Steve Jobs Has Died

[no oneder]

He's in a better place now and will be deeply missed. He's now watching us from above from the iCloud.

 

[Cowabungaa]

And that commercial GUI is what sold the iPod and revolutionised the way people listen to music, the whole mobile music thing was popularised by the iPod and the same thing is happening to tablet PCs now.

Like it or not Apple and Steve Jobs changed the world

MP3 players where there before the iPod was there, same thing with tablet PC's. Apple's strength was taking technology that was already there, repacking it, put a new design around it and marketing it like it was a revolution.

See, that's what grinds my gears. Jobs is heralded by many as some kind of technological visionair. But he barely is. He was a marketing genius who knew exactly how to reach the masses. He knew exactly what kind of package to put around technology to make it connect with the public and knew exactly what to say to make everyone love it.

That, of course, is a brilliance of it's own. But it just leaves and incredibly dirty taste in my mouth, to know that because of that cleverness Apple can easily put outrageous prices on products that, technically, aren't that much better, or even worse. Just read RAKtheUndead's review of the first iPhone. Yet, Jobs knew exactly how to market his product for people to not care about it. That just rubs me the wrong way.

 

[Monshroud]

I am not an Apple fanboy, for the most part the Apple platform is too locked down for my taste. That being said, I do recognize the fact that what Steve Jobs and Apple has done has changed the way we use computers and utilize technology. He was a pioneer and a visionary and he will be missed.

Rest in Peace Steve Jobs. Thank you for changing the world!

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

|Sorry he died, being that he fought cancer. But his company is a big rip off, selling things no one needs. Iphone4 is the same as all the others and sells them for everything other than that you can make calls and txt on them. Even ipad2 was the same as the 1st but smaller. People are so dumb to fall for it.

 

[Kahohess]

Steve Jobs, introducing the IDeath, twice faster as a normal one.

 

[KnowYourOnion]

And that commercial GUI is what sold the iPod and revolutionised the way people listen to music, the whole mobile music thing was popularised by the iPod and the same thing is happening to tablet PCs now.

Like it or not Apple and Steve Jobs changed the world

MP3 players where there before the iPod was there, same thing with tablet PC's. Apple's strength was taking technology that was already there, repacking it, put a new design around it and marketing it like it was a revolution.

See, that's what grinds my gears. Jobs is heralded by many as some kind of technological visionair. But he barely is. He was a marketing genius who knew exactly how to reach the masses. He knew exactly what kind of package to put around technology to make it connect with the public and knew exactly what to say to make everyone love it.

That, of course, is a brilliance of it's own. But it just leaves and incredibly dirty taste in my mouth, to know that because of that cleverness Apple can easily put outrageous prices on products that, technically, aren't that much better, or even worse. Just read RAKtheUndead's review of the first iPhone. Yet, Jobs knew exactly how to market his product for people to not care about it. That just rubs me the wrong way.

Yeah they were there but there wasn't a massive market for them, I think that Apple's strength was creating a market that was happy to buy the goods. Steve Jobs may not have created the technology but he used the existing technology to create something that was accessible to a wider variety of people.

The user interface with Apple products is second to none which where they really shine through, yes there are other products on the market that can do it better but very few of them are as easy to use as an Apple product. I'm a PC user through and through I like to be able to get into the guts of my computer and fiddle with stuff until it explodes in my face but I also like that nearly everything on a Mac just works without having to hit it with a digital hammer.

But hey this is just my opinion make what you will of it

 

[Sigmar ov The Hammer]

Why...... Why does the majority of people here 'despise' apple products?

I don't get it. Really.

*EDIT*
I didn't know Steve Job's personally, I even know he could be hard to work with (perhaps egotistical), but at the end of the day, he got the job done (no pun intended). He made devices bought, used and loved by people everywhere.

I would rather use a Mac over any windows product, any day. Take you cynicism and shove it where the sun doesn't shine.

As someone who comes from a family of Mac users, I feel I owe He Who Wears The Black Turtle Necks In The Sky, at least a "thanks bro".

