Steve Jobs

[Atelier]

No thread about him? If anybody influenced the 21st century the most, Steve Jobs is among them. Things would be very different without the products he helped to design and create.

[Snake]

Yeah, after finding out yesterday afternoon, I was very surprised that it wasn't being discussed yet. Something like Steve Jobs dying I would expect to learn about here first, rather than from my wife who found it whilst signing in to Yahoo! Mail.

Bill Gates will never have a better rival.

[Darth Mandarb]

I'm definitely not a mac fan (as many of you know) but I was shocked by how much it upset me when I learned of this last night.

I think it's because he was a pioneer in the personal computing realm ... without him I might not be able to enjoy my career the way I do.  He was a forerunner and he has, I think, well earned his place in world history.

Shame to die so young but his legacy will remain for a long time I think...

[Bulbapuck]

Technology whould not be where it stands today if it wasn't for that man. Not a big mac fan, but I definately admired the guy for what he was doing.

RIP.

[Eggie]

Clever, clever, clever person as well as being the man who gave the world Pixar.

The technology leaders of the next 50 years or so are going to have a hard time catching up to wherever he would have taken it next.

[Sam.]

I read about his death on a laptop he invented, text my partner on a phone he invented. I'm probably maccier than many on here, but it's undeniable that the world got less good yesterday.

Sad news. My Dad is 56. Jobs left behind a family and an incredible legacy. It was no age.

[Anian]

Too bad for the guy, he seeemed to be getting better, my dad is going to be 55 next year so I feel kind of bad for his family. With that in my mind, he wasn't a freaking inventor nor creator, he was a visionare and a creative marketing genius, he saw potential where others did not and knew how to create a demand where there was none (see iPad) and brand stuff (see everything from Mac to iPhone) and as far as I can see from the Apple as a company, he was a good leader and obviously a good judge of people, since there's obviously plenty of talented people workingin Apple.

And by that I don't mean any less of him as part of the influence on modern life (even though I do not think everything he brought to mass market was a positive thing in the big picture), but there's a difference.

[Khris]

The guy knew how to sell overpriced stuff to people who choose their computer on the basis of the case's color.
Don't forget all the DRM stuff and AppStore censorship.
Also, Apple tried to sue Samsung out of selling their tablet because it looked too similar to their iPad. Turns out Samsung designed a digital photo frame a decade ago that looks exactly like the iPad.

I'm sure he was a nice guy and all, but please don't overdo it with the pioneer / visionary stuff.

Also, a child dies from hunger every 4 seconds. He was a rich white guy. Perspective.

[veryweirdguy]

There's always one.

Without Steve Jobs we probably wouldn't have Pixar.

RIP man.

[Khris]

Oh, he saved PIXAR? Well then it doesn't matter I guess that an iPhone costs $150 to produce at Foxconn where they're built by cheap Chinese laborers under extremely bad working conditions.

Thank god we have a few more nice animations films. Fuck those Chinese bastards.

[Anian]

Oh, he saved PIXAR? Well then it doesn't matter I guess that an iPhone costs $150 to produce at Foxconn where they're built by cheap Chinese laborers under extremely bad working conditions.

I'm sure there's an app that makes you forget that.

PIXAR - show of vision (or perspective and future profit if you will) and smart investment and managmnet skills, he didn't freaking draw the cartoons nor written the stories. Not really that hard to grab a diamond in the rough from Lucas, they've been doing stupid things for years now.

[veryweirdguy]

Oh, he saved PIXAR?

No, no, he bought The Graphics Group from Lucasfilm and essentially created Pixar, not saved. Sorry for any confusion!

[Khris]

I read the wikipedia article, I tried to put it in one word. So he "saved" and built up what's now known as Pixar. Alright?

[Igor Hardy]

Don't forget all the DRM stuff and AppStore censorship.

By the time that stuff got created Jobs was mostly a face attached to a huge company. I wouldn't blame him too much for Apple's bad ideas of recent years. For the good ideas either.

