October 05, 2011
— Slublog As most of you know, Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple, has passed away. Wired has a very nice remembrance:
A visionary inventor and entrepreneur, it would be impossible to overstate Steve JobsÂ’ impact on technology and how we use it. AppleÂ’s mercurial, mysterious leader did more than reshape his entire industry: he completely changed how we interact with technology. He made gadgets easy to use, gorgeous to behold and essential to own. He made things we absolutely wanted, long before we even knew we wanted them. JobsÂ’ utter dedication to how people think, touch, feel and interact with machines dictated even the smallest detail of the computers Apple built and the software it wrote.I think it's easy to forget how truly revolutionary the first iPod was. It was small, portable and easy to use. I was old enough when I first got one to be amazed by it - here was a device the size of the cassette tapes I used to put in my Walkman that can hold ALL of my music. I didn't know I wanted this thing until it was offered to me.
Still, as much as I love my iPod, I think I'm most thankful he co-founded Pixar, the studio that has made some of my favorite films. Godspeed, Mr. Jobs. Thanks.
Posted by: Slublog at
04:39 PM
| Comments (340)
Post contains 222 words, total size 1 kb.
Posted by: Soulsurfer at October 05, 2011 04:42 PM (nEMgP)
Posted by: In Exile at October 05, 2011 04:42 PM (yi1OG)
Posted by: Joe Biden at October 05, 2011 04:43 PM (ieDPL)
Posted by: Rosa E. at October 05, 2011 04:44 PM (48d69)
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Suddenly Paying Attention at October 05, 2011 04:45 PM (bxiXv)
Posted by: Truman North prefers 'nom de guerre' at October 05, 2011 04:45 PM (I2LwF)
Posted by: moki at October 05, 2011 04:46 PM (dZmFh)
Posted by: Snafu The Braves tore out my heart and stomped that sucker flat at October 05, 2011 04:46 PM (8d28r)
Posted by: ParisParamus at October 05, 2011 04:46 PM (jzm8w)
I saw a better description somewhere else today.
Job's genius was putting old technology in white plastic and convincing the fanboys that all the cool kids had to have one.
Posted by: Chuckit at October 05, 2011 04:47 PM (NXMlK)
As I said in the other thread...
As someone who believes in Reincarnation... he is not Dead... just ReBooting...
Posted by: Indian Tech Assist Guy at October 05, 2011 04:48 PM (NtXW4)
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Suddenly Paying Attention at October 05, 2011 04:48 PM (bxiXv)
It's an incredible piece of technology, and to my generation, it's our equivalent of experiencing both Lindbergh in our youth and the Apollo missions as an adult.
Well done, Mr. Jobs. Well done.
Posted by: Uncle Mikey at October 05, 2011 04:48 PM (umot9)
Posted by: CoolCzech at October 05, 2011 04:50 PM (niZvt)
Posted by: SFGoth at October 05, 2011 04:50 PM (dZ756)
Posted by: toby928©: Perrykrishna and Non-Apple User at October 05, 2011 04:50 PM (GTbGH)
Posted by: fozzy at October 05, 2011 04:51 PM (FEzSe)
Yes. Exactly.
Thank you ParisParamus
Posted by: Mike in CFL at October 05, 2011 04:51 PM (motsG)
Posted by: Schwalbe at October 05, 2011 04:52 PM (IxGUR)
Posted by: Heartless Janitors_4_Jesus at October 05, 2011 04:53 PM (/IuX+)
It's called doublethink, kids. Textbook example of doublethink.
Posted by: Aaron at October 05, 2011 04:53 PM (Tlix5)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 05, 2011 04:53 PM (aYQHH)
Well said.
Posted by: Miss80s at October 05, 2011 04:54 PM (d6QMz)
Jobs provided tech i can barely understand and jobs galore! well done.
Posted by: willow at October 05, 2011 04:54 PM (h+qn8)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 04:54 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: Jornolist at October 05, 2011 04:55 PM (yik/p)
What if Steve Jobs had participated in crap such as OccupyWallStreet during the 70's and 80's instead of trying to build a company?
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at October 05, 2011 04:55 PM (c0A3e)
Posted by: SFGoth at October 05, 2011 08:50 PM (dZ756)
Well, when your second or third hire would have to be a Director for Diversity or some such, and you'd have to adhere to rules like calling on folks "not in the order people raise their hands, but with sensitivity to racial and gender order", probably not.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 04:55 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 05, 2011 04:56 PM (aYQHH)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 04:56 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: Ma Bell at October 05, 2011 04:56 PM (uVuwp)
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Patents Pending at October 05, 2011 04:57 PM (bxiXv)
It never ceases to amaze me that because of some of this man's innovations, all of us can now literally hold the equivalent of the Library of Alexandria in the palm of our hand.....
Well done, good and faithful servant.
Posted by: Teresa in Fort Worth, TX at October 05, 2011 04:58 PM (0xqzf)
Posted by: Teal'c at October 05, 2011 04:58 PM (YxW8k)
Steve Jobs' greatest contribution was that he was the user's advocate. Most programmers are utilitarians. They can't see the beauty of good design. And even if they can see it, they think of it as a relatively insignificant thing to be bolted on after the software itself is built.
For a very long time, Steve was one of the only people in the computer industry who understood just how integral design was to the usability—and even enjoyment—of interacting with hardware and software. And contrary to what many people think, he did understand and appreciate the technical side of things as well. In fact, he viewed software development with the same eye for detail, simplicity, and power that he had for visual design.
Sadly, his efforts at NeXT are largely unknown to most. But as a programmer, I'm grateful for his persistence in pushing for excellence in object-oriented programming and design.
On that note, both Bjarne Stroustrup and Phillipe Khan can suck it.
Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 04:58 PM (SYhX2)
Good NRO article here about Jobs and the benefits of letting companies fail.
Posted by: fozzy at October 05, 2011 04:59 PM (FEzSe)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 05, 2011 04:59 PM (aYQHH)
Yeah, but they'd be even more overpriced had they relied on US labor.
All the outsourcing to places like China isn't a result of any anti-American sentiment or lack of patriotism. Businesses exist to make money, and if the competition is providing a product for less money as a result of cheap Chinese labor, they pretty much have to follow suit to survive.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at October 05, 2011 05:00 PM (SY2Kh)
Posted by: Nevergiveup at October 05, 2011 08:59 PM (aYQHH)
gates and jobs, I didn't know about the facebook fag
Posted by: robtr at October 05, 2011 05:00 PM (MtwBb)
Posted by: Fritz at October 05, 2011 05:01 PM (FabC8)
And I think they got the size right, modern PDAs are too small. Sure, convenient to carry, but one of the most common complaints I hear is small screen, characters, controls, etc.
