Hello All,

Here in the Silicon Valley and across the world, many of us have heavy hearts and much gratitude for the amazing visionary who died today. His contributions are now so embedded in the culture some have become invisible. I thought I would start this thread to bring forward the many tools we use to serve this espresso hobby or simply some espresso or coffee-related memories that involve the man and his products.

Okay. I'll start with a couple. But you engineers and artists out there will add many more as we all raise a little cup to Steve Jobs!

My iPhone, your iPads, our Macs all bring us the Internet but aren't unique in that. I was surprised to learn, though, that the World Wide Web was invented on a computer running Jobs' NeXt operation system.

I think maybe his best contribution is packaging Information Age products better than anyone else. My Mac and iPhone work because the same company makes the software and assembles the hardware. They're rugged and beautifully designed and are backed by actual customer support. These platforms reliably run many wonderful applications. And any virus issues are invisible to the user.

Some of you are running applications to program roasting that run on Apple products. Here's one: Artisan beta roasting software available, and another: Roastmaster iPhone app . I've visited with some H-B members on other continents using Skype, which runs effortlessly on my Mac with its built-in camera.

The iPhone was the first breakthrough app phone and became the platform for capabilities that are now so easily accessible I take them for granted. I'm hooked on my iPhone's eBay app; I ride our local BART train and post to this site with ease; the free Maps application guides me to our local top cafes and its GPS capabilities help me get from "here" to "there"; I use the excellent camera in my iPhone 4 to capture pictures of restorations and carry photos of my vintage machines on it.

Here's a wonderful techie illustration to honor his creativity.

http://dylanroscover.deviantart.com/art/Steven-Paul-Jobs-113968783

Later addition: The illustration is a take-off of this wording from the Apple ad, "Think Different." The full-length ad reads:

"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do. - Apple Inc."*

Now show us what you've got!


* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_Different

Nice pic.

Steve's words on design (and death) are very thought provoking.

More than most, he helped modern people question the wisdom of compartmentalised thinking. Form, function and spirit were holistic for him, and he helped millions appreciate why.

Cheers, Steve. And thanks, Gary.

What we have lost is one of the best designer we ever had.

Words that come to mind: Exceptional taste. Exceptional vision. Exceptional design. A deep understanding of technology heuristic.

Seing Apple mainly as a marketing business is missing the whole point.

One of the best point of view I have read on Steven Paul Jobs was a recent interview with John Sculley, the Pepsi CEO Jobs convinced to become Apple CEO by asking him the famous question: "Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?"

To appreciate what Jobs did in the pre-iPod era, another classic is PBS Triump of the nerds, which aired in 1996. The best summary of the PC revolution I've ever seen/read, with all the main actors. A full text transcript is available if you can't get your hand on the video.

Louis wrote:Seing Apple mainly as a marketing business is missing the whole point.

michaelbenis wrote:More than most, he helped modern people question the wisdom of compartmentalised thinking. Form, function and spirit were holistic for him, and he helped millions appreciate why.

Great points!

To me, Steve Jobs exemplifies the generalist, someone who is aware of emerging technologies and tastes and can envision their possibilities to create a unique and unprecedented user experience. I believe he then designed from the user experience backward. And he almost uniquely managed to position himself where he had the clout to bring that user experience to market without focus groups and committees turning a racehorse into a camel.

Let me propose an addition to this thread. Given today's knowledge and technology, what espresso machine would Steve Jobs bring to market?

Given today's knowledge and technology, what espresso machine would Steve Jobs bring to market?

Wouldn't matter which machine. iEspresso. We'd believe it made the best espresso on the planet even before we tried it.

I'll miss him. 56 is too young to pass.

Jobs would never enter the espresso market because you can't make exceptional espresso with a simplified interface.

My espresso hobby (and the way I do lots of things) is inspired by what I saw when I bought my first Mac Plus in 1986. I saw a machine inspired by the philosophy that we didn't need to settle. We could and should push the envelope of design and function so that we could create the best things we could to serve people's desires the best they could. We were using text-based command-line operating systems, printing monospaced type on dot-matrix printers. The Macintosh said, that's not good enough - we can do better - creating beautiful and elegant typography, accessible to the everyday person (who had $2500 for a Mac Plus) - and desktop publishing was born, and I never looked at the world of technology and design the same.

When I make espresso, I don't settle. I try a little harder if it's not right. That's what Steve taught me in 1986.

I recommend the documentary "Objectified" if you're interested in industrial design and how objects work in our lives. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9E2D2PaIcI (has a bit by Jonathan Ive, Apple's current design guru)