I’ve always been a fan of Steve Jobs. His vision, his products and his dedication to excellence.

Steve was all about creating an experience that fostered creativity and ease of use. He succeeded with every product he created.

And now he is gone.

Since my first computer, Macs have always been on my desktop. And all of them helped me succeed in exercising creativity in my work – from my first video editing on a IIci to Photoshop, Flash and HD video editing today on my MacBook laptop.

Now my children use the systems, all without instruction, because Jobs created a world where the learning curve was virtually nonexistent.

I know there are detractors, those tho think that Jobs was just a rich techno-hippie with colorful overpriced wares. Jobs held his products to a high standard, and charged a pretty penny for them. But with his work – be it Apple, Macs or his Pixar animated films – he aimed to make people smile.

Sure I’ve had trying times with my Macs (the Power PC 6100 created during Jobs’ hiatus crashed too often), but I’ve always gone back to the company that first created in me an urge to keep learning new things.

I have faint memories of my early days learning on an Apple II (or was it an Apple IIe?). I remember sitting with classmate David Dutkowski in a programming class tapping in a math problem, something as simple as 2 + 4, and the system giving us the answer. It was basic, but it was fascinating. We did it over and over again.

Years later, I remember then-sports editor at the Yankton Press and Dakotan, Kelly Hertz, first schooling me in Mac shortcuts for copy/paste during a Friday night sports shift. And I remember my first video editing on that IIci back in 1993. That was just the beginning.

As for my kids, they’re entire lives have been spent using Mac products – creating GIF animations on my MacBook, creating their own playlists on our iPod and experimenting with hand-drawn artwork on the iPad. All of it thanks to Jobs, who will remain one of the true visionaries of our time.

My children know little else, with the exception of a Compaq I bought for school work. But they still think of that PC as a black sheep, and always fight for a seat in front of the Mac.

Steve Jobs himself also commanded that sort of attention – whether he was creating or selling his products. Looking back, his vast contributions to our changing techno-society will be hard to measure.

And while he has passed from this life, somewhere an undiscovered young visionary the likes of Steve Jobs is sitting in front of his or her own Mac ready to change the world again.
Few can claim that sort of legacy. And few ever will.

I’ll miss you Steve.