Take A Bite: Roger Ebert’s Love Affair With Apple Computers

[onehandle]

My emotions ran so high while watching the movie "Jobs" that I burst into tears at the sight of the first all-in-one Macintosh computer. I remember when Roger gave away his Tandy 100 and Dec computers for an Apple. For Roger, Apple was not just a company, but a way of life akin to a religion, with Steve Jobs its high priest of invention. Roger would spend time in an Apple Store, closely examining each item, making note of the slightest changes that meant it was time to upgrade and buy an even newer computer, although the ones we had seemed to be fine. Through the film I took a treasured walk down memory lane.

Over the years Steve Jobs felt like the brother we were all proud of who made as many contributions to our society as Thomas Edison. Roger valued each phase of innovation from Jobs, from the user-friendly version of the Apple computers to the hipper design of the Macintosh. We were in London when Roger bought his first G3 titanium laptop, sleek and beautiful; he was so proud of it. We overheard a discussion about G3's at a nearby table at Harry's Bar, a private club. Roger was ready to pull out his new laptop for a show-and-tell when we realized those guys were talking about their new Gulfstream airplanes. We got a big chuckle out of that. To Roger, his G3 laptop was as valuable as a plane.

Roger would browbeat his friends whose personal computer of choice was anything other than a Mac. He used as his signature sign-off a saying from Tom Clancy that went something like: "Never ask a man what computer he uses. If it's an Apple, he will tell you. If it isn't, why embarrass him?"

At one point Roger faced a dilemma. He developed the Cinemania movie software with Microsoft and Bill Gates, whom he also admired. But Gates and Jobs had a very public falling out over their operating systems. Computer geeks within the industry were asking Roger to take sides. He was so passionate about the technologies that it almost felt like family members feuding, even though it had nothing to do with him. Roger would have been very interested in the brief scenes in the movie showing Kutcher's Jobs making a phone call to Bill Gates to threaten to sue him for copying his new operating system.

Jobs revolutionized the music industry with his introduction of the iPod and iTunes. Before Roger went into the hospital for surgery in 2006, he programmed about 1,000 songs on his iPod. We credit his playing Leonard Cohen's "I Am Your Man" for the nurses and doctors with saving his life. He was being released from the hospital that day and if he hadn't taken the time to play that song he would have been in our car on Lake Shore Drive when his carotid artery ruptured. Fortunately, he was still in the hospital and the doctors had a chance to stop the bleeding and get him to the operating room.

http://www.rogerebert.com/chazs-blog/take-a-bite-rogers-love-affair-with-apple-computers

[last1standing]

1. I think Apple is an overmarketed brand selling status over technology.

But Roger Ebert was a class act from start to finish. If Apple products made him happy, I'm glad they were there for him.

[Logical]

2. Mostly a cult following. But I love Roger Ebert also. n-t