Technology is nothing. What's important is that you have a faith in people, that they're basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they'll do wonderful things with them.
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs, the co-founder and chief executive of Apple Computer, topped the Computer Weekly 40th anniversary poll due to the devoted following he has generated through his pioneering work in personal computing and product design.
Jobs was born in 1955 in San Francisco, and during his high school years he showed his early enthusiasm for computing by attending after-school lectures at the Hewlett-Packard Company in Palo Alto, California. He met fellow Apple founder Steve Wozniak during a summer job at HP.
In the autumn of 1974, Jobs, who had dropped out of university after one term, began attending meetings of the Homebrew Computer Club with Steve Wozniak. He took a job as a technician at Atari, a manufacturer of popular video games.
Steve Wozniak (left) and Steve Jobs (right)
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Apple Computer was founded as a partnership on 1 April 1976. Though the initial plan was to sell just printed circuit boards, Jobs and Wozniak ended up creating a batch of completely assembled computers, and entered the personal computer business.
Their second machine, the Apple II, was introduced the following year and became a huge success, turning Apple into an important player in the nascent personal computer industry.
In 1983 Apple launched the Lisa, the first PC with a graphical user interface – an essential element in making computing accessible to the masses. It flopped because of its prohibitive price, but the next year Apple launched the distinct, lower priced Macintosh and it became the first commercially successful GUI machine.
Despite his success in founding Apple, Jobs left following a boardroom row in 1985. But his influence on the computer industry did not end there.
Jobs moved on to found Next Computer, then in 1986 he bought little known The Graphics Group from Lucasfilm, which achieved global dominance in animated feature films during the 1990s, after being renamed Pixar.
Much of Next’s technology had limited commercial success, but it laid the foundation for future computing developments. The company pioneered the object-oriented software development system, Ethernet port connectivity and collaborative software. It was the Next interface builder that allowed Tim Berners-Lee to develop the original world-wide web system at Cern.
Without Jobs, Apple had stumbled. Market share fell while it struggled to release new operating systems. Its answer was to buy Jobs’ company Next, together with its innovative operating system, and welcome back its charismatic former CEO.
On returning to Apple, Jobs drove the company ever deeper into the consumer electronics and computing market, launching such revolutionary products as the Macbook Air, iPod and iPhone, all of which have dictated the evolution of modern technology. Apple's quarterly reports improved significantly in 2007: Stocks were worth $199.99 a share—a record-breaking number at that time—and the company boasted a staggering $1.58 billion profit, an $18 billion surplus in the bank and zero debt.
In 2003, Jobs discovered that he had pancreatic cancer. In 2004, he had a successful surgery to remove the tumor. True to form, in subsequent years Jobs disclosed little about his health.
In respect to his personal life, Steve Jobs remained a private man who rarely disclosed information about his family. What is known is Jobs fathered a daughter with girlfriend Chrisann Brennan when he was 23. Jobs denied paternity of his daughter Lisa in court documents, claiming he was sterile. With Chrisann struggling financially for much of her life, Jobs did not initiate a relationship with his daughter until she was 7, but when she was a teenager she came to live with her father.
In the early 1990s, Jobs met Laurene Powell at Stanford business school, where Powell was an MBA student. They married on March 18, 1991, and lived together in Palo Alto, California, with their three children.
On October 5, 2011, Apple Inc. announced that its co-founder had passed away. After battling pancreatic cancer for nearly a decade, Steve Jobs died in Palo Alto.
1. Find English equivalents to the following words and word combinations. (Найдите в тесте английские эквиваленты для следующих слов и словосочетаний):
исполнительный директор, глава фирмы дизайн продукта
энтузиазм в сфере информационных технологий индустрия ПК
находить рынок сбыта для продукции влияние
производитель видео игр посещать собрания доступный народным массам основатель, учредитель
2. Fill in the gaps with the dates from the text. Translate the sentences into Russian. (Заполните пропуски соответствующими датами и переведите предложения на русский язык). 21; 1985; 1986; 1976;1955; 1974; 2007, 1983; 1990s
Model: In spite if his success in founding Apple, Jobs left following a boardroom row in 1985.
1. In ….. Jobs joined the Homebrew Computer Club.
2. In …. Jobs bought The Graphics Group.
3. Apple Computer was founded as a partnership in …..
4. In ……. Apple launched the Lisa, the first PC with a graphical user interface.
5. Steve Jobs was born in …… in San Francisco.
6. Pixar had a great success in animated feature films during the ……….
7. Apple's quarterly reports improved significantly in …….
8. When Jobs was ….., he saw a computer that Wozniak had designed for his own use and convinced his friend to market the product.