Some people may have heard of him during the Mac days.
Nah, breh. People knew of Jobs. The only reason he "blew up" in popularity with the iPod/iPhone is because 1) they didn't cost $1,000 a pop and 2) see #1. People could
actually buy them on a reasonable salary.
With that said: Jobs was popular in the art world. Most graphic designers use a Mac. Most audio houses used a Mac.
Gate's won the "business" world with Office (and A_I_A is right about the timeline on that. God I remember Lotus 1-2-3 and I'm not even that old) and Windows being far cheaper than a Mac. But Jobs won at getting a GUI out into the world. Honestly, this whole "Jobs vs Gates" war is stupid. They were
both highly respectable and whip-smart in that era and brought a new era into the world under different mind-views.