Early Apple fan circa 1982. Photo credit: Owen O’Rourke for Bedford Minuteman

Since yesterday was Apple’s annual shareholders meeting, I thought I’d share a little personal history with the world’s largest company.

Back in 1982, Rita Richardson wrote an article for the Bedford Minuteman Newspaper in Bedford, MA.  The article, “Two Residents Design Computer Programs for Town Use“  offered a glimpse into what could be the future of personal computers at the time.  Not all of their predictions were accurate, but many of the insights shared by my father, John Linz, and fellow computer enthusiast, Eric Ellington, on the potential of personal computers came true.    Of course, I doubt either one of them ever thought we would be wearing Apple watches, using Apple phones, or trading records for iTunes.

If only my dad had purchased $3,000 worth of stock, instead of the Apple and Apple II Plus that were sitting in his office at the time of this photo, he would be sitting on a fortune! But then again, it is because of people like him, who believed in those early products, that helped Apple become what it is today.  It’s also what helped me become who I am today.

That’s me in the picture sitting at the Apple II Plus.  Flash forward 30+ years: today I work in a digital workplace.

When my business partner and I made the decision early in our business to invest in the development of a digital workplace, few could imagine this alternative to a physical office. I guess it’s not so different from my dad buying his first Apple back when few could imagine a world of personal computers.

We know not all the predictions about digital workplaces or the “the future of work” will come true, but we do know our experience working in a digital workspace for the last five years allows us a better glimpse on what the future could be for digital workplaces.