Apple computer may be the most valuable IT company to date, but most of what it is today, actually narrows down to one man, Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs was more than just a CEO. He was an innovative man, who never really stopped moving forward. Yes, ideas for a touchscreen phone wasn't new, an mp3 player whose real specialty was its large hard drive and the clickwheel can hardly be passed as amazing, but there was a thin layer of icing on these products that make the average consumer so amazed.
There always is this unspoken exclusivity whenever it came to an Apple product. It's like an invisible ward whenever passing the Apple store in the mall, or walking by those black tables at your local big box electronic store. Much like Steve Jobs, these were the vessels that carried these minimalistic, yet very mysterious devices. The one thing that made Apple so outstanding was not because their products were usually more expensive than their competitors or because it was so much prettier, but because how well they worked.
In the last few years, Apple has been rolling out with updates, refreshes and even newer generations of each product within a 12-16 month product cycle. It was a move to declare war against the conformists. Conformists have now done everything they can, to stand still in time, as they continue to purchase machines that never got any better ever since 2002. Apple aimed to win these conforming consumers over, by wowing them and showing them, that machines cannot stand still. This moved in accordance to Moore's Law, and actually explains very well, how society defied it, and tried to stay still after the advent of Windows XP. Everyone was finally able to get their hands on a computer without freaking out at the cryptic bits and pieces of Bill Gates' software because Windows XP worked. Windows XP sat around for at least 4 years before Vista came about and was widely rejected. People still clung on to Windows XP. It was madness. It was wrong.
Steve Jobs' greatest achievement was to really show these people that there was a better alternative. The dawn of the Information Age has caused the speed at which things should be done to take a rapid increase. So, with that, Apple started to get an upper hand on the war.
Steve Jobs, being just as charismatic and just as innovative as the products he oversees, have finally won the people over. Apple is no longer just an exclusive club waiting to die. It was a growing party. To drive the point home, Steve Jobs even presented himself, in a minimalistic form with the turtleneck and jeans, just to embody the spirit in which Apple will work. Every machine ever since the iPod nano has been absolutely nothing short of phenomenal. Did they have faults? Of course. The release of the iPhone in 2007 was often ignored because no one was ready for it. The MacBook Air was too impractical. That list can grow.
However, Apple did not stop. They only made better and better machines, with improved battery life, better form factor, yearly OS tweaks. It was amazing. Apple is no longer that beige box in the corner of every late 90's elementary school classroom. Apple is now, in everyone's pockets, purses, jackets, backpacks, labs...you name it. For this, we salute you, Steve Jobs.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Post 018
October 4th is a day that was perhaps slightly over-hyped in my world. Part of me had wished for a change starting in the early morning. I had gone to bed, thinking that I could make a difference. I would step up and really let loose a volley of well-constructed phrases that not only explained to the prof of my web components course that despite my respecting him for that PhD title that he holds, I do not agree with his teaching methods.
I wanted to tell him that he was difficult to follow. The fact that he runs to his laptop, to the whiteboard, scribbles some random note, and decides to pass it off as teaching irks me. I want to point all these flaws out to him, but I find myself sitting back and just giving up. While leaning back in my seat, I raise my feet so that my legs are parallel to the ground. Using my arms I push onto the underside of the table behind me, and start stretching my shoulder muscles. I started to stare blankly at the screen and realize, why this was a useless idea. He hadn't listened two minutes ago when my fellow peers tried to explain that there are nonexistent classmates on their team list.
This is what perhaps causes the biggest pain for me, as I find that I do not seem to get the motivation to make something of my education when the educator doesn't seem to give me the support I'm looking for. Strike 1. I'm feeling that this is becoming a write-off day.