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Patents Pending at October 05, 2011 08:57 PM (bxiXv)
Agreed. My postings from my iPhone are rife with typos like "tge", "tgey" and other one-off finger strikes because of the small screen size and the difficulty of being able to review them for errors prior to posting.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:01 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: BTM at October 05, 2011 05:02 PM (tKgyU)
Posted by: Cari at October 05, 2011 05:02 PM (jwygN)
Posted by: nevergiveup at October 05, 2011 05:03 PM (aYQHH)
Posted by: The Seeker, the Search, the Sacred ePub at October 05, 2011 09:00 PM (Xdxj1)
Gee, thanks. Metaphysical mush from spambots is a sign of how far we've come ... or not.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:03 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: Fritz at October 05, 2011 09:01 PM (FabC
No but they probably used their iPhones to find the nearest McDonalds.
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 05:04 PM (8Liz1)
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Patents Pending at October 05, 2011 05:04 PM (bxiXv)
Posted by: Fake ErikW at October 05, 2011 05:05 PM (W2tLK)
Steve Jobs was a socialist. Fuck him.
Nope he was a hardass rightwing capitalist when it came to running his company. I don't know why he backed democrats politically.
Posted by: robtr at October 05, 2011 05:06 PM (MtwBb)
Posted by: Mephitis at October 05, 2011 05:06 PM (ehXLT)
One of the first PDAs, 1987 - handwriting recognition, e-mail, task management, various apps...
And I think they got the size right, modern PDAs are too small. Sure, convenient to carry, but one of the most common complaints I hear is small screen, characters, controls, etc.
The iPad, although expensive and probably used for games and social media more than anything, is a stunning communication and organizational tool, and can even be used to organize airstrikes. It is, of course, not unique or even the first of its class, but I remember seeing the Newton in the early 90s and it was science fiction.
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Patents Pending at October 05, 2011 08:57 PM (bxiXv)
The iPad is a truly wonderful piece of equipment. I recently bought one, and it is amazing. While it has all kinds of games and social apps, it is also very capable for doing business on. With the exception of my accounting software, I am able to do almost everything that I do on my computer with the iPad.
Thank you Mr Jobs, you showed what capitalism is really all about, instead of cutting the pie into more slices, you baked a whole new pie.
Posted by: MrCaniac at October 05, 2011 05:07 PM (eKuOw)
Posted by: dagny at October 05, 2011 05:08 PM (WnIbn)
Posted by: nevergiveup at October 05, 2011 05:08 PM (aYQHH)
A lot of that early programming genius came from Woz though. Woz never gets the credit he really deserves.
That's true, but I was really referring more to the NeXT days. Jobs was, and continued to be, dedicated to Brad Cox's Objective-C language and the principles of OOP as envisioned by Alan Kay. And Steve understood why this was important. It parallels with his view of Bill Gates (that Gates "has no taste"). Stroustrup also "had no taste" and hacked Kay's vision to death.
Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 05:09 PM (SYhX2)
Pissing on his grave while I plot the death of my Muslim neighbor's kids cuz they want to kill me.
But I have to wait until they get back from their 3rd tour in Afghanistan. Dang. Guess I'll have to focus on the the grandkids instead for now.
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 09:05 PM (W2tLK)
I don't know who you are but fuck off.
This person isn't me, folks.
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 05:09 PM (8Liz1)
What if Steve Jobs had participated in crap such as OccupyWallStreet during the 70's and 80's instead of trying to build a company?
Oh man, I don't even want to think about that. If anyone could have made such bullshit work, it would have been Jobs. But your point is dead on, Jobs didn't become such an influential and important man by bitching that others didn't give him whatever he wanted. A point that needs to be made repeatedly!
Posted by: Aaron at October 05, 2011 05:09 PM (Tlix5)
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 09:05 PM (W2tLK)
Wow, guess I really pissed someone off.
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 09:07 PM (8Liz1)
The first rule of ErikW is: you do not talk about EricW
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:09 PM (UzjcV)
Now there's the ErikW we all know and love. You had me worried there for a minute.
Posted by: MissTammy at October 05, 2011 05:10 PM (SsG4J)
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 09:05 PM (W2tLK)
Wow, guess I really pissed someone off.
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 09:07 PM (8Liz1)
There are very few rules on this blog. One of them is, no sock-puppetting other people without obvious clues to the fact that it's a sock puppet, such as misspelling the name or something like that.
Posted by: Truman North prefers 'nom de guerre' at October 05, 2011 05:10 PM (I2LwF)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 05:10 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:10 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: nevergiveup at October 05, 2011 05:10 PM (aYQHH)
Posted by: MissTammy at October 05, 2011 05:10 PM (SsG4J)
Posted by: dagny at October 05, 2011 05:10 PM (WnIbn)
Posted by: Ann NY at October 05, 2011 05:11 PM (TPZrx)
Posted by: Linux Fan at October 05, 2011 05:11 PM (W2tLK)
Whenever I watch The Pixar Story and it brings up about how if Jobs hadn't given them the money they would have shut down and there would be no Toy Story, let alone anything else, I cry. I don't want to imagine a no Pixar world.
Posted by: alexthechick at October 05, 2011 05:14 PM (Gk3SS)
I worked on NeXT in the mid 90s. That was a great os.
Cool! Was it intelligence, finance, or music? :-)Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 05:14 PM (SYhX2)
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 05:14 PM (afrI6)
He did owe a lot to the true innovators at Xerox PARC, people like Alan Kay, Douglas Engelbart, and Robert Metcalfe. He kinda' sorta' "borrowed" a lot of the user interface technology Apple incorporated in the Lisa and later the Mac -- basically the face of personal computing as we know it today.
Posted by: Piñon Farmer at October 05, 2011 05:14 PM (IzuWw)
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 09:14 PM (afrI6)
Yeah, Mulder couldn't keep her in line ... bad ju-ju, that.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:15 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: profligatewaste at October 05, 2011 05:15 PM (b3rrc)
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Patents Pending at October 05, 2011 05:16 PM (bxiXv)
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at October 05, 2011 05:16 PM (r4wIV)
Either that or it's average joe, stirring up shit because that's his nature.