 

[smearyllama]

This guy was a bad dude, and anyone who says otherwise is wrong.
He helped make computers what they are today, and the world will be poorer without him.

I can only hope that he gets the remembrance he deserves for his accomplishments in life.

 

[James Crook]

To everyone who says you hate apple products for their incompatibility (walled garden) but respect Steve Jobs, you should note that this entire scheme grew out of Jobs personal ego. He was not a good human being and he helped to shape the trademark and patent trolling that has overwhelmed the technology industry. So I am not sorry he's gone, rather relieved. Trolls are trolls and should not be mourned.

You nailed it!
He came and went like most monarchs: yes, he did good things, yes, he was a visionary, yes, tech wouldn't be what it is today without him.
But, mother of Connery, he abused patents, he abused "compatibility" and bound us to iTunes, he made a freaking walled garden...
But he made Pixar. Now, THAT'S great.

 

[geizr]

I wanted to post this earlier; unfortunately, Comcast decided to have an internet outage before I could finish my thoughts

"A live body and a dead body contain the same number of particles. Structurally, there's no discernible difference. Life and death are unquantifiable abstracts. Why should I be concerned?"

I find this quote interesting because it demonstrates a lack of ability to think for oneself or have any actual insight into reality(there were several "philosophies" in The Watchmen that were just wrong, especially Ozymandias' solution to global war and human conflict--hint: it doesn't actually work).

A living body and a dead body do not necessary contain the same number of particles because a dead body no longer breathes, eats, or drinks. They are also not structurally the same because the chemical processes in a living body are completely different from those in a dead body. Further, the minutia of interactions between the parts of a living body that occur to make it operate and function as a living, thinking, acting entity are completely absent in a dead body.

So, life and death are not so abstracted or unquantifiable. The statement itself sounds cool and deeply philosophical, but, in reality, it is not at all well-founded nor even true. It's just a typical pithy comment made in ignorant, derisive cynicism.

-----

Being more on topic and relevant: those of you making crass, asinine posts about how you don't care need to really just fuck off and get over yourselves. If you don't care, don't post, but let others have their moment to remember someone for whom they had respect. At the very least, quit proving yourselves to just be giant assholes that happen to have the ability to operate a computer.

As for myself, I did not always see eye-to-eye with every design choice made, but, I do have a certain resonance with Steve's basic philosophy about technology. Technology should be useful and usable. It is not the features by themselves that make technology useful and usable but how those features are made to work together. This is the difference in the design compared to everything else, and even those things that came before. Being able to create that holistic design, the cohesive interaction of the parts to create a singular, consistent whole, that has been Steve's genius and contribution to technology.

Say what you want, the fact is, Steve Jobs did have an effect that was felt by many across the world. How many of us could say the same of ourselves?

EDIT: edited to be less self-congratulatory on one particular statement.

 

[Aeshi]

Don't worry haters, I'm sure they'll have a new target for you to bash and compare to Hitler for daring to be successful soon enough.

 

[Clonekiller]

To everyone who says you hate apple products for their incompatibility (walled garden) but respect Steve Jobs, you should note that this entire scheme grew out of Jobs personal ego. He was not a good human being and he helped to shape the trademark and patent trolling that has overwhelmed the technology industry. So I am not sorry he's gone, rather relieved. Trolls are trolls and should not be mourned.

You nailed it!
He came and went like most monarchs: yes, he did good things, yes, he was a visionary, yes, tech wouldn't be what it is today without him.
But, mother of Connery, he abused patents, he abused "compatibility" and bound us to iTunes, he made a freaking walled garden...
But he made Pixar. Now, THAT'S great.

