Thinking Different

By Richard Miranda
The Daily Bosco

I was fortunate to see Steve Jobs in person once. As I consider him to be a figure worthy of mention in future history books (that’s history books in the future, not a euphemism for science fiction) I think he rates up there on my list of people with whom I’ve had the good fortune to brush elbows along with Walt Disney. So with his passing I feel it only appropriate to expose some of my inner geekdom by recalling my own personal encounter with a man who most assuredly has changed the course of history.

The Eighties was truly a barnstorming period for Information Technology and many professionals in the field had no degree or credentials. They were too busy cutting the edge of technology with some new machine or piece of software that wouldn’t be taught in schools for at least a decade. They were quite literally “too cool for school.” Jobs was one of these guys. To those of us who wore pocket protectors he was a rock star, Oscar winner, POTUS and Tony Stark all rolled into one. So when I was fortunate to receive an invitation to attend the roll out of his newest ground breaking computer, the NeXT Computer, it was like being invited to catch the first glimpse of a new space shuttle … with Leonard Nimoy.

Now I was acutely aware that most people didn’t (don’t) share the same level of enthusiasm regarding a celebrity of this caliber. This was Steve Jobs of 1988 and not 2011 so you have to consider his groupie demographic was limited to a more techno-oriented crowd. Sony Walkmans still roamed the earth and iPods weren’t even a glimmer in his eye yet. Cell phones were far from smart, and a portable computer was roughly the size of a suitcase. I could be bold here and say we, his inner circle of fans, knew these things were coming and that Steve simply hadn’t invented them yet. But that would be turning him into Paul Bunyan or Chuck Norris. Give it a few years.

I had to find a way to get the time off from work. Fortunately, I worked in an engineering department as their resident computer programmer / troubleshooter and my boss, the director of engineering, was pretty savvy when it came to all things PC – that’s personal computer no political correctness. Still, I had deadlines to meet and the usual daily fires to put out. So I figured what better way to get a day pass than to invite him along. Not only was he for it but he actually thanked me for extending the invitation. Craig was a smart guy and I’m sure he’s recalling this event today as well.

So we arrive in down-town Los Angeles for the demo of Steve Jobs latest innovation. He has recently left Apple to found a new company, NeXT, and is personally introducing its first computer the NeXT Computer. This is when I really began to understand what sets a guy like this apart from the rest of the pack. In a subtle answer to the question of where this product will sit in the scheme of things I notice that all of the NeXT people are in black suits. A nice touch – Apple is identified with T-shirts and blue jeans and is the antiestablishment response to IBM, known as Big Blue. IBM, known for its mainframe computers that take up rooms, if not buildings, is represented by a fleet of sales people all adorned with the trademark blue suit, even the women (remember shoulder pads). Here comes NeXT with a small army of representatives in traditional business suits – a nice counter move on Jobs’ old company – but black rather than blue – a nice way of saying “We are not IBM”. It’s a move that is not lost on the attendees.

The NeXT was a fine piece of work. At 12” x 12” x 12” it’s accurately named. The cable from the computer to the screen and keyboard is 3 meters long so you can pretty much place it where ever is convenient, a good idea considering the dimensions of the box. It has a built-in network card (non-existent in those days). A graphical interface and a Unix-like operating system that let you truly multitask, not just play at it like the competition. The display was high resolution but black and white. It had no floppy disk as networking was meant to be stressed over passing information by disk or sneaker net as it was called. The only removable media was a proprietary optical disk that was like the CD-RW’s that came later but priced at $50 apiece. The package even included a 400 dpi laser printer. All proprietary and all very archaic by today’s standards but it was 4 times as fast as the Apple and vastly superior to the PC’s of the day. Remember Windows 3.11? Probably not.

Jobs had us all eating out of his hand. We all wanted this new black box. After the canned demo was over and he had displayed his prowess as a showman as well as an innovator and entrepreneur, Mr. Jobs decided to take us on a little test run. He displayed a few extra features that were likely not as yet discovered when they put the original demo together. At one point he opened several windows and attempted to perform some particular task when the inevitable happened. He locked up the system. After several attempts at recovery, while the 500 of us were waiting, he decided to continue the improvisational demo on a second system that had presumably brought as a backup.

Now having done these kinds of dog and pony shows myself I would have moved on to the next stunt and left the high-wire act behind. Not to be thwarted, Jobs proceeded to repeat the same task or process that he had attempted on the first machine; unfortunately with identical results. But here’s what’s really interesting about this. The audience was totally sympathetic to his plight. They waited patiently while the second computer rebooted and went through the additional 5 minute file systems check that Unix systems do when they crash. In the end, we all still wanted this thing. It was just too cool to not want. It had the Steve Jobs fingerprint of being the latest and newest technology and doing things in a completely new and interesting way. Even the new and innovative price tag of $10,000 wasn’t enough to discourage most of us, at least not until we were back on the freeway.

Ultimately, Steve Jobs’ NeXT computer was unsuccessful. He rejoined Apple and brought a good portion of his new found technology with him. Was NeXT a failure? Yes but it was still awesome! I don’t know anyone who doesn’t remember that thing and still admit how slick it was. Yet even in his failure there was a Phoenix-like air of something greater that would come of it all. The NeXT computer was used by Tim Berners-Lee to develop the first web-server software, CERN HTTPd as well as write the first web browser. This business failure became the first web server on the Internet.

Steve Jobs was truly one of those individuals that altered the way we do things. His contribution to our everyday lives is so great as to be overlooked. It’s a matter of seeing the forest for the trees. I, for my part, will treasure my brief encounter with such an historical figure. How many people have seen Edison demo a light bulb or the Wright brothers fly an airplane? Let alone crash one.