Either way, the shit is all stirred now, they can stop.
Or, you know, just keep being a dishonest asshole. Not really my choice.Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Patents Pending at October 05, 2011 09:16 PM (bxiXv)
1 day ago – Posted by: Bill Maloney at October 04, 2011 08:52 PM (W2tLK ...
1 day ago – Posted by: Alinsky at October 04, 2011 06:16 PM (W2tLK)
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:18 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: Arcadehero at October 05, 2011 05:18 PM (ToqL7)
Posted by: billypaintbrush at October 05, 2011 05:18 PM (ESCc8)
Compare the original Mac to Windows 3.1, and you see what Jobs made possible.
Compare the iPod to the Zune, and you see Jobs' foresight.
Compare all of the crap tiny tablets out there to the iPad, and you see Jobs' genius. In my line of work (California litigator), almost everyone who tries an iPad goes out and buys one. It has revolutionized my ability to get work done. I carry all of my files with me, in an easy to read format. It easily manages email, web surfing, research, calendaring, navigation, and on and on.
Posted by: wooga at October 05, 2011 05:20 PM (vjyZP)
I was six years old in the summer of 1983. My former first-grade teacher took me and one other kid and taught us "the computer" over the course of a few weeks as a pilot program to prove that kids could learn how to use one.
It was an Apple ][ iirc.
I didn't know there was anything strange about it, but I did learn to program in Basic and Logo as a six year old.
Not that I rememebr a bit of it. I have trouble enough with American English.
Posted by: Truman North prefers 'nom de guerre' at October 05, 2011 05:20 PM (I2LwF)
There was always a small knot of people standing around watching over my friend's shoulder while he worked with it. We treated it with reverence and awe, like it was some kind of object left on Earth by aliens. It was all brand new. I even found the floppy disks fascinating.
He had some kind of Dungeons and Dragons program. We played that thing for hours. And then days. So much fun.
Posted by: rdbrewer at October 05, 2011 05:21 PM (OcmPS)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 05:21 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: Truman North prefers 'nom de guerre' at October 05, 2011 05:21 PM (I2LwF)
God I love this place.
Posted by: MissTammy at October 05, 2011 05:22 PM (SsG4J)
Posted by: Linux Fan at October 05, 2011 05:23 PM (W2tLK)
I still do ... oh, disks! (Nevermind.)
Posted by: Bawney Fwank at October 05, 2011 05:23 PM (UzjcV)
And this last decade saw the iPod, iPhone and iPad... Jobs led and everyone else had to catch up.
I don't know who else alive who can match him. I just hope we as a culture are still capable of producing such men.
Posted by: Boulder Toilet Hobo at October 05, 2011 05:24 PM (6GvAC)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:24 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: Truman North prefers 'nom de guerre' at October 05, 2011 09:21 PM (I2LwF)
Okay, the man really was a genius.
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 05:24 PM (8Liz1)
Posted by: Peaches at October 05, 2011 05:24 PM (/ybwc)
Posted by: Dumb_Blonde at October 05, 2011 05:25 PM (iJZgM)
Victoria's Secret catalogs hardest hit.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at October 05, 2011 05:25 PM (SY2Kh)
I don't know who else alive who can match him. I just hope we as a culture are still capable of producing such men.
Posted by: Boulder Toilet Hobo at October 05, 2011 09:24 PM (6GvAC)
But we still have world class innovators ... you, for instance!
Posted by: Bawney Fwank at October 05, 2011 05:26 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 05:26 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: t-bird at October 05, 2011 05:27 PM (FcR7P)
Not to get into a pissing contest, but he simply did an amazingly good job at integrating current technology into a mass-marketed product. Apple has done some innovation in the area of software innovation, but not so much that I'd say that is the real engine of their enterprise.
Another key aspect of Apple's success is Jobs' ability to maintain very tight control over the platform and Apple's 3rd party developers. He had a rep as a real asshole in that regard.
Posted by: Piñon Farmer at October 05, 2011 05:27 PM (IzuWw)
Posted by: iksander at October 05, 2011 05:28 PM (KgUyX)
Posted by: Jornolist at October 05, 2011 05:28 PM (yik/p)
Posted by: Truman North prefers 'nom de guerre' at October 05, 2011 09:21 PM (I2LwF)
Headstone epitaph worthy.
Posted by: Drillanwr at October 05, 2011 05:28 PM (z+Dxj)
Posted by: Teal'c goes adventuring with his ancent brass lantern at October 05, 2011 05:28 PM (YxW8k)
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 09:28 PM (6fER6)
Lemme guess: the Narcissist-in-Chief claims that he created him.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:29 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: Dumb_Blonde at October 05, 2011 09:25 PM (iJZgM)
The flying car will be the worst invention ever. Road rage at 5,000 feet?
'Nuff said.
The Roomba is pretty cool tho! 
Posted by: ErikW at October 05, 2011 05:29 PM (8Liz1)
Victoria's Secret catalogs hardest hit.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at October 05, 2011 09:25 PM (SY2Kh)
I remember the little boys I used to babysit giggling over the women's bras in the Sears catalog
Posted by: museisluse at October 05, 2011 05:29 PM (4Lj43)
Posted by: phoenixgirl at October 05, 2011 05:30 PM (eOXTH)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 05:30 PM (mGnwL)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at October 05, 2011 05:30 PM (vzFJV)
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 09:28 PM (6fER6)
Lemme guess: the Narcissist-in-Chief claims that he created him.
But in the end, he couldn't save him.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:30 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 05:30 PM (TMB3S)
He wasn't much on technology and he wasn't big on innovation but he was really good at marketing and making geeky stuff cool. He got Hollywood and academia hooked on his products and kept his brand alive with a small market share, then turned gadgets that weren't better than anyone else's into huge hits.
Ah, but they are better. Because there are features present that are subtle but make all the difference in the world when it comes to usability and user experience. Most people don't realize it's there, but they notice that something seems wrong when it's missing.
And as I said before, Jobs did appreciate and understand the technical innovations taking place. And he cared about bringing those technical innovations forward. But much of that is behind-the-scenes and few people see it. And he always believed in putting technology to use to reduce the friction of interacting with it. There's more here than meets the eye.
Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 05:31 PM (SYhX2)
Posted by: AE at October 05, 2011 05:31 PM (bG7XN)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 05:31 PM (z3Dfi)
Now I know the engineer was wrong.