*Facepalm*. It's called quality control. When you deny "just anyone" access to your base operating system, you get some cool stuff like that on windows, but you also get huge hacking & virus problems, like those on windows. As a result, Steve Jobs decided that quality control was more important than costumer satisfaction. As a result, Apple has a much lower rate of hacking, virus infection, and software errors than windows. In addition, Steve Jobs insisted on keeping high costumer service standards (called Genius Bar). Which means, if you own a mac, you can schedule any time to go into an Apple store and get your computer / iPhone / iPad checked by an expert for free, which is a HUGE step up from anything Microsoft or any other PC provider offers. As a result, Apple went from a failing company to a multi-million dollar powerhouse.

P.S. For patent trolling, see the history of radio and television. Those contained huge legal battles over pieces of technology, which make any patent disputes involving Steve Jobs look like playground arguments.

P.P.S. RIP Steve Jobs. I just hope the company you built stays true to the values you gave it.

 

[HBaskerville]

I just don't get the level narcissism required to inform everyone that you're "not a fan of Apple" or "hate Apple products" when posting an R.I.P. for Steve Jobs.

 

[Arkhangelsk]

|Sorry he died, being that he fought cancer. But his company is a big rip off, selling things no one needs. Iphone4 is the same as all the others and sells them for everything other than that you can make calls and txt on them. Even ipad2 was the same as the 1st but smaller. People are so dumb to fall for it.

So you're saying that we should have just stopped at the first iPhone and let that be the peak of phones? I'm not a big fan of iPhone, they're too pricey for my taste, but I've used an iPhone, I know many people who use it, and it's a damn fine product that keeps getting polished to a mirror's shine.

As for selling things nobody needs, that can be said about most things. Nobody needs for example rugs, chocolate, toys, video games, soda, good looking clothes, etc. But it's something people want. Why shouldn't you cater to that? The iPhone isn't perfect, neither is the iPad, but they do make changes, maybe not in a revolutionary way, but enough for us to be willing to buy.

And before you say that anyone who buys the new one every time, I have many friends who know more about the iPhone than most people do and always read up on the specifications, yet think that the improvements are worthy of a buy.

 

[Ulquiorra4sama]

I'm pretty torn, actually

I've never owned any kind of Apple brand product, neither Mac, nor iPod, and i despised the Apple religious fanboys that the brand spawned even more.

So it's weird 'cause you can't get by the fact that he influenced the technology i use anyways, and that sorta makes me have to like him by default.

Eh, i'll just count that as another reason not to like him since it won't make me miss him as much.

 

[Delock]

To everyone who says you hate apple products for their incompatibility (walled garden) but respect Steve Jobs, you should note that this entire scheme grew out of Jobs personal ego. He was not a good human being and he helped to shape the trademark and patent trolling that has overwhelmed the technology industry. So I am not sorry he's gone, rather relieved. Trolls are trolls and should not be mourned.

Isn't doing this sort of thing on a thread mourning someone's death considered trolling?

Regardless of his practices, he set up a huge corporation that provided both jobs and a large scale social interactions (much in the same way that any company with a large following would do). His decisions also helped establish his various competitors (meaning he's also responsible for several other large scale social groupings) and shape how computers and other devices would evolve. No matter what you think of him, it would be very hard to imagine just what the world might look like without him.

Therefore, I'd like to say this: Rest in Peace, Jobs. I never knew you personally, and I can't really say I was that fond of you from what I heard, but you followed your dreams and lived how you wanted up till the end and I respect you for that as much as I respect the impact you had on my life without you ever really meaning to.

No, it's not because I didn't make the post to piss people off, just to share an opinion that was not previously stated in the thread. The thread was not created to mourn him as you say, but rather to discuss his death. Read the article, it doesn't say post here to mourn, people are just doing that. I say the guy had a negative impact on the world and guess what, most of my friends do too. Deal with it rather than calling me a troll.

Just because you and a bunch of friends share an opinion doesn't mean it is a fact that the world is worse off because of him or that he was a horrible person. And no, the post doesn't say to mourn, but going onto an article about someone's death and stating that you're glad they are dead is kind of a dick move. I'll admit that technically you weren't trolling (I'm not certain about now since you did bring "Deal with it" into the equation), as it doesn't really fit the definition of trolling so much as it was just being a bit lacking in tact (the guy had a family, for the love of God. Even if you hate him, being glad for his death means being glad they get to suffer without him).

