Steve Jobs is dead.

[superboyac]

Pretty big news, no?  What a figure.

[Carol Haynes]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-12215485

[Renegade]

I had to search to make sure. I thought you were joking initially.

The Apple home page:

[attachthumb=#]

[Eóin]

Steve Jobs showed little inclination to use his personal wealth for philanthropic purposes.

And, strangely for a self-professed Buddhist, he did not embrace environmental concerns

Says it all really, what a horrible human being he was.

[lotusrootstarch]

Steve Jobs showed little inclination to use his personal wealth for philanthropic purposes.

And, strangely for a self-professed Buddhist, he did not embrace environmental concerns

Says it all really, what a horrible human being he was.

WTF this is the most heartlesssssss comment I read today.

[rgdot]

Normally I don't talk give 'opinion' so close after someone's passing and I don't like to. However the part quoted above by Eóin is astounding.

RIP

[nosh]

"For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor, I will miss Steve immensely." - Bill Gates.

R.I.P

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

All iDevices will automatically shut down now for a two minute silence in 3...2...1...

Sorry, couldn't help myself.

[Renegade]

Steve Jobs showed little inclination to use his personal wealth for philanthropic purposes.

And, strangely for a self-professed Buddhist, he did not embrace environmental concerns

Says it all really, what a horrible human being he was.

WTF this is the most heartlesssssss comment I read today.

Heartless? Maybe. Accurate? Certainly.

Continuing my campaign on "perspective"...

Disturbing image

Something like this happens 16,000 times a day when children under 5 starve to death.

[attachimg=#]

Normally I don't talk give 'opinion' so close after someone's passing and I don't like to. However the part quoted above by Eóin is astounding.

RIP

It's impossible to comment on death unless you say something nice. If you don't have something nice to say, no matter how true, you're a "bad person". Meh... I'm going to hate seeing all the sycophants coming out of the woodwork over the next couple days...

<self-censorship reason="horribly inappropriate and callous" />

I can't help but wonder what good for people Steve could have done if he set his mind to it. He worked magic. Had he have beaten cancer and lived on, I wonder what he would have done...

[Carol Haynes]

The other quote from the same obit;

Steve Jobs was a one off; a man who had total belief in his own abilities and a shortage of patience for anyone who failed to agree with him.

To me this sums up the Apple philosophy - will that be his legacy?

I read another obit (sorry didn't keep the link) which said when Bill Gates dies he will be remembered for his philanthropy whereas Jobs is more likely to be remembered for his innovation.

The truth is no one knows - and how much true innovation was there really?

The iPod wasn't the first MP3 player
iTunes wasn't the first music download store
The iPad wasn't the first (or best) tablet
The iPhone is one of many similar products (and again wasn't the first in its class)
Apple didn't produce the first PC
Apple didn't invent the windowed desktop
Apple didn't develop new hardware as far as I can tell either (at least not at the component level)

At the end of the day Apple has been really good at generating interest, loyalty and sales and aggressively attacking the opposition - but probably not in that order. It remains to be seen if Apple can continue to do this without Jobs's influence.

Whatever you think of Steve Jobs he certainly made a big impact in the first decade of the 21st century at least (IMHO the Apple II and early MAcs were interesting but didn't have the same global impact) - however I don't think he should be granted saint-like status or given personality traits in death that he didn't have in life. Even his closest colleagues and friends said he was a difficult and driven person to work with.

[Carol Haynes]

All iDevices will automatically shut down now for a two minute silence in 3...2...1...

It has been said everyone who was alive at the time remembers where they were when JFK was shot.

iPhone owners will probably have their locations logged for posterity.

[Renegade]

Just musing, but I wonder what Richard Stallman has to say...

[zridling]

[attach]

[Ehtyar]

I was wondering how long it would take for this thread to appear. It seems I am not to be disappointed with the DC community

I'm with Eóin and zridling (which should come as no surprise to anyone who frequents the IRC channel). While I understand the attachment that the Apple sycophants have to him, I'd love to hear/read of anything that would make Steve Jobs deserving of the titles everyone seems so eager to bestow upon him, even before his death. Let's hope Tim Cook can make Apple a company worth even half the stock people are so willing to place in it.

Ehtyar.

[Eóin]

I suppose it was very heartless of to say that, heartless in the sense that such a comment is utterly unnecessary on the night of his death. For that I do apologise

I have no doubt that there were many who truly loved him, his wife and children as an obvious example, to them my sympathies go out as his death will leave a very painful void in their lives.

