Jef was Apple employee #31, hired in January 1978 to start up the publications department. He created the initial Macintosh vision of an easy to use appliance computer, and hired the initial development that made it happen. Jef could not abide Steve Jobs taking over the project, so he left the team by mid-1981, and the company by early 1982. He later created the Canon Cat computer, and published a best selling book about user interface.