Look, I'm sorry for calling you a troll in an attempt to point out a sort of irony that upon closer inspection doesn't actually exist in the context of your post, but could you try to show a bit of empathy here, even if you don't really believe the man in question was all that great?

 

[Griffolion]

Too bad his life work will constantly be overshadowed by that of Bill Gates for the rest of history. But yeah, he did a few things for the industry, but I don't respect him for his anti-competitive practices and closed mindset towards technology. He showed the world what NOT to do as much as he did show it what to do.

Still, a human being has died, condolences to his family and friends.

As a result, Steve Jobs decided that quality control was more important than costumer satisfaction. As a result, Apple has a much lower rate of hacking, virus infection, and software errors than windows.

When you decide that the prettiness of your product is more important than what your customers think of it, you've made a massive mistake.

Let's put this in perspective. Apple controls both the hardware and software of it's products. So for a Mac PC (yes PC, it's a personal computer) Apple need only work on getting the software stable for a very limited amount of hardware combinations. They'll source a motherboard, most likely from Foxconn, graphics from AMD, Kingston memory, Intel processor etc. So it's all great and good that Mac OS is as stable as it is (apparently, I've had more trouble with SL and Lion than I care to tell). Windows, on the other hand, is built to work with potentially billions of hardware combinations. So if it's not as stable as Mac OS that's tailored to what Apple deem worthy, then it's really no surprise, but still very pleasant that it comes damn near close.

Now, about hacking and viruses. This one's obvious, a more popular OS (Windows currently holds just shy of 90% of the PC market) will attract more hackers and virus creators, because the impact they wish to have with their efforts will be the most profound there. The great thing is, in response to this, you have excellent anti-virus companies like ESET who work to fight these, as well as Windows' built in security features. Most Mac PC users don't install AV software because "Macs don't get viruses". Yet a virus, unless it's a jokey one, will intend to stay as hidden as possible in it's machinations so you don't get rid of it. So do Macs not get viruses, or is the lack of AV software brought about from this false sense of security causing them to not be found? It's a question a pose to many a fanboy, and they never ever have a reasoned response to it (as in nothing outside the marketing hype they're fed by Cupertino).

The experts at the Genius bar are roughly a step up in IQ from a monkey. It took one of them 2 hours to put some new feet on my friends Mac Book Pro. 2 hours. And no, there wasn't a queue either. I don't know a great deal about Macs, but I reckon I could walk into that job with no training (since I build and fix PC's as a hobby anyway).

Oh and by the way, if it wasn't for Microsoft, Apple would have been a failed company right about now. So show them some respect.

Also, further regarding security of said products, see below:

http://www.tgdaily.com/security-features/58566-os-x-lion-passwords-vulnerable

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10754730

http://sworddance.com/blog/2009/08/07/mac-osx-the-most-insecure-os-around/

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Think-Vista-Is-Insecure-Have-You-Looked-at-Mac-OS-X-Lately-76848.shtml

http://www.zdnet.com.au/mac-os-x-hacked-under-30-minutes-139241748.htm

http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/apple-finally-reacts-to-diginotar-hack-39399

 

[MB202]

Truly, he was a man who defined this generation.

Also, he co-founded Pixar, so you KNOW he was awesome.

 

[UberMore]

Damn...
I've never purchased an Apple product myself, but this news saddens me greatly, so much so I've been grappling with it all day.
Without his influence and vision, a large portion, if not ALL, of modern entertainment and business would not function the way it does now.
Pixar would also never have made it off the ground either.

We owe you so much we can never repay sir.
Rest in Peace Mr Jobs, gone but never forgotten.

 

[EeveeElectro]

Far too young to die...
I wasn't crazy about Apple products, I thought the iPad2 was the most pointless thing in the world. But he had the know-how when it came to getting money out of people who have more money than sense. He was very intelligent and achieved a lot, shame about his death.