Desdemona

And made it fit in your pocket

Bob

Wasn't he the chap who had the chance to hire Ives? Or was that some one at BA?

Definitely a oops moment that, letting him go to Apple

Steerpike

Isn't he the guy that comes on TV and says 'I've devoted my life to improving the vacuum cleaner....' ? I feel like telling him, "aim higher, young man!"

Steerpike

I think he deserves a good deal of credit. He started Apple, which is no mean feat for anyone; he rescued Apple after bean-counter Sculley nearly killed it; he took Pixar to great heights while simultaneously leading Apple; and he introduced the iPod, iPhone, and iPad which I would have to admit have pretty much dominated their respective markets. Like his products or not, that's an impressive track record.

The Grey Area

It's like saying someone invented the wheel or fire. With or without Steve Jobs these things would have been eventually invented

md95065

Sure - if Steve Jobs had never existed then eventually someone somewhere would have done similar or, at least, comparable things - and if that had happened then we would be saying just how smart and innovative that person was.

... but Steve Jobs did exist, he did do all of those things, and that is why people are appropriately giving him credit for what he did ...

I really don't understand why some people are so upset that, for a few days, a little attention is being focused on Steve Jobs - the whole thing will fade away in another week or so and despite some of the comparisons earlier in this thread it is nothing like what happened with either Princess Diana or, god help us, Michael Jackson

Just for the record, I don't actually own any Apple products and quite possibly never will (I simply am not the kind of person that their products are aimed at) but that doesn't mean that I don't appreciate the fact that they *are* good products ...

cindyabs

Thurs night TNT had the Pirates of Silicon Valley on which I started to watch, but had to go to bed before it finished. I was telling DH about it the next morning on the way to work and he has downloaded it so I can finish watching it.

Quite interesting-Jobs, Gates and the whole beginning of the personal computer thinking outside the box movement.

http://piratesofsiliconvalley.net/

I saw a cartoon of Steve Jobs being welcomed at the Pearly Gates by Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison. Come on now, really?

I'm saving my accolades for whoever discovers a cure for cancer or AIDS.

fatbrit

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.

Stallman -- the man who started GNU.

The Grey Area

Despite his billions I hear he had family that was living in squalor, and one of his early partners sold his share of the business for like 30k and ended up living in a tent in the arizona desert or something..Couldn't he have tossed that guy a couple million dollars?

Weird

Bob

He didn't even invent them anyway, he green lit the projects and had the vision to see how to exploit the idea and design Ives created though.

The Grey Area

Exactly...he's no Sir Isaac Newton

md95065

I guess we take a different view of what his significant achievements really were - for me it all starts with the Apple II, the Lisa and the original Macintosh and some of the stuff that he did at Next - that was the groundwork that ultimately made it possible for Apple to become the company that could produce the products that most people have heard of ...

Bob

Oh sure, he did great things back in the day, had the vision to hire the quirky Brit designer who wasn't getting hired by the big firms in England and to allow him the freedom to come up with and perfect the stuff, so there is something for Jobs.

It's just that people saying he was the person behind and the design behind what actually brought Apple into the position it has currently with the iDevice range is being terribly mis-representative to Jonathan Ives, the actual person behind these devices.

Tarkak9

.... as I tend to string it together - Apple made these items, I AM Apple, therefore its all from me ... aren't I great?

There is (yet another ) quote from SJ - My model for business is The Beatles: They were four guys that kept each other's negative tendencies in check; they balanced each other. And the total was greater than the sum of the parts. Great things in business are never done by one person, they are done by a team of people. (Yet, he has no problem taking the credit of others, imo).

I suppose you don't get anywhere in biz w/o somesort of ego...

HarryTheSpider

And I understand there's some evidence that Sir Isaac Newton was no saint either...

Human beings are flawed in many ways... sometimes, it would seem, exploiting one of your flaws might just help you reach a point higher than anybody else...

Now... given what a nice chap I am (), does that mean I have less flaws than 'normal' - or an excessively larger number of flaws than 'normal'?

I'm inclined to go with the latter!!