Slashdot Mirror


Steve Jobs Dead At 56

SoCalChris writes "Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was found dead in his Cupertino home this morning. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him — even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon."

1,613 comments

  1. Lameness by cfalcon · · Score: 2, Insightful

    RIP. He was a visionary.

    1. Re:Lameness by FyRE666 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Love or hate him, no-one can deny the guy achieved a hell of a lot in his life. Even though he'd resigned his post the man still had a lot to offer.

      RIP Steve.

    2. Re:Lameness by nicholas22 · · Score: 0

      Rest in piece, you run yourself to the ground, for the rest of us?

    3. Re:Lameness by krygny · · Score: 1

      The World just experienced a discernible brain drain.

      R.I.P., Steve.

      Next to the word "visionary" in the dictionary will be his photo.

      --
      Research shows that 67% of those who use the term "research shows", are just making shit up.
    4. Re:Lameness by exomondo · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Love or hate him, no-one can deny the guy achieved a hell of a lot in his life. Even though he'd resigned his post the man still had a lot to offer. RIP Steve.

      amen to that, he contributed more to driving the technology industry than just about anyone else.

    5. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was never an Apple fan, I'm more of a Windows fanboy really, but it is sad to see him go. I always assumed he'd be around a lot longer. Man, fuck cancer.

    6. Re:Lameness by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 0

      They'll bury him face-down so his lover can stop by for a "cold one."

    7. Re:Lameness by oakgrove · · Score: 4, Informative
      RIP

      Sent from my iPad.

      --
      The soylentnews experiment has been a dismal failure.
    8. Re:Lameness by Garridan · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I'm an Apple-hater from the Linux camp. The world just lost one of its preeminent technological visionaries, and reading the article brought a tear to my eye. Fuck cancer, indeed.

    9. Re:Lameness by cayenne8 · · Score: 3, Insightful
      Yup. He was there in the beginning of the modern computing age...one of the main three that brought us the computer world we know now...Jobs, Wozniak, Gates.

      Think about them what you will, but no denying he's one on the big three that have brought us to the commonly known and use computer tech world that everyone knows today...

      RIP

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    10. Re:Lameness by Machtyn · · Score: 0

      The consummate monopolistic capitalist! He did a terrific job in driving the personal computer age. A true visionary with an extraordinary drive to push a product that everybody said nobody wanted. Then he enables the revolution of the movie industry (monetary investments into Pixar) and revolutionizes the music industry (the first profitable, viable mp3 distribution channel).

    11. Re:Lameness by sarysa · · Score: 2, Interesting

      amen to that, he contributed more to driving the technology industry than just about anyone else.

      Statements like this make me no longer care about the inappropriate timing of the comment I'm about to make, but I'll make it anyway: I sure hope the latest news means that objectivity will return to how devices are rated, how interfaces are criticized, how Apple is viewed by the media, and how computing will progress from here on out. From the fall of AOL to the rise of iComputing, we had a 12 year golden age where walled gardens were derided, people owned their own devices, and the landscape of the internet formed more or less naturally.

      That said, I will miss how he made it okay to latch onto a particular fashion and stick to it. That's one of the few things we'd agree on.

      --
      Charisma is the measure of someone's ability to lie with a straight face.
    12. Re:Lameness by dr2chase · · Score: 1

      Fuck pancreatic cancer, especially. Got a great guy I used to work with, got my graduate advisor.

    13. Re:Lameness by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      Yeah... the actual technology developed by Pixar while it was still a subsidiary of Lucasfilm had nothing to do with it. [/sarc]

      Don't press your luck.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    14. Re:Lameness by mug+funky · · Score: 2

      monospace hurts my eyes and brain.

      Steve would not have wanted this.

    15. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      So much for IBM, Atari and Commodore.

    16. Re:Lameness by OakDragon · · Score: 1

      Of Slashdot comment DIVs, he would say : "So you got the upper left corner rounded, what about the rest?" RIP Steve Jobs.

    17. Re:Lameness by dyingtolive · · Score: 0

      Yup. Gonna keep a close eye on AAPL.O tomorrow.

      --
      Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
    18. Re:Lameness by UglyTool · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs has just passed us by. On his visions we all could rely. Now he is gone, but he will move on to that great iPad in the sky. Link

    19. Re:Lameness by Omnifarious · · Score: 0

      I do not like the company he built. I like some of the products that company has made, though most try too hard to control me. I feel that he has made an overall positive contribution, and cannot deny that he had vision. I'm sad to see him go.

