In March of 2000, Apple was set to launch the first version of Mac OS X. At the time, I was working for a company called Macromedia (creators of Flash, subsequently purchased by Adobe) on a professional illustration program called FreeHand. Part of the Mac OS X transition was a system that reimplemented the programming interfaces from Mac OS 9 on the operating system kernel of Mac OS X. That system was called Carbon and was key to the strategy that let Mac OS 9 application transition to the Mac OS X platform. We had worked very hard with Apple and FreeHand was one of the first applications to run under the new system. I was invited to demo FreeHand running on Mac OS X at the Mac OS X launch event.
The launch was held on the Apple Campus in the “Town Hall,” the same venue that recently hosted the launch of iOS 5 and the iPhone 4s. Members of The Press were across the hallway in an adjacent room while those of us who were going to present were reviewing our parts, being fitted with microphones, and anxiously milling about. At one point an Apple employee stuck her head into the room and announced that Steve Jobs would be arriving in a few minutes. Most people took the announcement in stride and continued about their business.
At some point in this process, two of the representatives from Apple’s Developer Relations team that I had been working with seated themselves about halfway up the auditorium; they were innocently waiting for the event to start.
When Steve walked into the room, he did so through a side door that was just to the left of my seat. I was standing in front of the seat, and Steve came to stop right in front of me. The moment he walked into the room, all conversation died out. The entire room held it’s breath for a few heart beats while Steve stretched and commented aloud about being “ready to do this thing.”
As the conversations around the room came back on-line, Steve turned to me, pointed at the Developer Relations folk halfway up the auditorium and forcefully asked “Who are those people?” Naturally I fumbled to find a reply and was explaining that they worked for Developer Relations. Thankfully the VP of Developer Relations was nearby. He tapped Steve on the shoulder and told him “Those are my people, Steve.” I often tell folks at that point that “The Eye of Sauron turned” as Steve went off to review his presentation.
This was my first encounter with Steve Jobs. I’ve had a couple more over the years, minor interactions that I have no doubt he would never have remembered. Still, I have been working on Apple products since I was very young. Over the years my specialization in the field of Apple development has allowed me to care for myself and my family. Apple’s products continue to be an important part of my life.
Shortly the official press event announcing Mac OS X, I was invited to the cafeteria at Apple, Caffe Macs, and heard Steve talk about how Mac OS X was going to change everything. Over 10 years later, and that operating system now powers not only the Macintosh computer, but the host of iOS devices as well. A decade away I’m now working at SoftLayer to bring some of that innovation, and excellence to our mobile products.
I am one of millions whose lives have been touched by Steve Jobs. I know that while he was here he seized life with an intensity that inspires many of us. I hope that where he has gone he will have time to relax, reflect, and rest for a time.
That is, I have no doubt, before he starts “One More Thing…”
Rest in Peace, Steve.
