weren’t cheap, which is why most people went with PCs. But Apple was all about simplicity, beauty and ease of use.

He made tech human. You didn’t have to know DOS to make the darn thing run.

Jobs integrated the code into our lives. And now even if you’re a PC guy, you felt his presence. Jobs created pressure on the competition to be even better at being Mac-like. And now how can we live without all these tools that make us do what we do?

I never met Jobs. I did meet Woz several times. And now I see. Woz was the nerd’s nerd. Jobs was the dreamer.

One other thing that gets me about Jobs is he is my age.

I like to tell a self-deprecating joke about being in the same Harvard Class as Bill Gates. I graduated. He dropped out. I guess I showed him.

But Jobs was the dropout who trumped us all.

He’s a reminder that we can all accomplish so much more if we are lucky to discover what we were truly put on this earth to do.

Here’s Jobs’ Commencement address at Stanford (2005) that you may have seen snippets of on TV.

When you ever feel ready to give up on things, watch it. Get inspired. It’s a simple message. Have faith that the dots will connect. Find what you love and believe. Live each day as if it were your last, because yes, you will be dead soon. And as an homage to the Whole Earth Catalogue, stay hungry, stay foolish.