Posted by: rdbrewer at October 05, 2011 05:31 PM (OcmPS)
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at October 05, 2011 05:31 PM (r4wIV)
Posted by: AE at October 05, 2011 05:32 PM (bG7XN)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:32 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 05:32 PM (mGnwL)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 09:30 PM (fyOgS)
Boy was it! Too bad my mom walked in.
Posted by: George Costanza at October 05, 2011 05:33 PM (X6akg)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:33 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 05:33 PM (QcFbt)
Posted by: EC at October 05, 2011 05:34 PM (R15UB)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 05:34 PM (QcFbt)
Not weird. It's a comment on what a crappy job colleges are doing.
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 09:32 PM (mGnwL)
Well, that and the sad sacks from Occupy Wall Street posting their hard luck stories on-line.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:34 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 05:34 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 05:34 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: Jornolist at October 05, 2011 05:34 PM (yik/p)
Posted by: Robert_Paulson at October 05, 2011 05:35 PM (qZ4ZL)
Posted by: Dumb_Blonde at October 05, 2011 05:35 PM (iJZgM)
Of course. That's the new Hollyweird rule - all the main heroes in movies have to be women.
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at October 05, 2011 05:36 PM (c0A3e)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:37 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 05:37 PM (QcFbt)
You couldn't study computation in college at that time.
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 09:34 PM (z3Dfi)
Perhaps not as a stand alone degree-granting field of study, but there were courses in computing languages offered back then.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:37 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:38 PM (fyOgS)
Alex f *cking Rodriguez works for Apple?
Posted by: MissTammy at October 05, 2011 05:38 PM (SsG4J)
Michael and I are saddened to learn of the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve was among the greatest of American innovators - brave enough to think differently, bold enough to believe he could change the world, and talented enough to do it.
By building one of the planetÂ’s most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity. By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun. And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike. Steve was fond of saying that he lived every day like it was his last. Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world.
The world has lost a visionary. And there may be no greater tribute to SteveÂ’s success than the fact that much of the world learned of his passing on a device he invented. Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to SteveÂ’s wife Laurene, his family, and all those who loved him.
I might have edited it a bit.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 05:38 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: Jornolist at October 05, 2011 05:38 PM (yik/p)
Posted by: Bevis Perdue at October 05, 2011 05:38 PM (hp2jB)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at October 05, 2011 05:38 PM (XE2Oo)
Posted by: jewells45, tea party terrorist at October 05, 2011 05:38 PM (Z71Vg)
Posted by: SJ at October 05, 2011 05:39 PM (yAI5q)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 05:39 PM (z3Dfi)
You couldn't study computation in college at that time.
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 09:34 PM (z3Dfi)
Yea, you could I got my BS in CS in 1979. Of course it was all IBM mainframe focused.
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 05:39 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: nerdygirl at October 05, 2011 05:39 PM (Xejg5)
Me neither. That's... fuckin' nerdy.
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at October 05, 2011 09:38 PM (XE2Oo)
Liar ...
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:39 PM (UzjcV)
Jobs was a great cult leader. That much is true.
His technology was overpriced and underpowered.
His cultlike followers are simply damn annoying. The one time I set foot in an Apple store, it was hipster central.
I refuse to buy any Apple product whatsoever. No iPod, no iPad, no iPhone, no i-anything.
No way would I put him at the same level as an Edison or a Carnegie. I would say he's more like an Elvis. He had a following and he made a lot of people happy, but his enduring legacy isn't much that is *tangible*.
Posted by: chemjeff at October 05, 2011 05:39 PM (s7mIC)
Posted by: Jypsea Rose at October 05, 2011 05:40 PM (t1inB)
Today that stock I bought for $4 & change (adjusted for 2 splits) closed at $378
Thanks Steve
Posted by: Neo at October 05, 2011 05:40 PM (e8kgV)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 09:34 PM (z3Dfi)
I think that may be wrong. My dad went back for his PhD in the late 60s and he took Cobol to satisfy his language requirement (being that he sucked at other-than-English languages as I do). I also remember him bringing this weird computer-like thing home to work on, in the early 70s. I think it was a Compaq.
Posted by: Peaches at October 05, 2011 05:40 PM (/ybwc)
Woz is that class of engineer that cannot be schooled only nurtured. Amazing talent almost on the level of Tesla.
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 05:41 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: zombie Mae West at October 05, 2011 05:41 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: Jean at October 05, 2011 05:41 PM (OTtAK)
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at October 05, 2011 05:41 PM (r4wIV)
Posted by: Crashpanic at October 05, 2011 05:42 PM (7eKJh)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 05:42 PM (QcFbt)
Me neither. That's... fuckin nerdy.
It's all nerdy until you get eaten by a Grue.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at October 05, 2011 05:42 PM (SY2Kh)
Good news! You'll all have 100 trillion dollars in your wallet by the middle of his second term.
Posted by: Ben Bernanke at October 05, 2011 05:42 PM (6GvAC)
Posted by: nerdygirl at October 05, 2011 05:43 PM (Xejg5)
__________
Early '70s is a bit early for a Compaq.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 05:43 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 05:43 PM (mGnwL)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 05:43 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at October 05, 2011 09:38 PM (XE2Oo)
The best comeback was "I SEE NO [] HERE"
I can't recall the comeback to telling it "fuck you"
Posted by: zombie Mae West at October 05, 2011 05:43 PM (UzjcV)
Good news! You'll all have 100 trillion dollars in your wallet by the middle of his second term.
Posted by: Ben Bernanke at October 05, 2011 09:42 PM (6GvAC)
And with all that money you could buy 1/100,000,000,000,000,000,000 of an ounce of gold.
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 05:43 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 05:44 PM (z3Dfi)
http://tinyurl.com/42d4xt3
Posted by: Tami at October 05, 2011 05:44 PM (X6akg)
Posted by: nerdygirl at October 05, 2011 05:44 PM (Xejg5)
Those punks protesting? Had a daydream, smoked something, convinced people to go along with it, created a major nuisance, made a mess, and will change exactly nothing in the process.
Irony is well and truly dead.
(Rest in peace, Steve.)
Posted by: AoSHQ's DarkLord© sez F--- Nevada! at October 05, 2011 05:44 PM (Fs7RJ)
Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of Patents Pending at October 05, 2011 05:44 PM (bxiXv)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 09:40 PM (fyOgS)
BO read that off the teleprompter instead of "Michelle" when referring to his wife.
