Guest Hoover42 Posted October 5, 2011 Posted October 5, 2011 Apple's website is reporting that Steve just passed away. May he rest in peace. Quote
Guest lurkerspeaks Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 I just heard this on the news as well. They referred to him as the "Thomas Edison" of our generation. RIP Quote
Guest gcursor Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 This is just terribly sad! we should all take a moment to remember what a truly amazing creative genius this man was. he was an innovator and a genius that was far ahead of his time. he lead the world in showing what computers can do with a little bit of imagination and hard work. He was a dreamer and a pioneer that there are far too few of in this world today. gcursor p.s. and I would compare him more to the Walt Disney of our time but that's just me. Apple's website is reporting that Steve just passed away. May he rest in peace. Quote
Guest JamesIvory Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 I'm sure he had so much more to share, create and do "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future," he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. "You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life." Quote
Guest hitoallusa Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 Rest in peace. We will miss you Steve Jobs. I almost cried. It was a very sad news. On the bright side, his legacy will continue through people he has inspired and motivated. In that sense he is and will be with us. Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted October 6, 2011 Members Posted October 6, 2011 They referred to him as the "Thomas Edison" of our generation. Not an overstatement. Consider not only his direct contributions but also all of the technology that stands on the shoulders of his contributions. Quote
Members Lucky Posted October 7, 2011 Members Posted October 7, 2011 Gawker.com today takes a long and hard look at the downside of Mr. Jobs. While everyone else is busy canonizing him, there is a long list of troubling facts that need to be heard, least among them is this: "In the name of protecting children from the evils of erotica — "freedom from porn" — and adults from one another, Jobs has banned from being installed on his devices gay art, gay travel guides, political cartoons, sexy pictures, Congressional candidate pamphlets, political caricature, Vogue fashion spreads, systems invented by the opposition, and other things considered morally suspect." But there is much worse, including the use of child labor and other bad labor conditions on his plants in China. It's worth a read: Jobs: Not A Saint Quote
TotallyOz Posted October 7, 2011 Posted October 7, 2011 He was a great man and a true genius. He will be missed! Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted October 10, 2011 Posted October 10, 2011 I knew this would start and this is a good one. Quote
caeron Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 Not an overstatement. Consider not only his direct contributions but also all of the technology that stands on the shoulders of his contributions. I didn't post to this thread originally, because I didn't want to seem mean spirited. Today, I heard that Dennis Ritchie died. Most of you (probably all) have never heard of Dennis Ritchie. Dennis was the co-inventor of Unix and the creator of the C programming language. I had the privilege to work with him earlier in my career. His obituary will not adorn the cover of supermarket magazines, but in fact he did more to advance core technology than did Steve Jobs. Steve was a great marketer. The PT Barnum of our age (and as a marketing guy, I consider that high praise), but steve was not an inventor. The apple was a different PC. It wasn't fundamentally new. It didn't spawn a whole wave of innovation. Dennis did. Huge sections of today's computer infrastructure today is built upon Unix or unix related operating environments like linux, including, amusingly enough, apple. The C programming language was a huge breakthrough and is still the language of choice for huge portions of the market. Steve turned technology into products that people would buy. For most of you outside of the industry, that is all you see. But Dennis invented that technology. RIP Dennis. You were a great man, and in my little experience with you, a nice one too. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Ritchie Quote
Members TampaYankee Posted October 13, 2011 Members Posted October 13, 2011 The apple was a different PC. It wasn't fundamentally new. It didn't spawn a whole wave of innovation. Maybe so but IMO the original Mac (and its predecssor the Lisa) did. This is the first available GUI interface outside of labs and opened the use of computers to everyone, not just the command-line litterati. Not taking anything away from Mr. Ritchie. His great contributions were just not visible to the public but rather to the command-line litterti. It is very fitting to mention his contributions upon his passing. The Unix Machine was king prior to the wide spread of desktop computers and it is testament to the robustness of Unix that it made an easy leap to modern PC computing today. We have many giants of innovation who miss the public limelight including some key engineers at IBM in the forties and fifties and even Alan Turing, who rightly is considered the father of modern mechanized computing. His public limelight was being convicted in England of being a homosexual and submitting to chemcial castration in order to avoid prison. He ultimately accepted suicide by cyanide rather than continued endurance of repression. Quote
Members JKane Posted October 13, 2011 Members Posted October 13, 2011 How could somebody so smart... be so fucking stupid? Perhaps he's give the world one more gift with his passing: providing yet another datapoint against this kind of quackery. Quote
