In a weird and very real way, I wouldn't be who I am today without Steve Jobs. It was his "aggressive marketing" of the Apple ][ and the Apple ][e in schools which gave me my first experience of computers. Prior to that, both of my parents owned computers, but I wasn't allowed to touch them. Much less to play with them. I might break it, they said. (They were probably right, by the way. And it's not like either of them had any idea how to use the things.)

 

In the 1980s I dare say that for most kids, their only experience with a computer was at school. If their school was lucky enough to have one, that is. I lived in a city (Anchorage, AK) which had surprisingly posh public services, because the government received buckets of oil money. I assume that's how my grade school got the money for an Apple ][. 

 

As a member of the gifted program, I was enrolled in "computer class." We only had one computer, so we all had to huddle around and watch whoever was chosen to operate it at the time. Later we could schedule times to come in and use it on our own. That was our computer lab: one Apple ][ and a sign-up sheet. 

 

Computer class was half girls and half boys. Bless my progressive school for their early push for girls to use computers equally. We stared eagerly at the black monitor with its distinctive green characters. Sometimes we played a detective game called "Sneakers" together. Other times we worked on learning BASIC. 

 

I remember I was the star of the class when I correctly calculated all the coordinates to make the computer draw a kitty face on the screen. 

 

My experience with computer class led my mother to loosen up her restrictions on use of her computer. (Or more likely she got bored with the argument and gave up.) (My father never did. He panicked at the very thought. His computer had cost his law firm $3,000! They had given it to him so that he could use it at home. It sat enshrined on a desk beneath its form-fitting plastic dust covers.)

 

That early time with the school's Apple ][ was the first step on a life that has been inextricably entwined with technology. And it's all because Steve Jobs pushed his computers into schools. It's strange to think how much effect one random stranger can have on your life. So thank you, Steve Jobs, wherever you are now.