Posted by: museisluse at October 05, 2011 05:45 PM (4Lj43)
Posted by: Linux Fan at October 05, 2011 05:45 PM (W2tLK)
On that topic, there's an interactive-fiction competition going on. Thanks for reminding me
Posted by: Boulder Toilet Hobo at October 05, 2011 05:45 PM (6GvAC)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 05:46 PM (mGnwL)
Posted by: Jornolist at October 05, 2011 05:46 PM (yik/p)
Most of their shit they stole from us. I guess we should have sued.
Posted by: Xerox at October 05, 2011 09:44 PM (hXJOG)
Actually, Apple gave stock to Xerox for that technology. Xerox wasn't doing anything with it...
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 05:46 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: rdbrewer at October 05, 2011 05:47 PM (OcmPS)
________
I'm an annoying mac user, too. Different reason, though.
My previous machine was a PC, which I used primarily to open terminal windows to my NetBSD box or host an X session (via XVnc) on which I opened opened terminal windows. I don't like Unix, but futzing about with it is easier than futzing about with Windows.
Since I got my Mac, most of the futzing about I used to on my NetBSD box is done on my mac. The NetBSD box still collects my mail and serves up web pages, but it's not my daily driver anymore.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 05:47 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:47 PM (fyOgS)
It may have been an Olivetti something or another. We programmed on it in high school around 71-72.
Posted by: zombie Mae West at October 05, 2011 05:47 PM (UzjcV)
Posted by: nerdygirl at October 05, 2011 05:48 PM (Xejg5)
Posted by: Jornolist at October 05, 2011 09:46 PM (yik/p)
I don't have any either. My kids ONLY have Apple products.
Posted by: Tami at October 05, 2011 05:48 PM (X6akg)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 05:48 PM (mGnwL)
Actor Charles Napier died today too.
Gonna crack my knuckles and jump for joy--got a clean bill of health from Doctor McCoy.
Didn't realize he was the same guy from The Good Ole Boys.
Posted by: USS Diversity at October 05, 2011 05:49 PM (aD5Kx)
Most of their shit they stole from us. I guess we should have sued.
Posted by: Xerox at October 05, 2011 09:44 PM (hXJOG)
Umm... you did sue, and you lost.
Posted by: Gran at October 05, 2011 05:49 PM (PxzSs)
Xerox was like the guy who finds a million dollar Picasso in his attic and sells it at a garage sale for $2 because he didn't think it worth very much.
Posted by: Hollowpoint at October 05, 2011 05:49 PM (SY2Kh)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 05:50 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: jewells45, tea party terrorist at October 05, 2011 05:50 PM (Z71Vg)
His products absolutely rocked and made the competition look like dog poop.
And yes, I am old as dirt.
Posted by: navybrat at October 05, 2011 05:50 PM (aNTGR)
It was part of the original story written by John Campbell in Astounding Stories - "Who Goes There?". In fact, in the remake of "The Thing" by John Carpenter, the Norwegians actually give away the story by shouting, "It's not a dog, kill it"
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 05:50 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: Tami at October 05, 2011 09:44 PM (X6akg)
The only Napier I recognize was the inventor of Napier's Bones. Not that I ever met him, mind you.
Posted by: No Whining at October 05, 2011 05:50 PM (UzjcV)
No way would I put him at the same level as an Edison or a Carnegie. I would say he's more like an Elvis. He had a following and he made a lot of people happy, but his enduring legacy isn't much that is *tangible*.
You've obviously never gone from developing Windows applications with Delphi to developing OpenStep applications with Interface Builder. Night and day. And the Qt guys, with the benefit of even more hindsight, still can't figure out Model-View-Controller.
Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 05:52 PM (SYhX2)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:52 PM (fyOgS)
Early '70s is a bit early for a Compaq.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 09:43 PM (6fER6)
Just talking to my dad, he thinks it was an HP. It was something to do complex calculations and used punch-cards.
Posted by: Peaches at October 05, 2011 05:52 PM (/ybwc)
Posted by: Joe Biden at October 05, 2011 05:52 PM (uBBpA)
Posted by: The Guy Who Sold The Rights to DOS to Microsoft at October 05, 2011 05:52 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: baldilocks at October 05, 2011 05:52 PM (T2/zQ)
Posted by: nerdygirl at October 05, 2011 05:53 PM (Xejg5)
Not to get into a pissing contest, but he simply did an amazingly good job at integrating current technology into a mass-marketed product.
...and yours:
You say tomato but Apple under Jobs has always been a company that pushed the envelope with either new technology, new interfaces, brilliant packaging or just a combination of all of the above. If anyone could have done it, anyone would have. Only Jobs did.
You added a bit, but my premise isn't very different from yours. Yes, Jobs did a brilliant job of taking the best available technology and incorporating it into some consistently whizzy and successful products. I'm not dissing Jobs and Apple, just saying that they weren't the inventors of the various technologies they used in their products.
Like you said, "You say tomato ..."
Posted by: Piñon Farmer at October 05, 2011 05:53 PM (IzuWw)
Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 09:52 PM (SYhX2)
You're right I've never done any of that. I've only written C programs on Linux, actually.
I was thinking about learning C++ from Bjarne Stroustrup's book though.
Posted by: chemjeff at October 05, 2011 05:54 PM (s7mIC)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:54 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: logprof at October 05, 2011 05:55 PM (QaKuj)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:56 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 05:56 PM (z3Dfi)
Stunner: March on Wall Street Turns Violent
Thousands of union workers joined protesters marching through the Financial District Wednesday for Occupy Wall Street's largest rally yet against "corporate greed."
The march was mostly peaceful - until after nightfall, when scuffles erupted and some of the younger demonstrators were arrested when they tried to storm barricades blocking them from Wall Street and the Stock Exchange.
Witnesses said about 200 people tried to push through barricades and police responded with pepper spray and penned them in with orange netting.
http://tinyurl.com/3oaz78h
Posted by: Tami at October 05, 2011 05:57 PM (X6akg)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 05:58 PM (QcFbt)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 05:58 PM (mGnwL)
Yes.
And they fucked up a perfect movie by putting chicks in it. The original was amazing in that there was no sexual tension. Pure, beautiful testosterone.
Fuck you feminism.
