Over the holidays this year I got involved with Apple in two very distinctive ways. First my daughter-in-law gave me the recent Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. It’s a fascinating read about one of the most remarkable, yet weirdest icons to be found in the annals of computer history.
Jobs was not by any means a brilliant programmer or electronics wiz, but with his quirky, grating personality that verged on bi-polarism he was able to take the creations of others, and sometimes their very souls, to do some great things while following his vision of how personal computing should be done.
Apple’s crowning achievements during his lifetime have to be the iPhone and iPad and the book describes in detail the period leading up to the launches of these products. So it was eerily strange during a quiet time after my grandchildren had opened their presents when I had started to read the book to observe, whenever I would lift my eyes from the pages, one or more family members using an iPhone or iPad. Now I don’t own a single Apple product. In fact I have to admit that although I have been involved in the computer industry in one way or another for over 50 years, with one or two exceptions I have never been an early adopter of new technology.
Anyway, I finally put the book aside and asked if I could have a look at one of the iPads. Well this was my second epiphany as I started to play around with the device including making an easy wireless connection to the Internet, and I began to realize what I had been missing.
The ease with which I was able to pick up a computer foreign to me and begin to do things intuitively with little more than hand and finger movements totally impressed me. I’m now looking forward to having my own iPad4 which I understand will be hitting the market this year and, as Jobs would have put it, becoming one of the “enlightened.”
The Computer Question is written by The Vernon PC Users’ Club.