Also, Apple tried to sue Samsung out of selling their tablet because it looked too similar to their iPad. Turns out Samsung designed a digital photo frame a decade ago that looks exactly like the iPad.

I'm sure that wasn't mean-spirited. I's just how corporations + copyright laws work. Someone notices that the full time hired lawyers don't have anything to do - "hey, let's see if we can sue someone!"

For example Bethesda has sued the Minecraft guys over using the word "scrolls" recently. Every promising opportunity to sue someone is cool. Especially for a billion of dollars or so.

[Wyz]

I'm not going to make remarks about the DRM and general Apple's behaviour out of respect.
Steve Jobs was the guy I loved to hate, I will miss the guy. My condolences to his family and close friends.

[Sam.]

Thank god we have a few more nice animations films. Fuck those Chinese bastards.

I think you're missing the point of this thread. The thread you are looking for is "Steve Jobs - Who even cares because volcanos still happen what a dick"

I get that you are pointing out that noone is MORE worthy of remembering that anyone else, but the flipside of that coin is that nobody is less worthy either. It would be impractical to have a thread for every child who dies in poverty, but not for one man who made quite a big difference to the world you are in. Show some respect, preferably from off your high horse.

EDIT: Reactionary vitriol aside, this thread isn't the right place to air views on the shortcomings on the recently deceased, nor does it seem to be the right place to criticise the sadness of others.

[Darth Mandarb]

I find it interesting how some people who say things like, "he was just the head of a big organization and not responsible for all the great stuff" are the same people who say things like, "He's the President, so he's responsible for what the government does" when something goes wrong.  So when it's time to lay blame it's okay to point to the head but when it's time to give credit it doesn't work the same way?  That's silly.

I don't use/like Macs (I find the operating system cumbersome).  I like my iPhone, love my iPad and DESPISE their 'control' system.  It's my device and I will put whatever I want on it (hence the jailbreaking).

Jobs, Gates, Wosniak... these guys bought off the shelf electronics and DEFINED modern computing in their garages in the late 70s.  They may have borrowed here, tweaked there, stolen an idea or two ... but so did EVERY pioneer of one area or another.  The man was instrumental to the state of modern technology and there's simply no way to deny that (or reason to).

It is for that reason I give respect and sorrow at his passing.  It's not fanboyism or adoration.  It's simply admiration for his achievements and contributions to a field we are all involved in (since you're reading this on a [device] on the internet on a forum for making computer games).

To each their own I guess...

[Khris]

I think you're missing the point of this thread. The thread you are looking for is "Steve Jobs - Who even cares because volcanos still happen what a dick"

You could easily post something along those lines in any thread about any topic as soon as somebody offers a different perspective.

I don't deny in the least that the man has contributed a lot to modern computing and stuff, but I'm appalled by the wave of uncritical adoration that's currently sweeping the interweb. If I can only see things more objectively from the top of a high horse, I'll gladly stay up there.

[Atelier]

this thread isn't the right place to air views on the shortcomings on the recently deceased

I think it's the perfect place. I didn't really intend it to be a mourn thread because I don't feel sad at all. I didn't even know him. Other people can post their commiserations if they wish and that's fine. But I did know the positive things he did which improved (?) many people's lives in the world. If he wasn't influential, for good or worse, this thread wouldn't be here in the first place; it speaks for itself.

About China, here's a photo of the Apple Store in Beijing.



Obviously not representative of the sweat shops, and the rest of the 1 billion population which probably made your keyboard, mouse, the chair you might be sitting on, your clothes, and so on and so on and so on. It just illustrates he didn't exclusively have influence on the Western world. In any case the people employed by Apple were probably a damn sight better off than making plastic dog poop for some novelty toy company. I couldn't find a suitable graph to demonstrate the inequality of wealth distribution in China... let's just say that some have extreme wealth and won't share it with people on their own doorstep. Regrettably Jobs wasn't as philanthropic as competitor Gates.

[Chicky]

He saved me countless spyware scans!