Posted by: CharlieBrown'sdildo (NJConservative) at October 05, 2011 05:58 PM (xFdca)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 05:58 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at October 05, 2011 05:58 PM (XE2Oo)
Ok, understood. The Howard Hawk version was on TCM tonight introduced by John Carpenter. He said Hawk was his favorite director and he made his version of the "The Thing" as part of a studio contract.
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 06:01 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: MostlyRight at October 05, 2011 06:02 PM (ZG8Ti)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 06:03 PM (fyOgS)
inputting your vinyl records to your computer
Come on.....no way an album fits in that CD port.
Posted by: USS Diversity at October 05, 2011 10:03 PM (aD5Kx)
It does if you fold it...
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 06:04 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: rdbrewer at October 05, 2011 06:04 PM (OcmPS)
I mourn the passing of Steve Jobs.
Reveling in or being indifferent to any persons demise is shameful.
Unless it is George Soros.
Posted by: notion at October 05, 2011 06:04 PM (MwTP4)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 06:05 PM (QcFbt)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 06:05 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 10:03 PM (fyOgS)
Yes, but I still jump when, in the 1950s version, they open the greenhouse door and the alien jumps out
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 06:06 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 06:07 PM (QcFbt)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 06:08 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at October 05, 2011 06:09 PM (SiFbi)
Posted by: macintx at October 05, 2011 06:11 PM (ucs8Y)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 06:11 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: A Jobs Well Done at October 05, 2011 06:11 PM (9qxEF)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 10:08 PM (TMB3S)
Excellent post, you've summed up my thinking. (AND GET OUT OF MY HEAD!).
Few people remember the DEC and Data General products (which lead to ARPANET)
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 06:11 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: Peaches at October 05, 2011 06:11 PM (/ybwc)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 06:12 PM (QcFbt)
Yes. And they fucked up a perfect movie by putting chicks in it. The original was amazing in that there was no sexual tension. Pure, beautiful testosterone.
Fuck you feminism. Posted by: CharlieBrown'sdildo (NJConservative) Carpenter's 80's version, no wimmins. 50's version, woman at the scientific station and the visiting military guy hinting around at a prior relationship that was left 'unfinished' ... and even as a kid I sensed it had been sexual.
Posted by: Drillanwr at October 05, 2011 06:13 PM (z+Dxj)
Posted by: Linux Fan at October 05, 2011 06:14 PM (W2tLK)
Posted by: chemjeff at October 05, 2011 06:14 PM (s7mIC)
He's done a lot of behind the scenes work at Apple. He just not much of a self-promoter. He also had a bad airplane accident with left him with a case of short-term amnesia.
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 06:14 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: Blue Falcon in Boston training for the ONT mudwrestling match at October 05, 2011 06:15 PM (ijjAe)
Posted by: steevy at October 05, 2011 06:15 PM (fyOgS)
Posted by: chemjeff at October 05, 2011 10:14 PM (s7mIC)
Probably getting a tune up. Everytime I refreshed it it opened the ABC rubio page.
Posted by: robtr at October 05, 2011 06:16 PM (MtwBb)
Just watched the movie. It was made clear they had one date. She drank him under the table and dropped him off at his billet with an embarrassing note tacked to his shirt. No sex.
Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 06:17 PM (afrI6)
Posted by: Samuel Adams at October 05, 2011 06:19 PM (lLxs/)
You're right I've never done any of that. I've only written C programs on Linux, actually.
I was thinking about learning C++ from Bjarne Stroustrup's book though.
Don't do it! Learn LISP! Learn Smalltalk! Learn Ruby or even Python! Anything but C++!!!!
In all fairness, it is possible to use C++ effectively. But it takes a Herculean effort of the will to avoid abusing the sizable "feature set." Just pretend you're an expert bonsai artist and trim away.
Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 06:19 PM (SYhX2)
Posted by: Empire of Jeff at October 05, 2011 06:19 PM (XE2Oo)
There were a few other regulars that had similar sentiments on the previous thread. Granted, they didn't sock a regular. Guilty as charged, though I didn't say anything ErikW hasn't already, twice.
All that said, I apologize to Erik for socking him so accurately. And to the Rons and Ronettes that were taken in by that. Sorry.
Filling your apology with all this passive-agressive crap comes off as petty.
Posted by: fluffy at October 05, 2011 06:20 PM (3SvjA)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 06:20 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at October 05, 2011 06:20 PM (QcFbt)
Don't do it! Learn LISP! Learn Smalltalk! Learn Ruby or even Python! Anything but C++!!!!
__________
FWIW, I've found Lua to be quick, easy, and powerful. I'm doing most of my quickie off-the-cuff futzing about programs in Lua these days.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 06:23 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: JackStraw at October 05, 2011 06:24 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: America at October 05, 2011 10:06 PM (ZG8Ti)
And less scoamf.
Posted by: A Star That Shines Bright But Short at October 05, 2011 06:24 PM (hyVY4)
Just watched the movie. It was made clear they had one date. She drank him under the table and dropped him off at his billet with an embarrassing note tacked to his shirt. No sex. Posted by: The Robot Devil at October 05, 2011 10:17 PM (afrI6) Oh sure. That's what SHE said, but you know if there would have been a sequel the 'kid' would have shown up as a newbie under the old boyfriend's command.
Posted by: Drillanwr at October 05, 2011 06:24 PM (z+Dxj)
Posted by: Betaphi at October 05, 2011 06:25 PM (YHG9+)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 06:29 PM (z3Dfi)
Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at October 05, 2011 06:30 PM (SiFbi)
Posted by: JRussRhodes at October 05, 2011 06:30 PM (y/Nt3)
Apple had its moments, but don't make the guy a god, because he wasn't.
Posted by: © Sponge at October 05, 2011 06:31 PM (lk3Dj)
Posted by: Linux Fan at October 05, 2011 06:32 PM (W2tLK)
Posted by: Peaches at October 05, 2011 06:32 PM (/ybwc)
_______
No, it didn't. It was just a box with switches on the front. You wanted a keyboard, you hooked up a teletype.
Posted by: Anachronda has an Imsai in his storage shed at October 05, 2011 06:33 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: Jordan at October 05, 2011 06:33 PM (XJYf4)
Jobs was more than a manager, he was a visionary. He took that technology base and by the force of his vision did some amazing things. He may not have been the engineering genius behind everything but he made it all possible.