-Scott
- Lilah Brown's Planets, Part II (or, Season II preview) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Snow White needs a bailout - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- To the moon - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- S/1 90482 (2005) needs your help - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- We'll always have Regulus - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Orcus Porcus - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Kant's Crowded Universe - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Look up! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Baby Pictures - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Encore: Yelping at Saints - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Godspeed - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Heavens above! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Homeward bound - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Sony Pictures and the end of the world - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Thank you from the future - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Lunar dreams - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The first of the Pluto books! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Don't try to blame it on Rio - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Rio roundup - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The long road to a Titan storm - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Planetary Placemats - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Fog! Titan! Titan Fog! (and a peer review experiment) - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Millard Canyon Memories - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The problem with science - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- P.S. on the problem with science - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- How Big is 10 TB? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Showing You Your Servers - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Pick Your Partnership: Referral Partners, Resellers and Affiliates - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Server Form Factors: Towers v. Rack-Mounts - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Lights-Out in the Data Centers - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Disruptive Technologies: Virtualization and The Cloud - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Know Thy Backups – Part I - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Know Thy Backups – Part II - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Boo Bash 2009 – Desktop Costume Included! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Why No One Will Talk About “Cloud Computing” in 10 Years - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The end of the fall - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- We Love ‘Server Huggers’ - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- All About the Cloud: An Interview with Dell’s Cloud Evangelist - December 13th, 2009 [December 13th, 2009]
- Happy Solstice - December 21st, 2009 [December 21st, 2009]
- A ghost of Christmas past - December 31st, 2009 [December 31st, 2009]
- Learning from a Blender - January 5th, 2010 [January 5th, 2010]
- Changing my world - January 6th, 2010 [January 6th, 2010]
- A Server. From Scratch. - January 7th, 2010 [January 7th, 2010]
- The Planet Sand Castle: Upgrade Your Sandbox - January 12th, 2010 [January 12th, 2010]
- Hosting for Haiti - January 20th, 2010 [January 20th, 2010]
- Redefining Value - January 26th, 2010 [January 26th, 2010]
- My Experience as a Newbie at The Planet - January 28th, 2010 [January 28th, 2010]
- Confessions of Another New Planeteer - February 1st, 2010 [February 1st, 2010]
- How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Permissions - February 11th, 2010 [February 11th, 2010]
- Where at The Planet is Rachel? - February 15th, 2010 [February 15th, 2010]
- The Planet Storage Cloud: FYI - February 19th, 2010 [February 19th, 2010]
- Meet us in March - February 25th, 2010 [February 25th, 2010]
- The Planet in “The Channel” - March 2nd, 2010 [March 2nd, 2010]
- The Planet Server Challenge - March 13th, 2010 [March 13th, 2010]
- The Definitive Guide to Finding The Planet at SXSW - March 13th, 2010 [March 13th, 2010]
- The SXSW Iron Geek Champion! - March 15th, 2010 [March 15th, 2010]
- Drinking from the Fire Hose - March 16th, 2010 [March 16th, 2010]
- The Fastest Hands at SXSW - March 17th, 2010 [March 17th, 2010]
- System.out.println(“Hello World!”); - March 22nd, 2010 [March 22nd, 2010]
- Westmere – Get it Here - March 23rd, 2010 [March 23rd, 2010]
- Orbit on Your iPhone: A Sign of Things to Come - March 24th, 2010 [March 24th, 2010]
- #ShowMeMyServer 2.0 - March 25th, 2010 [March 25th, 2010]
- Get to Know Your Visitors - March 30th, 2010 [March 30th, 2010]
- The Next Big Thing in Hosting: The Hostatulator - April 1st, 2010 [April 1st, 2010]
- Storage Cloud and the City - April 4th, 2010 [April 4th, 2010]
- American Heart – Why I Walk - April 7th, 2010 [April 7th, 2010]
- The Cake Shouldn’t Be a Lie - April 8th, 2010 [April 8th, 2010]
- April Showers Bring May Flowers - April 9th, 2010 [April 9th, 2010]
- First at The Planet: Nehalem EX 4-Socket Servers - April 15th, 2010 [April 15th, 2010]
- Intel Guest Blog: Xeon 5600 - April 16th, 2010 [April 16th, 2010]
- Inside the Office: A Birthday Surprise - April 18th, 2010 [April 18th, 2010]
- The Planet @ Cloud Expo East - April 19th, 2010 [April 19th, 2010]
- The Planet @ ad:tech SF - April 22nd, 2010 [April 22nd, 2010]
- ad:tech Server Challenge - April 22nd, 2010 [April 22nd, 2010]
- ad:tech Panel: Developing Communities Online - April 23rd, 2010 [April 23rd, 2010]
- The Planet @ Interop Las Vegas - April 27th, 2010 [April 27th, 2010]
- Overflowing With Value: 10TB is Back! - April 28th, 2010 [April 28th, 2010]
- The Cloud is NOT the Revolution - April 29th, 2010 [April 29th, 2010]
- The Importance of Orbit 2.0 - May 5th, 2010 [May 5th, 2010]
- The Planet @ Web 2.0 Expo - May 6th, 2010 [May 6th, 2010]