Thank You, Steve.

The accolades and tributes continue to pour in for the late Steve Jobs, the "visionary" who went on to build a digital products company that created game-changing devices from the Apple computer to iTunes, the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

But here at PAPER we are most grateful to him for the innovation of desktop publishing. We started our magazine in 1984, the same year as the famous "1984" ad that formally introduced the Apple computer to the world. Soon after, we realized that the arcane, laborious and expensive system of producing a magazine were instantly passé. We were now able to write, design, select type, make corrections, size and crop photos, essentially create the entire magazine in one place, the computer. What had once required outsourcing to numerous service providers could now be done in-house. We could now afford to continue publishing for less, a lesson that has been embraced by every publisher since. Thank you, Steve Jobs!

Even in the dark days when Apple computers had less than five percent of the market share, the creative community -- the art directors, designers, musicians, artists et al. --  were all working on Apple computers, willing to pay the premium in exchange for the intuitive interface, flawless operating system and sleek design. Left-brained people couldn't relate to the clunky PC operating system made by Microsoft until it basically copied Apple's interface. Even people who have never bought an Apple product benefited from Job's innovations and obsessive attention to details. The now ubiquitous computer touch screen, Samsung's tablet, Android-powered phones are just a few examples of how his work has impacted the technology industry. By nurturing an environment for app development, he also pioneered what many believe will be the future of computing, driven by apps a la the iPad as opposed to operating systems. When experts questioned his strategy of opening Apple stores, Jobs confidently predicted that there would be many stores, not just a few. And they, too, have set a standard for excellence that is influencing everything else coming in its wake.

I remember when we landed Apple as an advertiser and how proud we all were that a company that valued content and excellence in design had accepted PAPER into its orbit. With news that the publication of Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs has been pushed up to November and the Public Theater's The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs in previews, it's certain that the myth-making will continue. In this case, deservedly so.

Above: One of PAPER's first Apple IIs. Kim keeps it on display in her office.