<p>I don’t think that Jobs can be described as just a businessman. I am not an Apple fan. We have no Apple products in the house, other than S2’s Ipod (that he hardly ever uses). I used the early Macintosh computers years ago, but I switched to Windows/IBM machines around 12-15 years ago, and it was like going from a Model-T to a Ferrari. I am a heavy-duty computer user, and the programs I was using, although nominally available on Macs, were completely different on Windows. Also, I liked the absence of annoying “user-friendly” interfaces.</p>
<p>I remember using computers that took up entire rooms, struggling with fitting my code into the available memory, running programs that took days or weeks to finish. As computers became more powerful, my needs increased. </p>
<p>This is to say that, for me, computers are an essential tool for research. I am not a computer expert, only a major user. I can’t imagine the mental leap it took to envision computers as a mass-market commodity, a “toy.” I have great respect for the engineers who actually made this happen. These products have changed the way many people live.</p>