    20. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One guy was saying, Steve Jobs changed Technology the way The Beatle changed music. Pretty good analogy. Steve also had an ability to communicate with customers and others in a real sicnere and genuine way. Not phony and condescending, talking down to or at people as if they were ignorants, like 98% of so called customer relations these days. That was his biggest gift.

    21. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IConcur

    22. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His messiah persona requires him to die before he can rise again.

      Cue the Apple logo/Steve Jobs head with a bite out of it.

    23. Re:Lameness by digitig · · Score: 2

      I'm going to miss Bert Jansch more, but still a sad loss.

      --
      Quidnam Latine loqui modo coepi?
    24. Re:Lameness by Beer+is+good · · Score: 2

      iCried

    25. Re:Lameness by Hijacked+Public · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I had maybe a dozen iPods, mostly for photo storage. Not sure how many Apple laptops. 3 iPhones.

      None of them ever tried to control me.

      I'd be sitting on the couch surfing the web with my MBP and would think "I want to go outside". I'd then do that, seemingly with no interference from the MBP. Similarly I'd be driving down the street with my iPhone in my pocket and never once felt like the phone was trying to get be to drive to the Apple store.

      But I will admit that the MBP I am typing this on auto-capilatized iPhone. Maybe that is what you mean...

      --
      "Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
    26. Re:Lameness by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      All I hear is "...". All anyone hears is "..." ...

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    27. Re:Lameness by jazzmans · · Score: 1

      I too am an apple hater from the linux camp, but I also have to agree. I love my ipod classic (fuck Itunes, it's hacked with a linux kernel, but virtually the exact same UI) and I did enjoy my iphone before the android phones surpassed apple.

      Sorry to see you go Steve, I have used just about every computer type you ever made, and every os you made. I may hate what apple has become, but boy oh boy! what the Fuck would the computer world have been like without you?

      jaz

      --
      Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans. No-one sees motorcycles
    28. Re:Lameness by Penguinisto · · Score: 5, Insightful

      From the fall of AOL to the rise of iComputing, we had a 12 year golden age where walled gardens were derided, people owned their own devices, and the landscape of the internet formed more or less naturally.

      Nevermind things like WGA, TPM, DRM, the omni-present EULAs in nearly everything that the majority of humanity used, making backups of one's media was considered to be "theft", Windows(!?) was actually poised to take over the server room, decoding an encrypted file or a proprietary chip meant litigation and/or jail time, and many, many other examples...

      Golden age, my ass.

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    29. Re:Lameness by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      While absolutely important.....I'd have to argue apple and MS have made a bit larger impact on what we now use and interact with on a daily basis as far as common technology. Just IMHO.

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    30. Re:Lameness by wildstoo · · Score: 2

      Totally. Steve was a bit of a hippy so I don't know if he believed in an afterlife. If he is up in iHeaven I hope keeps working. I want cool toys when I get there. Typed this on an Android tablet that probably wouldn't exist if it wasn't for Steve.

    31. Re:Lameness by artor3 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No way. I don't want to in any way disparage the man, he was certainly a visionary, but it was the forgotten engineers and technicians, laboring away for 80 hours a week with no overtime who have driven and continue to drive the technology industry. People love to heap praise on the CEOs, because people like having a single figure to praise (and blame). But Apple would be nothing without the hard work of the faceless employees who actually gave form to Jobs's ideas.

      And before you say that Jobs contributed more than any individual one of them, let me ask: do you really even know how many of his contributions were truly his, and not his underlings'?

    32. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I didn't like Steve Jobs, but I grew up as a computer geek from the late 70s and he was always a part of the picture. It won't be the same without him.

    33. Re:Lameness by cayenne8 · · Score: 1

      So, should we all wear black turtlenecks tomorrow in tribute to him? You know, I was thinking a joke, but I just might...

      --
      Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
    34. Re:Lameness by dohnut · · Score: 4, Insightful

      And before you say that Jobs contributed more than any individual one of them, let me ask: do you really even know how many of his contributions were truly his, and not his underlings'?

      Doesn't matter. Being a great leader or CEO isn't about coming up with great ideas, it's about recognizing them.