But the IT and business world are worse for his presence in them, and I see first hand some of the damage his clueless fanatics cause -

In my fathers school the "unofficial" IT department is headed by Apple zealots who are utterly clueless about everything to do with computers, yet of course see themselves as experts. They have connived the school to purchase Macs and iPads to help teach the students. That is public money from Irelands cash strapped educational system being spent on computers costing double the price of their components and tablets whose locked down natures means the school is at the mercy of Apples decisions on software. This is not unique either, you hear of this happening all over Ireland.

To me this a a sin of enormous proportions, the same money could buy maybe 5 times as many netbooks, each of which would be infinity more useful in a educational environment.

In the broader world, the closed ecosystem of Apples products is pure evil and in no way is it in consumers interests, Steve Jobs personally crusaded for this setup and together with Apples marketing department he preyed on the most technology clueless of people to establish this precedent and used it as foothold for enforcing his vision upon everyone else.

[4wd]

Continuing my campaign on "perspective"...

I know the answer to that one:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[attach]

[Renegade]

I know the answer to that one:

I guess I shouldn't applaud that...

[mahesh2k]

Getting fired from your own company and then working for a dollar means a big thing in my book.

iBow to this great entrepreneur and tech leader.



All the negative things aside, he'll be in memory. No apple rants from me for one week. *

*Terms and conditions apply.

[Renegade]

Some nice sentiments:

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-06/technology-executives-comment-on-apple-s-jobs-death-voices.html

Executives and politicians comment on the death of Steve Jobs, the co-founder and former chief executive officer of Apple Inc.:

Bill Gates, chairman and founder of Microsoft Corp.

“I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’s death. Melinda and I extend our sincere condolences to his family and friends, and to everyone Steve has touched through his work.

“Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago, and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half our lives.

“The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.

“For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it’s been an insanely great honor. I will miss Steve immensely.”

Lots of the elite have quotes there.

[Fred Nerd]

Not only did Jobs die, but it looks like the iPhone has also died. It used to be the trendsetter, but the iphone 4S has nothing revolotuionary in it.
(And before you say the camera, go buy a $100 FinePix or whatever they're calling them now. A phone NEVER compares.)

[Ath]

It was suggested elsewhere on the web that the "iPhone 4S" be renamed to "iPhone 4Steve", but I get the impression that's what they did already, honor him with the S in that name, and not name it iPhone 5.

[Renegade]

(And before you say the camera, go buy a $100 FinePix or whatever they're calling them now. A phone NEVER compares.)

+1

I've found cameras on phone pretty useless. The abominations posted to Facebook are further testatment...

[40hz]

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air:
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

                            - Wm. Shakespeare

------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Steve:

Well... it's certainly been one merry dance you've led us on!

For better or for worse, I doubt we'll see another quite like it.

So good-bye for now. Safe journeys.

I wish you well.

I wish you peace.

[superboyac]

I find this very interesting:

"Steve spoke to me of the illness more recently than a few months ago as something that really did bother him, that he did not like the fact that he had been close to death, and sort of survived," Wozniak told "The Early Show" from his home in Los Gatos, California.

"It kind of surprised," said Wozniak. "He's got a logical mind that understands, you know, as he is quoted as saying, that death is really an affirmation of life as part of the circle, and, you know, once you have a healthy thinking like that, you aren't necessarily bothered by that. But he spoke like he was very bothered by it."

[xtabber]

I am not an admirer of Jobs, but his 2005 commencement address at Stanford is well worth watching, if you want an insight into the personality behind what has been called the "Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field."  It's certainly the closest I have seen of him actually acting like a human being, rather than an ego-driven captain of industry.

[mahesh2k]

I find this very interesting:

"Steve spoke to me of the illness more recently than a few months ago as something that really did bother him, that he did not like the fact that he had been close to death, and sort of survived," Wozniak told "The Early Show" from his home in Los Gatos, California.

"It kind of surprised," said Wozniak. "He's got a logical mind that understands, you know, as he is quoted as saying, that death is really an affirmation of life as part of the circle, and, you know, once you have a healthy thinking like that, you aren't necessarily bothered by that. But he spoke like he was very bothered by it."

I remember Dell making a shot on apple's worst future before 2011. But Steve changed it in a way that company is really doing good with ipad and other sales last two years. It'll surely disturb anyone who is aiming for the success, not because of the death but timing of it.