What's important is that he looked at the technology and saw both how important it was and what potential it had to make peoples' lives better. He saw ideas like WIMP and Obj-C and saw not just where they could go, but where they had to go. And he was fanatical about pushing those ideas to the limit.
In fact, the comparison with Edison is apt. Edison didn't create the electric light. Instead, he was a perfectionist who realized just what a difference the electric light could make in peoples' lives (and how broken it was in its existing form). So he spent an unbelievable amount of time making the light work in a way that would actually be useful.
Posted by: rfichoke at October 05, 2011 06:33 PM (SYhX2)
Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at October 05, 2011 06:35 PM (SiFbi)
Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at October 05, 2011 06:37 PM (SiFbi)
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 06:38 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: joncelli at October 05, 2011 06:39 PM (YL3wr)
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 06:39 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: Onyango Obama at October 05, 2011 06:41 PM (W2tLK)
Posted by: FRONT TOWARD LEFT at October 05, 2011 06:50 PM (SiFbi)
Weird,
The two biggest Titans of the computer industry never finished college.
Hey, what about me?
Posted by: Michael Dell at October 05, 2011 06:57 PM (bSxaZ)
Posted by: chique d'afrique (the artist formerly known as african chick) at October 05, 2011 07:00 PM (21lBC)
Posted by: Onyango Obama at October 05, 2011 07:00 PM (W2tLK)
Posted by: Sarahw at October 05, 2011 07:02 PM (OoFwu)
ErikW's a regular moron. Don't be surprised to be pecked on, internet warrior for truth.
Posted by: toby928©: Perrykrishna and Non-Apple User at October 05, 2011 07:03 PM (GTbGH)
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 07:07 PM (GE1+K)
Posted by: Ken Royall at October 05, 2011 07:11 PM (9zzk+)
Posted by: Peaches at October 05, 2011 07:16 PM (/ybwc)
There were carriages and engines before the automobile
Scythes before the reaper
lanterns before the light bulb
Mecahnical computation prior to the eniac
And electronic computers before the apple I
But
No horse drawn harvester before the reaper
No engine driven personal transport before the automobile
No electrical light prior to the light bulb
No electronic programmable computation before the eniac.
and no PCs before the apple 1
Posted by: MikeTheMoose at October 05, 2011 07:24 PM (GE1+K)
His vision is responsible for the tech I use as a Design/Production professional; the tech that entertains me wherever I am; the tech that brought me some of my very favorite films; and the tech that I am using to write this missive.
RIP, Steve.
Posted by: goozer at October 05, 2011 07:24 PM (vQcKN)
_________
No problem. Rainbow could take up to 720K of RAM. The 640K limit was due to the PC architecture, not to MS-DOS or personal computers in general.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 07:26 PM (6fER6)
__________
Until recently, you couldn't patent software. Microsoft is a software company.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 07:28 PM (6fER6)
Here, let me put you some effin' knowledge, douchenozzle. Steve Jobs held 313 patents. Bill Gates? Doesn't even make the double digits with his. You're welcome.
Doesn't mean shit to a swan. Many corporations reflexively put the head honcho's name on all patents, particularly if he's an egomaniac and the guy who has to approve patent applications, even though technically under US patent law intentionally mistating inventorship invalidates a patent. AFAIK, no US patent has ever been invalidated for including a non-inventor, only for failing to include a real inventor.
The notion that Jobs made an inventive contribution on all those patents, in addition to running Apple and not being involved directly 24/7 in R&D, is laughable.
Posted by: Jay Guevara at October 05, 2011 07:30 PM (uFAjD)
Until recently, you couldn't patent software.
Not true. You're thinking of business method patents.
Posted by: Jay Guevara at October 05, 2011 07:31 PM (uFAjD)
Posted by: Comrade Arthur at October 05, 2011 07:34 PM (mGnwL)
_______
Indeed. That's what I'm worried about, what with me being a Mac user these days. I wonder if Steve's illness is why the recent iPhone pleasantness was disappointing.
On the other hand, they seem to want to take MacOS in the iOS direction. I like it being Unix with pretty windows.
Posted by: Anachronda at October 05, 2011 07:40 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: docweasel at October 05, 2011 07:53 PM (G92eR)
Posted by: polynikes - Texan for Romney at October 05, 2011 08:00 PM (3YCP0)
Actually other than in the MP3 player and phone market, Apple has a pretty small market share. They just are really good at getting their products out very visibly.
And have people have pointed out: when Jobs was out of Apple it blew. Dump your Apple stocks now before it craters.
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at October 05, 2011 08:18 PM (r4wIV)
I'm hearing things like: what Jobs did was "just" marketing, "just" packaging diverse technical innovations into a product, "just" revolutionizing design, brand aesthetics, & user interface to reach new masses of (non-techie) consumers, etc., etc.: in other words, he was "just" a great marketer, seller of product, businessmanÂ… "just" a skillful capitalist. Not a genius.
For the lefty, the "genius" is the solitary inventor, the academic in his ivory tower, the scientist in his lab-- the one who comes up with the "pure" original ideas or technical innovations, out of thin air. It's a romantic idea of genius, uncontaminated by the marketplace-- like the avant-garde artist in his garrett. They would never apply the word "genius" to an entrepreneur. (That's why "profits" are dirty. Only those who traffic in ideas-- pure ideas-- like academics-- are truly meritorious. Not those who, ugh, merely sell things. Sell, ugh, products.)
And what we're talking about in the case of Jobs is the entrepreneur as visionary genius. Even if many others, separately, were responsible for inventing the many different technical innovations that went into making Apple products, the point is, he was the genius who envisioned those products, as products: products which had not been envisioned before, to be used, experienced, & lived with in ways that had not been envisioned before, by populations of consumers that had not been envisioned before. He was the entrepreneurial genius who brought them into being, into market, & sold them. He was the genius who envisioned a radical transformation in the way computers are "consumed" & lived with, thus changing the way people of all ages around the world live (including those who've never used Apple/Mac products, since Jobs revolutionized the marketplace and thus affected what all computers are, what human beings want & expect & desire from them).
The entrepreneur as genius, the genius entrepreneur. There aren't many of them-- can't think of others offhand-- but Steve Jobs is one.
