Steve Jobs

[Malcolm's Dad]

This isn't exactly Cairn related, I'll explain later.

Tonight the news reports Steve Jobs has passed on. I've always admired Steve Jobs. Of course we all know about Apple computers. Most people don't remember he was the one who brought us windows and the mouse on a home computer. Apple with Motorola first brought us graphics and sound on the home computer. Even though he was a corporate executive of one of the most innovative companies, he was still a 70's and 80's hippie who attended corporate conferences in his jeans and tennis shoes. My hero.

Another hero of mine is Bill Joy of Sun Microsystems. Bill Joy developed the TCP/IP protocol. That is what allows computers to talk over the Internet. Actually it's because of TCP/IP that the Internet started in the first place. Sun Microsystems had graphics workstations that cost up to $50,000 at the time. Now you can get a playstation with 100 times the graphics power for $200.

Add windows, sound, graphics and the Internet and you have what we are all using right now, this forum.

Thanks to these two leaders we can talk about our Cairns at any time at any place in the world. These two men have changed our lives more than any other in the 20th century. When I was a kid we got our news from the paper. You went to the library to research something. If you were out and needed to make a call you found a payphone. Now it is all at our fingertips in our living room, bedroom, car or open field. And not just talk, we can videoconference too. Want to see what your pet is doing at the daycare? Just log in and watch lol.

Well, this isn't Cairn related, but this is my way of saying thank you to Mr. Jobs for helping to create what we use to share our lives and those of our pets, anywhere anytime.

[pkcrossley]

this is certainly "cairn talk" related. i am exactly steve jobs age, and each time he achieved a breakthrough it changed my life. i got all his products as soon as they were available, and i started programming my apple computers from the first because he made it possible for people to do that. and with those computers i participated in the early bulletin board services. i remember sitting there late a night as a 300 baud modem (if you were born after 1980 you cannot even imagine how slow that was), phone connected, fed sentences letter by letter across the screen. science fiction fans, engineers, historians, anybody with something that forced them to reach outside their local circle could hook in (regardless the computer, of course) and talk about something they cared about.

it is different now, but the principle that worlds can expand if the technology is only there is working through cairntalk every day. steve jobs didn't invent the internet, but unlike bill gates he knew that it was going to be the primary medium of digital growth. he made sure that his computers were all built from birth with the capacity to hook into local networks and into the internet with a maximum of flexibility and a minimum of fuss. with those two principles he literally changed the world. nobody with a computer or a smart phone in their lives has been untouched by steve jobs. for some of us, he made everything possible.

[bradl]

Another member born the same year. I expected to be a bit depressed when he inevitably succumbed, but damn...

He certainly changed the world we live in, with a surprising (to me anyway) breadth and depth. His combination of vision and passionate-yet-clinical drive for a certain type of perfection has been and will continue to be inspiring to me.

Brad "who just read that some images were broken in an old post and needed to move them on a remote server, so fished an iPhone out of his pocket, touched a screen to create a local wifi hotspot, fished a macbook air out of his briefcase, and connected to our web host to shuffle the files around" L.

[Idaho Cairns]

I certainly recognize Job's link to this forum. Tho I have never owned an Apple product I understand his role in all that we do and enjoy on a daily basis. One doesn't want to get too far out in the field about Job's passing but clearly he was a genius that created opportunities that allow us to share our experience and love of our Cairns. Hard to imagine what all our days would be like had it not been for his ability to see and influence the future of the internet.

[Tami]

Might I add that I would never have been able to get my Cairn Fearghus without first doing a LOT of research into the breed and the raising of a puppy. All of that I did online. Also I was able to contact his breeder (email) and see pictures of him as a little 3 week old pup (facebook) and now indeed can check on him when he's at daycare (browser). RIP Steve Jobs!

[hheldorfer]

Ditto, ditto and ditto. Anybody who had a hand in introducing me to the fine folks on this forum is a hero in my book.

[remltr]

He was definitely a visionary. I hope he was met at the Pearly Gates by a pack of face licking, frisbee chasing Cairns.

[Kathryn]

iThankyou, Steve Jobs. Send via my ipad2.

[Sam I Am]

This was such an amazing speach...