Hey Steve, we’ll keep the light on for ya. at iconogeek

So the news of Steve Job’s medical leave of absence has circulated and I just have to say that our thoughts are with Steve’s family and friends and we wish him a speedy recovery.

I will admit that I’m a fanboy, I make no bones about that. I credit Steve Job’s and Steve Wozniak with creating the method to my madness. I’ve always been into computers, having learned Basic on a PET and had a VIC20, Commodore64, and then my Dad’s Leading Edge which I programmed Lotus123 and dBase on. I mention the Leading Edge (which was MSDOS, BTW) because when he went down to the local computer shop to buy it, I was drawn to a Macintosh Plus (running MacPaint and connected to a LaserWriter) sitting right by the front window. Oh, it was beautiful. It didn’t look like any of the other computers, and It was the first time I’d seen a GUI, hell the first time I used a mouse. Even so, I sat down and within minutes had drawn out a rather impressive looking pirate that the salesman let me print out and take home.

From that point on, I wanted a Mac. They were too cost-prohibitive at that point for a teenager who needed a car, so I waited. I bided my time on the Commodore and then PC’s through college. SUNY Cortland (my alma mater) had a Mac lab, but it was only for a select few who knew the password. I was an art student and you just didn’t use a computer for art back then unless you were a photographer (I wonder what they’d think of Joshua Davis or Erik Naztke now) – and even then it was only used for plate making for Lithography. So I watched them through the glass like Ralphie watching his Red Rider BB Gun.

When I graduated college, I knew I needed to get a Mac, so I collected my funds from summer construction work and got myself a Mac IIvx. Thus lead the slow and steady slide into eschewing the pencil and plunging headfirst into digital design. I’ve grown nostalgic for pen, ink and paint; but when you begin to think Command-z will erase that line on the paper you’re just too far gone.

As I got deeper into the MAc, I proceeded to attend the east coast MacWorlds in Boston, NY, then Boston again and would make it a point to see the keynote every time. Steve just embodied this amazing enthusiasm for Apple and the work they were doing and I found it inspiring. The roar of the crowd when he stepped out on stage was exhilarating. The thought that this guy was a rockstar was crazy, he’s a company CEO, a geek. But nonetheless, he held the stage, commanded it, and you watched and hung on every word.

So will Steve be missed for the next 6 months? Sure. After all, it was Steve’s dream, chutzpa, charisma, and talent that helped propel Apple to what it is today and helped to create some of the most elegant software and hardware around. But it’s Apple’s cadre of super-talented people that enable Apple to do this. The notion that Apple will fail without Jobs is ludicrous. The great products will continue to flow and Apple will continue to drive the industry with innovation. Of this I am sure.

So Steve, rest up and get better. We’ll see you at the next WWDC.

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