The Revolution - Design context essay by Rebecca Kane

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The Revolution


Imagine a world without technology;

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magine a world without technology; there would be no streaming music whenever we like, no email, no texting and no social media, the list goes on. The world as we know it would be completely different.

How would we cope? The year 2020, the year of the start of the Coronavirus pandemic really opened everyone’s eyes to just how much we depend on technology as a way of communication.

Think about it...

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without the huge success of computer companies such as Apple and Microsoft the world wouldn’t have been able to work, and learn, from their own homes as they wouldn’t have applications such as Zoom and facetime to communicate with work colleagues and Microsoft word, excel, PowerPoint etc to create their work.

What technology would we have if Apple and Microsoft didn’t exist?

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ven though Apple was not the first to create an original computer or smartphone, without Apple and CEO Steve Jobs, each of these products most definitely would look much different without having the influence they have had from Apple.

Apple would have still existed even if Microsoft didn’t. Without Microsoft who knows what else Apple could have achieved and conquered as Microsoft has always been their biggest competitor. Without Bill Gates creating Microsoft I wouldn’t have been able to write this essay on the publication that I have, Microsoft Word. Since 1989 Microsoft Word, PowerPoint & Excel are the main tools that we use to create documents, presentations and spreadsheets. If Bill Gates didn’t become so successful and wasn’t the richest man in the world, he wouldn’t have set up the Bill and Melinda Foundation and wouldn’t be able to donate so much of his money to many different causes and charities and make the difference in theworld that he has.


The story of the late 21 st century.

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obs never graduated from college. He struggled to find what he wanted to do in life, and he didn’t want to waste his parent’s life savings on a college course he wasn’t passionate about. Jobs stated that dropping out of college was one of the best choices he ever made, allowing him to take a calligraphy class. He found these interesting and beautiful and at the time it didn’t benefit him at all, but 10 years later when they were designing the first Macintosh computer, he remembered everything that that class had taught him and used that to design into the Mac;

If Jobs hadn’t dropped in on that class the mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts and Jobs stated that since windows just copied the mac it’s likely that no computers would have had this.

“the first computer with beautiful typography”.

How did Jobs get fired from his own company?

Jobs started Apple when he was just 20 years old and within 10 years Apple had grown into a $2 billion company with over 4000 employees. All was going well for Steve Jobs and Apple, the future was looking bright. However, at 30 years old Jobs got fired from Apple.

About a year previous Jobs hired someone to work alongside him in partnership and it worked for a while but then the two of them started to disagree about the future of the company, so they took it to the board of directors, and they sided with the other guy which left Jobs jobless. Jobs loved what he did so much that he didn’t want to give up, so he started over again. Getting fired from Apple was the best thing that ever happened to him. In just 5 years Jobs started a company named Next and created Pixar. Pixar went on to create the world’s first computer animated feature film Toy story and is now the most successful animation studio in the world.

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oon after Jobs created Pixar Apple actually bought Next and Jobs was rehired. if Jobs didn’t get fired by Apple, Pixar may have never existed. Pixar not existing wouldn’t only have affected how animated movies today looked, it would have also affected the most wellknown and successful animation company, Disney. Without Pixar Disney wouldn’t have been able to create hit movies such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc. etc, and therefore likely wouldn’t have been as successful as they have been and other animation companies such as DreamWorks could have become more successful. Imagine a life without Disney, I sure can’t.

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Creating Pixar and Pixar being as successful as it was gave Jobs the confident boost that he really needed after leaving apple. Without this confidence boost who knows if Jobs would have ever returned to Apple and been inspired to create devices such as the iPhone.

“I think Pixar has the opportunity to be the next Disney - not replace Disney - but be the next Disney.” - Steve Jobs

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t’s a ripple effect you see. If Jobs never dropped out of college and took that calligraphy class typefaces on computers as a whole, not only just Macs would look completely different. If Jobs never hired someone to work alongside him, he would have never had someone disagreeing about the future of Apple and he would have never lost his job. If jobs never lost his Job Pixar would have never been created. If Pixar was never created animation as we know it would look entirely different and animations that we all know and love, created by Disney may have never happened because Disney may have not been as successful as it was without the influence and help of Pixar.


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ill Gates formed Microsoft with his childhood friend Paul Allen in 1975. Gates actually wanted to be a Maths teacher but thanks to Paul Allen Gates was convinced to pursue a career in computer programming.

IBM, the largest maker of computers in the world, wanted to talk to Gates and Allen about creating an operating system for their new line of personal computers.

Little did these two men know that they would completely revolutionise the world by introducing Windows 2 which introduced Microsoft word and excel to the world and made Windows become a massive commercial success. Gates appeared very small, skinny and young and at first wasn’t taken seriously in the business world, but November 1980 Gates soon changed that image.

“Surround yourself with people who challenge you, teach you, and push you to be your best self”.

Gates quickly convinced IBM that Microsoft could create the software they wanted, and he started by purchasing an existing operating system which he then adapted for the IBM personal computers calling it “ms-dos”. When Gates developed the operating system for IBM they wanted to buy the source code, which would have given them the rights to the disk operating system or what became known as das, but Microsoft refused to sign the rights over to das. By not owning the rights to the operating system, IBM had to pay Microsoft a licensing fee for every single copy of das installed in its computers. Microsoft then started to grow, hugely. By 1983 30% of all personal computers were running Microsoft software.

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Conflict struck these two companies as in 1988 Apple sued Microsoft for copyright infringement. Apple allowed Gates full access to Apple’s technology while Gates was working on new software for the Macintosh computer. Gates advised Apple early on that they should license their software, but Apple was more interested in selling computers than software, so they ignored the suggestion. Gates then took The future was looking bright for both Microsoft and advantage of an opening and Apple the personal computer ran with it. business was more popular In 1986 when Gates than ever and there was a introduced Microsoft non- stop increase hunger Windows, Critics quickly for software. noted that in its use of a mouse and icons it bore more than a passing So, what was it resemblance to the apple that Gates “stole” Macintosh operating system. from Apple? In the end Microsoft won against Apple in the courts and the case was settled he beginning of the 1980s was a very exciting time for Microsoft. Microsoft began working on software for innovative companies like apple and its guru Steve jobs. Apple’s Macintosh computer and software were ingenious and user friendly and many believed that Apple was the way of the future, and of course they were absolutely correct.

After that conflict the two companies both continued to succeed and grow separately and change the world with every new software and device they introduced. If these two companies hadn’t been so successful, and Gates and Jobs didn’t go down the road that they did then communication would definitely be much slower. It wouldn’t be as easy as streaming movies whenever we wanted as apps such as Netflix likely would not exist and we definitely would be finding it very hard to work from our own homes. Technology is the future. This is the revolution.

This is the revolution. 5.


We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here? - Steve Jobs 6.


Designed by Rebecca Kane


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