Steve Jobs, Dead.

[luis]

Between all the noise written about him in these days I found a couple I liked, unsurprisingly written by people I usually like.

Stephen Fry
http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/10/06/st ... ngle-page/

Walter Mossberg
http://allthingsd.com/20111005/the-steve-jobs-i-knew/

[the.weavster]

I thought this one summed it up pretty well for me:

Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died.

As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone." Nobody deserves to have to die - not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs' malign influence on people's computing.

Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, will be less effective.

[luis]

LOL, what a load of crap.

Uhm, on a second thought, I would take back the LOL. It's not even funny, only desperate.

[Zach]

Feel free to refute the claims

[nco2k]

I thought this one summed it up pretty well for me:

Reg: All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Attendee: Brought peace?
Reg: Oh, peace - shut up!

c ya,
nco2k

[utopiomania]

I was sad to hear this too. Steve Jobs was a visionary, and I like the simplicity of his products, but not their policy of locking people into their own company universe.

So I hope the industry has learned something about creating gadgets that everyone can use, and
not locking people in, and also that Apple goes away too, before they sue the rest of us.

[Thorium]

Steve Jobs was a visionary

I think he wasnt that visionary, at least not latly. He was a great business man.
In my opinion the whole iStuff isnt anything realy new. Smartphones existed befor the iPhone, tablets existed befor the iPad. He just knew how to sell them.

The real visionary mind in apple was Wozniak for me. The day he left apple, the company lost it's heart.

There is no question Jobs was a great man, but he also was overidolized.

[Zach]

I'm wondering if anyone has had the balls to ask Wozniak to comment on the idolatry surrounding Steve...

I've read his site, good stuff. Good sense of humor. I do wonder what he would say.

[the.weavster]

The real visionary mind in apple was Wozniak for me.

And when he dies will there be all the fanfare? I doubt it.

My thinking is that Apple could be more open and not lose sales
---Steve Wozniak
(He even jailbroke his own iPhone )

Put this man in charge and I might even consider buying something from Apple.

[luis]

Feel free to refute the claims

Ehm, are you talking to me ?

Those are opinions, he's entitled to his opinions and to keep abusing the word freedom to paint his view of the world with it.

Stallman doesn't understand not all people (the ones he calls fools) wants the kind of freedom he wants, the majority wants something that just works well in a cohesive way, doesn't want to surf the web using a daemon from the command line that retrieve the page and send it to their mail address, and don't give a rat's ass about his idea of total freedom at all cost and everywhere. If the price to pay is to loose some freedom they would never take advantage of anyway, who cares ?
Nobody is forced to buy Apple products, and all the other people can still do whatever they like in the way they like, last time I've checked.

If he's so fond of the concept of freedom should refrain from calling fools people who give a different weight to different values and from being openly glad someone with a different point of view is out of his way.

The existence of Apple didn't take any freedom away from me, on the contrary gave me a nice phone, a nice tablet to read on and some monetary benefits available to anyone able to use his common sense. The fact I like them more than some similar product is my decision. I can still use Windows, Linux, and build my computers with the hardware I choose, and run the software I like.

The idea Apple could grow to the point where no other choice would be available is only a bad dream, and if it wasn't I would be all in favor to oppose to it. But this is not the reality, and to be a uncompromising zealot (like he is) in any of the current camps is not a sane thing.


BTW: one of the insane things I don't like about companies in general are the patents. Patenting the obvious should be not acceptable, but until the law says it's ok, patents will continue to grow and will be used to limit other minor companies or individuals. But that's hardly a problem with Apple alone, so we can't expect them to ignore a possible offense/defense weapon.

[luis]

I think he wasnt that visionary, at least not latly. He was a great business man.

This is what he was, lately. And someone able to choose the right talented people around him.
When he was young was mainly ambitious, a risk-taker, and have some intuition.
An he had a good friend, probably better than he deserved.

He just knew how to sell them.

Not only that, he paid attention to integrate hardware a software in a better way, and make all the software components on a device to works in a cohesive way resulting in a better user experience. The difference is all there and in its surrounding ecosystem.

The real visionary mind in apple was Wozniak for me. The day he left apple, the company lost it's heart.

To me he wasn't, but maybe depend on the "visionary" meaning.
I think he was a natural born engineer, able to squeeze a layout and to reach a goal with less I.C., but at the time there were many, many others like him.
He was having fun when building the Apple for himself, but he was very raw at the time, and the original project of the Apple I shows it. And to some extents the Apple 2 too. I remember all the problems they had with the EM emissions.
Also Peddle helped them when they had some problem with the 6502.
Later (1986) Woz went back to school and became "officially" an engineer.

[Zach]

Nobody is forced to buy Apple products

They do if they want their current Apple products to keep working, get upgraded parts, etc etc..


And that is the crux of the matter. Apple is an even worse offender than Microsoft when it comes to proprietary and licensee lock-ins

[luis]

They do if they want their current Apple products to keep working, get upgraded parts, etc etc..

About the upgrade path, the one you mentioned is ONE of the reasons why until now I didn't bought an Apple COMPUTER.

Again I choose to do so, to buy something and to not buy something else.

I still insist nobody forced me a way or another, and I don't feel the urge to buy a newer Apple product to replace the two I have, both not last generation but still working nevertheless.

I simply buy and use what I like, without following any kind of dogma.

[Zach]

Well, isn't that lovely

This is the Apple everyone is grieving for.

[luis]

Didn't know everyone was grieving for Apple.

Everyone ? Just looking on this forum doesn't seem so. Yes, I would say it's not true.

Like always in life people is divided, and moreover is not simply divided in two factions (pro and against). Fortunately.
There are a lot of shades.

About the article. Someone trying to survive in the pond created by someone else, accepting the rules made by someone else was squeezed out. Reading that seems they "believed", they "hoped", they "planned" based on a situation it was not set in stone. Apple can decide anytime to make your slice bigger or smaller, and if you don't like it simply leave. Just like ebay can change its fees tomorrow. Just as your bank can. They did so. Did they kill them ? Probably. When you enter a closed environment you better have a clear idea about how it works.

So, business as usual. The stronger one make the rules. You will see that again as you saw it already in the past. Intel did it, Microsoft did it, Apple did it, Google (loved by many) do that every day.

Only thing changing will be the names of the companies involved.