Thank you, Steve

When I saw on Twitter last night that Steve Jobs had died, I felt genuinely sad about it. Not the fake, try-to-be-sympathetic "sadness" I felt when Michael Jackson died, or even Walter Cronkite. I didn't feel like those people left much of an imprint on my life. But Steve? Well, this one was different.

One of my friends posted on Facebook that because he's never bought an Apple product, he's not going to miss Steve Jobs.

I may have taken it a little hard because of the nostalgia involved—we had a Macintosh Classic back in the early '90s. I learned to type on that machine. I had games on floppy disks. I wrote my first books on that cute little computer.

But after the initial defensiveness faded, I tapped into everything I learned about Steve Jobs when I was a communication student. And I realized my friend—who surely meant no disrespect—was perhaps a bit misinformed. Even if you don't have an iPod or iPad or MacBook or even an iTunes account, Steve Jobs probably touched your life. How? I'm glad you asked.

Pixar: For a while, Steve left Apple and became CEO of a little company called Pixar. Toy Story? Executive Producer. The Walt Disney Company? Largest single shareholder for years. If you've seen Toy Story (or Cars or Finding Nemo or Monsters, Inc.), thank Steve Jobs.

Portable music: Even if you don't have an iPod, you can't pretend it didn't change the industry. Even the Zune owes its funny little existence to Steve's bright idea. Unless you're still toting around a giant CD case, thank Steve Jobs.

Color Computer Graphics: Remember the monochromatic DOS computers of elementary school days? The Apple II was invented in 1977 and had color graphics. That sort of changed things, yes?

Computer Mouse: He didn't invent the mouse, but he definitely gave it its big break (and, incidentally, helped it on its way out with his oh-so-responsive touch screen).

Smart Phones: I remember where I was back in '06 when I first heard about the iPhone. I couldn't fathom it. "You mean I can have my iPod, and my camera, AND my phone all in ONE THING?!" Even though I've never actually purchased an iPhone, I've had a couple Androids. I think we all know those wouldn't exist if Apple hadn't redefined "cell phone."

Shall I go on?

Thanks for everything you did to change the world, Steve. Even for those who didn't buy your products.

And for the record, I'm not one of them.