Posted on 10/05/2011 4:50:17 PM PDT by Kaslin
Steve Jobs, the mastermind behind Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac and iTunes, has died in California. Jobs was 56.
His death was reported by The Associated Press, citing Apple.
Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and, with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak, marketed what was considered the world's first personal computer, the Apple II.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
That’s good.
Steve Jobs:
For one individual to have inspired and motivated a company of thousands, many thousands, to engineer products, software, innovation, services for the masses around the world, and to have been able to price the products above the prevailing market, based on the innovation, for over 20 years, is truly remarkable.
And to do so humbly, with a $1 per year salary, just to show the crowd that greed did not factor into his work ethic. No, he didn’t die a poor man, as his success at developing his company has sky-rocketed the value of his holdings.
Steve Jobs is the epitomy of the capitalist dream - and it’s sad to see him go. RIP Steve Jobs.
Doubt it. Xerox's immune system would have rejected the foreign organism fiercely. The more effective he was, the more intense would have been the rejection.
That's one reason capitalism is superior to socialism. With socialism, the state is Xerox, and it's the only game in town. With capitalism, you go find Woz and start a company!
But.......I FULLY admire Steve Jobs. An awesome individual.
RIP. Thank you for such innovation!
Steve became the largest shareholder in Disney when he sold Pixar to them for stock. The Pixar movies have grossed 600 million each on average...
iRIP
CC
A perfect example of the success of the American dream and the free market. May he RIP.
And another, large thread, on Steve’s passing. . .
And another, large thread, on Steve’s passing. . .
Whether you like apple products or not this man has been our modern day Da Vinci. As a techie I appreciate his forward thinking for products and gadgets that have changed our world forever. Apple is only second to Exxon Mobile as the largest American company by market cap wealth. Its all because his futuristic vision and being surrounded by talented engineers. People like this only come around every few centuries and he will be sorely missed in the tech world. God rest your soul Steve and thanks for everything.
I politely disagree. Steve's genius was not just his ability to be a visionary, but also his ability to actually get it done. To get something done requires a mix of personal traits (e.g. for one having the vision, an ability to have strong self-drive, inate passion, etc) as well as environmental conditions (e.g. be at the right place at the right time, at a place that lets you do what you need to do when you need to do). I doubt Xerox would have been the right place. The very fact that Xerox, in terms of development, had come up with a whole host of really advanced/applicable technology that it sat on, means that it was a bureaucratic amalgmation of stick-in-the-butt bean-counting leading to a state of corporate doldrums where good (nay, even great) ideas may exist, and a lot of very passionate inventive workers present, but with an upper-management crust that simply doesn't want to step in 'that' direction.
A person like Jobs requires either his own gig, or to work for a company that no only recognizes talent but lets that talent flourish and find its own way. That is generally not to be found in large 'older' companies where most workers basically have to produce widgets (with a widget in this case being whatever they are tasked with in the job description, be it an actual piece of machinery, a cup of hot chocolate, lines of advanced software, or teaching a child). They are only expected to perform excellently in what they are told to do (with some variance given here and there for 'innovativeness'), but they are not encouraged to truly think outside the box.
It reminds me of a friend of mine who became the Managing Director of a financial company (investment bank) at the age of 26 when the prior MD unfortunately passed away. This guy is extremely bright, but I always say the biggest advantage he has is that he got to the position when he was very young and without a lot of experience (extreme smarts he has, and he has great exposure to various product mixes, but he has not worked for decades in 'proper' investment banking). Why is that an advantage? Simply because he does not know what is 'supposed' to work and what is 'supposed' to 'not' work, and thus he tries to do things that more experienced people would tell him is folly, and because he actually attempts to do it it ends up working (because the 'experienced' people were silly sots whose experience was a hindrance). Thus, this (now) 27 year old is making the 'wise heads' moan and groan in despair as he unleashes new products and services (as well as new ways of doing old things) while they sit around in their boardrooms having meetings for the umpteenth time. Now, imagine if my friend worked for them? He would come up with a great idea, and promptly be shot down (with valid reasons on why it would 'not' work). Sooner or later he would settle to becoming 'simply' a very effective investment banker rather than someone who is changing investment banking at a regional level.
I fear the same would have happened had Jobs worked for Xerox. He would definitely have still been a visionary, but he would not have had the vehicle to do it. His hunger would have been impeded by a corporation that is already making sufficient profits as to not need (and not risk) to go into 'new areas,' which is a frustration I have personally seen myself in an old job I used to do (which went to such a point that I left a year and half ago, and those same ideas they were saying were impossible are the same ones I am making them get diarrhea over).
Xerox would have killed Jobs' soul.
My condolences to his family.
I thought I was off this ping list? Why am I still getting these?
I noticed that when the computer was in sleep mode, the power button on the front didn't just blink. It throbbed. It faded in and out. The power button on the front of the monitor did the same.
And they were doing it in sync.
That is Steve Jobs' attention to detail. That's an example of the thousand little things about the Mac that a user might not notice individually: Lights that fade in and out instead of blinking. Reflections on the OS X dock. Fans that run only when they have to, and run quietly. Antialiased type. Thoughtfully designed application icons. RoundRects. Taken as a whole, they add up to something best described by one word: elegance. That is what Steve Jobs brought to the tech business.
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