One of the
greatest influences in my life has been Steve Jobs and the company he
created. Steve never accepted the status quo and always wanted to find
a way to make something ordinary extraordinary.
For me, only the greatest influence in my life (my late father
George) could equal or exceed by comparison. George Bashur, who
(coincidentally) also passed away at the age of 56 (in March 2010) -
just 6 days after the birth of his first granddaughter (my baby girl) -
was an independent Accredited Public Relations Consultant and spent his
entire professional PR career working with Apple and Macintosh
computers.
This gave me a lifetime of exposure to Apple products and certainly
gave me the will and desire to always learn more about Apple, Macs, and
what Steve Jobs helped create. This thirst for knowledge and research
led me to join the Low End Mac team in July 2009, which I consider to
be a great privilege. It's great to be passionate about something, and
no one else exemplified this better than Steve Jobs himself and his
dedication to Apple.
October 1997 issue of Macworld.
Shaping My Passion for Macs and My Memories of Steve Jobs
I attended college at The Ohio State University during the 90s and
early 00s, and when Steve Jobs returned for his second run with Apple
in 1997, I remember being very excited. Shortly after, Steve and Apple
went on a tear, launching one amazing product after another. I'll never
forget this Macworld cover from October 1997.
With Steve's jeans and black turtlenecks, he seemed invincible while
thumbing his nose at the typical image of a stiff CEO in a suit.
Instead, he got down to our level to tell us how cool Apple's new gear
was and why we had to have it! These moments are what made Steve Jobs
an idol for me.
During Steve's reign as CEO of Apple, I will never forget these
memories:
Power Mac G4 Cube
1 Helping dad unbox his new Power Mac G4 Cube. This was one
of Steve's favorite concepts and arguably one of the coolest looking
computers ever.
2 Starting Mac OS X (10.0) for the first time on my
brand new iMac G3 in
Summer 2001. My initial reaction was, "Wow, this is so much cooler than
OS 9.2!"). I can recall Steve himself originally saying something along
the lines of, "after using Mac OS X, you will realize that it is
the only OS you will need."
3 Steve's various product launches and
"Stevenote" addresses, along with his personal way with words (see his
Thoughts on
Flash).
To summarize, no one can deny that everything Steve Jobs did
publicly as Apple's CEO was anything short of fantastic and
dramatic.
To Steve and my father George: Your legacies will always live on in
my heart and soul. Thank you both very much for the wonderful
contributions you made to help make this world we live in a better
place. Everyone has something special to offer.
Dan Bashur lives in central Ohio with his wife and children. He uses various PowerPC G3 and G4 Macs running Tiger and Leopard. Besides finding new uses for Macs and other tech, Dan enjoys writing (fantasy novel series in the works), is an avid gamer, and a member of Sony's Gamer Advisor Panel. You can read more of Dan Bashur's work on ProjectGamers.com, where he contributes regular articles about the PSP, classic gaming, and ways you can use Sony gaming hardware with your Mac.