The high point of the day must be Chevy's demonstration at Yonge Dundas Square. Having the chance to parallel park the Chevy Orlando, and test drive the much hyped Chevy Volt, I feel that I can only shake my head at the thought of new cars. Most new cars have New Car Syndrome. The steering racks are all now electric-assisted power steering. There is no feel to the front wheels. It's like turning a very loose circle, with no feel of how much force is fighting back from the road. That's before I get to the windows. New cars have large windows up front and ever shrinking windows till you reach the back, where you're lucky if the designer didn't decide to put a spoiler in the middle of your rear window, cutting down the already small window to something even smaller. I should get used to looking out of a porthole, because that's what rear windows will look like in the future.
Then came the news from Cupertino. For months, I had been preaching of the arrival of the iPhone 5. I spoke of a larger screen, an 8MP camera, the A5 processor, faster speeds, a replacement touch button instead of the home button, and a slimmer design. The A5 processor, 8MP camera and higher speed came into fruition by means of Moore's Law, but the rest was all gone. Not only was there no iPhone 5, but there was an iPhone 4S. It was lackluster. It was boring, it was stupid, and it seemed recycled. Apple had spent extra time to push this out, totally trumped our expectations of a summer launch just so they can have a presentation for a machine that clearly was sub-par by Apple's standards.
Perhaps graphics will be a change. Maybe I can ask a question that can solve my problems. I could finally solve my headache from last night. Perhaps I was wrong. Not only was it difficult to present my problem when there was nothing to explain my situation, I also couldn't get any pointers to solving the problem. This was too much to handle.
I'm dubbing this disappointment day. It's not so bad that it'd be considered a bad day. However, it's so difficult to comprehend how so many things can just fall short of expectation on the same day. October 4th : Disappointment Day.....*sigh*
I wanted to tell him that he was difficult to follow. The fact that he runs to his laptop, to the whiteboard, scribbles some random note, and decides to pass it off as teaching irks me. I want to point all these flaws out to him, but I find myself sitting back and just giving up. While leaning back in my seat, I raise my feet so that my legs are parallel to the ground. Using my arms I push onto the underside of the table behind me, and start stretching my shoulder muscles. I started to stare blankly at the screen and realize, why this was a useless idea. He hadn't listened two minutes ago when my fellow peers tried to explain that there are nonexistent classmates on their team list.
This is what perhaps causes the biggest pain for me, as I find that I do not seem to get the motivation to make something of my education when the educator doesn't seem to give me the support I'm looking for. Strike 1. I'm feeling that this is becoming a write-off day.
The high point of the day must be Chevy's demonstration at Yonge Dundas Square. Having the chance to parallel park the Chevy Orlando, and test drive the much hyped Chevy Volt, I feel that I can only shake my head at the thought of new cars. Most new cars have New Car Syndrome. The steering racks are all now electric-assisted power steering. There is no feel to the front wheels. It's like turning a very loose circle, with no feel of how much force is fighting back from the road. That's before I get to the windows. New cars have large windows up front and ever shrinking windows till you reach the back, where you're lucky if the designer didn't decide to put a spoiler in the middle of your rear window, cutting down the already small window to something even smaller. I should get used to looking out of a porthole, because that's what rear windows will look like in the future.
Then came the news from Cupertino. For months, I had been preaching of the arrival of the iPhone 5. I spoke of a larger screen, an 8MP camera, the A5 processor, faster speeds, a replacement touch button instead of the home button, and a slimmer design. The A5 processor, 8MP camera and higher speed came into fruition by means of Moore's Law, but the rest was all gone. Not only was there no iPhone 5, but there was an iPhone 4S. It was lackluster. It was boring, it was stupid, and it seemed recycled. Apple had spent extra time to push this out, totally trumped our expectations of a summer launch just so they can have a presentation for a machine that clearly was sub-par by Apple's standards.
Perhaps graphics will be a change. Maybe I can ask a question that can solve my problems. I could finally solve my headache from last night. Perhaps I was wrong. Not only was it difficult to present my problem when there was nothing to explain my situation, I also couldn't get any pointers to solving the problem. This was too much to handle.
I'm dubbing this disappointment day. It's not so bad that it'd be considered a bad day. However, it's so difficult to comprehend how so many things can just fall short of expectation on the same day. October 4th : Disappointment Day.....*sigh*
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)