The NeXT Mac

It has been five months since the passing of Steve Jobs. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, I was a bit distracted when Mr. Jobs passed and I wasn't able to give the proper respect that someone would expect to give to the passing of one of their idols. For as long as I live, I will never be able to forget the date Steve died. The next day my wife gave birth to our first children, twin boys, on 10/6/2011. March 2012 marks 15 years since I first learned that Apple acquired NeXT and Steve Jobs would be returning to the company. It's hard to believe that much time has gone by, but I remember it very well.

Back in 1997, although I had only been using Mac's for about four years (and only owned one for two years) I was very staunch in my belief that the Mac was the superior platform, and could never see myself as a Windows user. I was a senior in high school at the time, and had carefully woven my way into a position where I was doing all of the technical support for my schools two Mac labs. Each were stocked with 25 LC III's running System 7.1. The Mac’s were neglected and abused, so I felt obligated to care for them. I was “The Mac Guy”. This lead to a lot of ridicule from my PC using classmates. Everyday I would hear about how Apple was going out of business, the Mac is a toy, Macs aren’t compatible, etc... Even publications such as MacWorld and MacUser had little good to say about Apple. With all of the negativity it was hard to stay positive in those days. It was kind of depressing.

One day in March 1997, I was walking down the magazine aisle at local drug store when I read something that stopped me in my tracks. It was the cover of MacWorld magazine which read, "The NeXT Mac -- Steve Jobs Returns -- Apple Buys NeXT -- and a new Mac OS is born." It might seem silly to think that moment would provide such a feeling of clarity, but for me it was world changing. Right then, I knew Steve was going to save Apple, and things were going to be "different". I bought that magazine and still have it to this day. Whenever I take it out to look at I still get the same chills down my spine that I did when I first laid eyes on it. It's like watching the 1984 commercial.

Being a Mac user for 19 years now, owning over 60 Apple computers, having watched every Steve-note, and religiously followed Mac news sites, there is no denying that Steve Jobs and Apple have had a huge impact on my life. It's part of who I am. He wasn't a model citizen or even a well-rounded human being, he was quirky and sometimes extremely cruel, but he was extremely passionate about what he believed in. He’s had as much impact on my life as someone I’ve never met could have, and he will be missed.

Throughout the early to mid-1990’s Apple had been slowly declining into irrelevance. The prospect of Apple going out of business, being purchased by Sun or Oracle, or some other horrible fate was extremely worrisome to us devout faithful. Apple had failed many times to create a modern replacement for the stagnating Mac OS, and the future was looking bleak. Today, Apple is the most valuable corporation in the world, yet I am once again uncertain about the future of the Mac and its seemingly inevitable convergence with iOS. With Apple's aggressive OS X upgrade schedule, it's hard to say what the Mac will look like in the years to come. There is no doubt that Steve has set the course for Apple for the next several years, but then what? The future is longer than even Steve Jobs can plan for. I only hope that Apple maintains their underdog spirit and continues to innovate and drive computing forward to make the next 15 years as "Insanely Great" as the last 15. Think Different Steve.