Photo by Szilveszter Farkas
Once upon a time, I was frustrated on a daily basis by my computer.
It kept crashing, refusing to connect to the internet, and interrupting me with asinine pop-up messages.
It lost me hours of productivity every week.
I rang the computer supplier. They blamed the parts supplier. I rang the parts supplier, they blamed the computer supplier.
Then I bought a MacBook Pro.
Since that day, computer stress has vanished from my life.
Five years on, I’m still using the same Mac, the machine that has built Lateral Action.
Today, lots of people are rightly talking about Steve Jobs’ creative vision. But vision is nothing without execution.
His legendary attention to detail has given me a computer I can rely on so well that I hardly notice it. Each day, instead of focusing on my computer, I’m focused on my work.
It just works, so I can just work.
Thank you Steve, for the gift of productivity as well as creativity.
I’m a photographer. My industry has far more than its fair share of Apple geeks. I’m typing this on my Macbook Pro. I’ve just taken a call on my iPhone. Earlier I was putting portfolio shots on my iPad.
I think you’ve summed up Steve Jobs’ impact on so many of our lives incredibly well. Despite what I’ve written above I don’t consider myself an Apple freak, but my business life is simply dominated by it. And without that man’s vision my working life would be so different, and undoubtedly so much poorer.
Words will spoken , I totally agree with you , and i also thank you Steve .
indeed well said,… Thank you for listening to your own & just being you, Steve.
Yes, thanks for reminding us that between the idea and the marketing it takes high quality execution to add value to the culture.
It is a lesson to those who would skip what it takes to make quality execution happen.
Such a legacy he has… Pancreatic cancer is such an awful thief, but he lived the dream he had in the days he had.
I have been using a Mac ever since I’ve started using a computer, a long time ago, and I don’t understand why anybody would use anything else. I have an iPhone, and iPad, and a website I built with iWeb. And I’m not a young geek – I am nearly 70. Thank you so much Steve Jobs for your wonderful contribution to the world. We are going to miss you dreadfully.
“vision is nothing without execution.”
Couldn’t agree more with that statement. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the dedication and hard work that Steve Jobs put into executing a vision. That alone should inspire all of us to work harder and do work that matters (yes, I realize that comment sounds a little Seth Godin-esque, heh).
I agree wholeheartedly. I think that’s one of the major lessons Steve had to pass along. It’s one I hope I live up to, and certainly one I want my kids to take to heart.
Seth Godin, yes. and even Tom Peters – “Do cool stuff!”
Thanks everyone, glad it resonated for you and thanks for sharing your thoughts.
I wasn’t planning on writing anything, then I stopped to think what the last few years’ work would have been like if I were still struggling along with a PC, and it was a sobering thought!
Late to the party, but I got my first Mac in 1995. Windows users laughed at me. Now I run Windows (when I’m forced to) as an *application* on my Mac.
I wasn’t going to write anything either, but then I thought about all the people who are told their ideas are crazy, and how those crazy ideas can change the world. Sounded like art-making to me.
I don’t have too many words right now, and my thoughts are myriad, and I won’t be able to put them in the proper order…. Therefore, my thoughts will appear in the next issue of ATPM.