When one hears the name Steve Jobs, they normally don’t picture a grisly college dropout who built his first computer in a garage. Most people picture him before he died, the white-haired technological genius who was quiet in coming up with ideas but confident in presenting them.

What started with the Apple 2 computer that came out in the late 70’s grew to become the all powerful Macintosh we know today, famous for its amazing graphics capacity and user-friendly interface. Jobs further expanded on his computers with the release of the first iPod, a revolutionary device that held music and could fit in your pocket easily. This further sparked the release of items such as the iPod touch, which brought about the touch screen, creating yet another user-friendly device that anyone could operate just by the touch of their finger. Eventually, the iPhone followed, the device that finally made Jobs the only worthy opponent of Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. This sparked the never ending Mac vs. PC war, which still continues to frustrate and ruin friendships until this day.

So, how does the original Apple 2 compare to the technologies we use today, such as the iPad? It’s truly amazing what advancements we can see between just these two technologies. First off, the Apple 2 lacks a mouse completely, but then again, so does the iPad 2. The Apple 2 offered a keyboard and a monitor, which meant you had to type in key console commands to do simple tasks, such as opening a folder. However, the iPad 2 allows you to tap anything on the screen to open it with ease.

One must also take into account that the Internet did not even exist during the days of the Apple 2. It’s hard to imagine a world in which we don’t all have our tablets and are not able to look up anything we want. With the Apple 2, a kid today honestly wouldn’t have much to do. Apps? Forget it. Music? No way. An add-on to remotely lower your LaZBoy recliner for you? Absolutely not. From this, we can gather that if any kid today had to go back to the good old 70’s, they would be bored to tears.

But these kinds of things were standard back then, and people couldn’t have even dreamed of machines designed to do all your work for you that could still fit in your pocket. This is exactly where Jobs succeeded in his goal. He changed the industry in ways people never even imagined with everything he designed. Nobody even knew they wanted an iPad until they saw Steve Jobs present it personally. Now, not being an Apple fan myself, I do disagree with the absolute necessity of the iPad. However, it doesn’t matter, because the iPad and Apple itself never fails to hold its large group of followers with confidence. Although the company has its downfalls, it will certainly continue to astound and amaze consumers with the amazing technology that it puts forth: the technology that has put Apple ahead of the game since 1977.