My family’s first computer was an Apple (a IIe, I think). I remember learning to type on it, playing a game that calculated your words-per-minute. My mom was studying to be a court reporter, and she could type very quickly; I would peck at letters with my two index fingers as fast as I could to see if I could get a score half as good as hers.

At the time, my Dad worked in aerospace engineering, and was impressed with the durability of the computer at work, so he decided to get one for the house. The whole family shared time on it, working and playing. I remember using it to write reports, and play games like LOGO, Loderunner, and Gold Rush. As I got older, my interestes changed, and my time on the “Macintosh” was eclipsed by a Nintendo, and later a Sony Discman.

In college, I was reintroduced to Apple in a new way. Having spent years honing my skills drawing and painting, I hadn’t yet had the chance to bring those illustrations into the computer. At Art Center, there was a computer lab–a huge underground complex of rooms filled with computers. And the computer of choice for the designers and artists at Art Center was Apple. I loved the design, inside and out, and it seemed built for making art. And once it was my computer for art, it became my computer for music.

It’s hard to think of all the ways that Steve Jobs’ vision has built a foundation for the products on which I work and create: Apple products have been used in making every piece of music Linkin Park has ever written, every album cover or poster we have ever designed, and all our music videos, ads, LPTV, and websites.

From the creation of our songs, art, and videos to the devices our fans enjoy them on, Steve Jobs’ vision has made an indelible imprint on everything we do. Multiplying that out into all the other bands and artists in the world who also use Apple products to write and record their songs or edit videos, movies, TV shows, art and photos, it’s hard to imagine anyone who has played a bigger role in shaping the world of modern art and music.

Thank you Steve Jobs,

-m