caeron Posted October 13, 2011 Posted October 13, 2011 The Unix Machine was king prior to the wide spread of desktop computers and it is testament to the robustness of Unix that it made an easy leap to modern PC computing today. This website probably, and most of the web is run on unix originated software. UNIX and C, both of which spawned huge further innovations, touch far more people than Apple, it is just the majority of people don't know what's behind the curtain. Quote
Members Lucky Posted October 22, 2011 Members Posted October 22, 2011 As I read these tributes to Steve Jobs,I do wonder. Sure, he was a tech genius and deserves credit for all of his accomplishments. But he was no saint, and that's what I don't understand as I read these tributes. NO one seems to want to figure in to the occasion his bad temper, his meanness, his severe competitiveness, his bad working conditions, which maimed young children, and paid people so little for their work. His biography is now coming out, and yes, it does pay tribute too, of course it does, but it uses the word "obnoxious" quite liberally. If Jobs had been a poster here, he would have been criticized for not being tolerant of others views, for mean-spirited statements, and for his huge ego. So while I can see the desire to pay tribute, the blinders do not seem needed. He was a capitalist businessman, not a saint. Quote
Members RA1 Posted October 22, 2011 Members Posted October 22, 2011 I did not know of Dennis Ritchie and have not so far bought or used any products of Steve Jobs. However, in capitalist USA I have to think both those who can sell a product and those who can invent same are very much to be applauded; perhaps not to the extent of their egos but, still applauded. I do know that they are both human beings and have the attributes and negatives of all of us. I have to think that Thomas Edison who had plenty of faults of his own was not in the same league as these guys but far above. But, things were very different then and now. It could be similar to comparing Babe Ruth to Mark McGuire. They both set records for home runs but in some ways they are not similar at all. Times change. As far as I am concerned we can all honor every one of these folks for what they accomplished but not elevate them to "sainthood" or anything similar. Best regards, RA1 Quote
caeron Posted October 22, 2011 Posted October 22, 2011 I think a lot of people are of the "don't speak ill of the dead school." I prefer Voltaire's view: "To the living we owe respect, but to the dead we owe only the truth." Quote
Members JKane Posted October 23, 2011 Members Posted October 23, 2011 I hadn't thought about it 'till a webcomic I follow pointed it out, but all the cartoons of a Buddhist with St. Peter at the gates or with the Christian god are in really bad taste! Found another, even better comic on the subject! 60 minutes is doing a segment tomorrow that I guess will include stuff about the roll alternative medicine played in his death. Quote
Guest FourAces Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 Sis anybody else watch the 60 minute piece? I thought it was fascinating. It can be seen online if you missed it. And a reminder for those waiting for his book its out today. Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted October 24, 2011 Posted October 24, 2011 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-20124391/steve-jobs-revelations-from-a-tech-giant Quote
Members RA1 Posted October 24, 2011 Members Posted October 24, 2011 Is the Steve Jobs depicted on 60 Minutes yesterday anyone you would want to meet or have as a friend? He was portrayed as cheap, vindictive, hard to get along with and possessing several other negative qualities. Also, there is no doubt that he could sell ice to a native Alaskan but that just makes him a snake oil salesman, doesn't it? Also, how do you feel about money putting him to the head of a list to "buy" a liver? Of course, he isn't the first to do this, Mickey Mantle comes to mind as one, and I do not begrudge him another 1-2 years of life but I personally had an employee who got 20+ years of extended life with a transplanted liver, raised a child and had a successful marriage, all without benefit of having lots of money or public acclaim. He might have prevented another such from this benefit. Someone suggested in another post something about speaking ill of the dead. I have to suppose he means something akin to not kicking a dog when he is down because we all frequently speak ill of the dead. For instance and not comparing these folks to Steve Jobs but Hitler, Stalin and many, many other political as well as business folks, etc., etc. I guess what I am trying to say is that great products do not necessarily make a great man, do they? Best regards, RA1 Quote
Members JKane Posted October 25, 2011 Members Posted October 25, 2011 Is the Steve Jobs depicted on 60 Minutes yesterday anyone you would want to meet or have as a friend? He was portrayed as cheap, vindictive, hard to get along with and possessing several other negative qualities[...] All were pretty well known, to me at least, for quite a while. I've treaded a bit carefully (for me, anyway) because of all the overdone public grief, and I keep hoping that maybe we'll find out about some last act of generosity to his employees or altruism that may prove me wrong... Such as giving all his employees (esp. in the stores, even better in the factories) some meaningful bonus or leaving a substantial amount to the Gates foundation (or similar, but they seem to be about the best). Lacking that, I see no reason to like him any more in death than I did in life. Sure, he was a visionary, but he was also pretty clearly a real arsehole. Now, Bill Gates, on the other hand, practically deserves sainthood (esp. in comparison) but would probably get nowhere near this level of adulation should something happen to him. And that's pissing me off. Quote
Members JKane Posted October 25, 2011 Members Posted October 25, 2011 But, like I said, I do keep an open mind, and stuff like this does paint a better view of the man. Quote
Guest EXPAT Posted October 25, 2011 Posted October 25, 2011 Bill Gates should suffer the wrath of 1000 knives based on the mess that is the Microsoft Operating system. Quote
