Keynote of MWSF 2000

I'm Kharma right now, waiting for this file to get done transferring. It is Steve Jobs keynote speech at MWSF 2000. This is probably the most important and famous keynote speeches since his return to Apple in 1997. Why is it so important? There are two reasons for this. One, Steve announces and demos OSX (operating system 10) which at that point in time was revolutionary. No one had ever seen anything like this and it was a huge change from OS9. I've heard Steve call the changing from OS9 to OSX as being a brain transplant. Many of the programs for OS9 had to be rewritten in order to work on the new OS. Steve would also describe it later as "the basis for the Mac platform for the next 20 years." So, this was a MAJOR announcement and he demos many of the key features of the original OSX version.

The second reason this speech is so important is because Steve announces that he will be staying on permanently as Apples CEO. He had been fired in the mid 80s for having "ideological differences" with the rest of the board of directors. After he left, he started up an animation studio named Pixar, makers of such animated films like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, and Monsters Inc., and he started a computer company called NeXT. NeXT didn't really do anything at all because it was incredibly expensive and not very user friendly. What it did do though, was create a foundation for what would eventually become OSX. In 1997, Apple was in shambles and close to bankruptcy. Apple decided that if anyone could save the company, Steve Jobs could, so they fired their current CEO and hired Steve back as an interim CEO. At the end of this keynote, Steve announces that he will remain at Apple and become their permanent CEO. Let me tell you I've never seen a crowed stand up and cheer so loudly and so quickly before. It is a very emotional end to the speech and you can see that Steve begins to get a little emotional himself, but quickly returns to his suave demeanor.

This speech represents the beginning of how Apple is today. About a year after this, Steve will introduce the iPod music player and the rest is history. The power and style of OSX, the iPod, and the iMac which Steve introduced a few years before this, saved Apple and brought them to the forefront of the computing industry. While their marketshare is still under 5%, the company is far and beyond what they were in 1997 and even where they were at the time of this video. I can only wish Apple the best of luck and hope that one day they will regain the dominance that they use to have in the home market.