Posted by: lael at October 05, 2011 08:31 PM (f/Nbz)
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at October 05, 2011 08:34 PM (r4wIV)
Posted by: John at October 05, 2011 08:47 PM (HmTkU)
Posted by: navybrat at October 05, 2011 09:26 PM (aNTGR)
lael, much of this "'just' marketing" is a reaction to the praise that's been heaped on Jobs as a technical innovator, which he was not. He had nothing to do with the invention of the key technologies that carried Apple so far: the windowing interface, the laser printer, the PostScript language, the OS/X operating system, all of which were developed elsewhere, or built on technologies invented someplace else. Apple's own ventures into technical development, particularly in the area of operating systems, ranged from mediocre to downright bad. The man was no techie.
However, Jobs was a superb designer. The look and feel of his products were uniformly excellent, the user interfaces (with a few rare exceptions) were outstanding. I don't own any Apple products myself, because I simply can't justify the extra cost to myself, but I do admire them as well crafted and intuitively usable.
Above all, Jobs had taste. That's a rare and much underappreciated virtue: to know what is aesthetically pleasing. And it's even rarer in the area of industrial design, where Jobs excelled.
When all is said and done, Jobs' principal contribution may well have been the bankrolling of Pixar. Jobs may have been attracted by the Pixar guys' nerdiness; but he also recongized that they are gifted storytellers and filmmakers. I think it's safe to say that decades from now, when all of the iPads and iPods and iBooks are worn out and resting in landfills, people will be watching with pleasure movies like "The Incredibles" and "Monsters Inc." and "Toy Story". That's no small contribution to the overall happiness of mankind.
So, was Jobs a genius? Beats me. But he was very good at what he did. Would that that could be said of us all.
Posted by: Brown Line at October 05, 2011 10:17 PM (AnxGO)
Posted by: Zakn at October 05, 2011 11:36 PM (7F9i5)
I take your point, & fair enough. (And I love Pixar too.)
But I guess what I'm saying is, Jobs wasn't just a great marketer, designer, businessman, packager, & someone with great taste. What he envisioned, in envisioning the most seminal Apple products-- from the personal computer (as Jobs imagined it might be) to the ipad-- amounted to genuinely new things in the world. Things that didn't exist in the world before he thought of them-- i.e., genuinely new kinds of products. Yes, incorporating & implementing others' technical innovations, even existing proto-versions of the product, but forming a genuinely new synthesis with them, a whole-- the product-- that's more than just the sum of its parts. Parts that no one might have thought to put together to create that product-- that new thing to be consumed in a new way-- if not for him. Let alone bring that vision to fruition-- to reality-- to the marketplace.
Envisioning not just a new kind of product-- but the experience of it, the way consumers might integrate it into their lives, make it their own. And, in a way, envisioning the consumers themselves: he's as responsible as anyone for making computer users of us all-- 80 year olds & 6 year olds, in the Midwest & Tahrir Square. Not just an elite of technical experts.
A great master chef may not grow the tomatoes, may not catch the fish, may not have invented the cooking techniques he uses, may not even do much of the cooking (he has skilled line cooks do that), and may even work off existing recipes, related dishes-- but he can still be responsible for, the "author" of, a genuinely new dish, a synthesis of elements no one had tasted before (even though he didn't come up with any of the elements themselves, and thus relies on the contributions & collaborations of many others-- including other great chefs). Not a great metaphor-- but something like that.
Posted by: lael at October 05, 2011 11:41 PM (f/Nbz)
Posted by: epobirs at October 05, 2011 11:51 PM (kcfmt)
A lot of it has to do with the difference between alphas and betas.
He wasn't much or an engineer or coder. But he knew enough to be able to appreciate serious talent when he saw it and that is important. Jobs was an alpha. Wozniak is a beta, as are all real engineers. There are alphas who pretend to be in beta careers but are really just leaders of beta teams. (Betas tend to have more stable marriages while alphas tend to have access to a wider range of mates. [The Lisa computer was named after Jobs illegitimate daughter whose existence was a sort of open secret at the time.]) Betas can be talked into things and exploited. At Atari, Wozniak, who wasn't an employee, would come in at night to do the work assigned to Jobs. Left to himself, Wozniak would likely have had a good career as an engineer in silicon Valley but not a name to conjure with unless he found another alpha to compel his talent.
Jobs would have been nothing without a legion of talents to organize and exploit. The critical part is that those talents NEEDED him to find their potential. Everybody in the tech industry has seen numerous examples of companies where talent is in great supply but never achieves what it should. Microsoft has never lacked for talent but frequently lacked for the right kind of leadership. (Although Apple actually benefited from being largely excluded from the enterprise market. Microsoft's strength there has come at a cost to its other markets. you can only serve so many masters without giving less than your best to some of them.)
Jobs didn't write screenplays or do animation work but he recognized those who had the spark to create great films and how to structure an operation were they could fulfill their promise.
Jobs wasn't an industrial designer but he was the filter that looked at a dozen concept layouts and said, "That one." It wasn't always the right choice, like the Cube, but he scored far better than random and again, that is really, really important. Unfortunately, this kind of talent, the business leader, is harder to quantify than just saying someone is a really good engineer.
Posted by: epobirs at October 06, 2011 12:12 AM (kcfmt)
Posted by: Bill H at October 06, 2011 01:19 AM (FKMW3)
So how's the attendance at Westboro Baptist Church these days?
If your website is an example of your design brilliance, then I'll stick with Apple, thanks.
Oh, and DIAF, asshole.
Posted by: Gran at October 06, 2011 03:44 AM (PxzSs)
He worked, he took the risks, he succeeded.
Those brats rioting by Wall Street should shut up and learn from this man. You're not ENTITLED to anything except for the PURSUIT of happiness if having a lot of money is your happiness.
Posted by: Madame Queen at October 06, 2011 05:20 AM (5rYzF)
On a side note, the hippie assholes on Wall Street are using this rich guys devices to get their message out.
Irony, a dish best served with a grain of salt, eh?
Posted by: 1idvet at October 06, 2011 06:14 AM (xUxh3)
Posted by: Big G Man at October 06, 2011 07:19 AM (YXDV+)
http://www.theonion.com/articles/apple-user-acting-like-his-dad-just-died,26270/
get the fuck over yourself. if the guy met you he'd act like he smelled shit on his shoe. he had contempt for people like you, but you're too fucking stupid to know it.
Posted by: docweasel at October 08, 2011 10:11 AM (G92eR)
Posted by: docweasel at October 08, 2011 10:14 AM (G92eR)
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Posted by: ParisParamus at October 05, 2011 04:41 PM (jzm8w)