      --
      Stupider like a fox! - H.S.
    35. Re:Lameness by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Are you suggesting that he should rise as a zombie, and start the apocolypse?

    36. Re:Lameness by Raenex · · Score: 1

      Wait for Halloween, at least. It's just around the corner.

    37. Re:Lameness by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 2

      He was a flawed human being trying to make sense of this mess as best he could trying to leave things better than he found them, as are we all. He will be missed.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    38. Re:Lameness by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      I hear ya. I was driving along, one day, and my iPod, plugged into the Hyundai-provided connector, made my car swerve off the road, run over a puppy, and chase down some joggers before I was able to disconnect it. I swear, it was just like "Killdozer" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071717/

      Fuckin' Apple crap - trying to make us do all sorts of sick shit...

    39. Re:Lameness by swalve · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Torvalds was 9 when Jobs and Wozniak were doing their revolutionizing. There is a good case to be made that without Woz, Torvalds wouldn't have done what he did.

    40. Re:Lameness by swalve · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Armies need generals, and generals need armies.

    41. Re:Lameness by Tragek · · Score: 5, Funny

      No reincarnation. Only 56. Lame.

      (RIP)

    42. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He's not dead. He's just holding onto life wrong.

    43. Re:Lameness by PopeRatzo · · Score: 2

      I'm going to miss Bert Jansch

      Now I'm really bummed.

      RIP, Steve Jobs. As far as a life goes, you could do a lot worse than all that Jobs was able to accomplish in 56 years.

      I've had enough of good people dying young of cancer.

      --
      You are welcome on my lawn.
    44. Re:Lameness by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      Say nothing of having to use HTML to start text on a new line.

      Seriously, what decade is this?

    45. Re:Lameness by Smallpond · · Score: 1

      So much for IBM, Atari and Commodore.

      Gates created the IBM PC as much as anyone who worked for IBM. Nolan Bushnell belongs on the list for personal computing, he started the gaming industry. Commodore was not as groundbreaking or influential as the PC, Apple and Atari, tho.

    46. Re:Lameness by Mister+Transistor · · Score: 1

      Those that knew him, knew him well. Those that didn't can go to Hell.

      --
      -- You are in a maze of little, twisty passages, all different... --
    47. Re:Lameness by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Fuck cancer, indeed.

      Amen.

    48. Re:Lameness by exomondo · · Score: 1

      No way.

      No way? He was one of the few people that built up one of the most influential technology companies in the world.

      But Apple would be nothing without the hard work of the faceless employees who actually gave form to Jobs's ideas.

      Yes obviously, i don't think Steve Jobs could successfully run Apple without any employees.

    49. Re:Lameness by Zaphod-AVA · · Score: 1

      Wow, cutting the Woz out? No way. He may be less famous, but he may be more important historically.

    50. Re:Lameness by Smallpond · · Score: 1

      Pixar, and the equally influential Xerox PARC, were never aimed at home users, but they developed graphics and the graphical desktop that made Apple famous. But don't forget that Pixar rendering engines and Xerox workstations were $10 - 50,000 range. Apple figured out how to put that technology into sub-$1000 systems.

    51. Re:Lameness by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Statements like this make me no longer care about the inappropriate timing of the comment I'm about to make, but I'll make it anyway: I sure hope the latest news means that objectivity will return to how devices are rated

      But, the decision to buy something isn't purely an objective decision. It's as much about preference as anything else -- do you need a customizable, extensible command line, or do you want something that's largely idiot proof?

      When I was in university, Linux was the coolest thing ever because I could endlessly discover all of the free stuff there was ... not to mention coolness and multi-tasking.

      Now, for sitting in my recliner, or in an airplane, or a hotel room and essentially just noodling around, my iPad is pretty much exactly something I've always wanted. I'm not writing code on it, or tuning databases ... I'm playing games, watching videos, surfing the web. And in a way a netbook would never be appealing to me.

      From the fall of AOL to the rise of iComputing, we had a 12 year golden age where walled gardens were derided, people owned their own devices, and the landscape of the internet formed more or less naturally.

      And, the notion of a walled garden and openness is a political position ... to a lot of people the ease of a well-managed 'walled garden' makes for a pleasant user experience. They have no idea what you're talking about for the most part, they just want to click the pretty buttons.

      To put it in free market terms (which I generally avoid using), the market has decided they like these products. People have exercised their free will and chosen to buy these products.

      You can say it's because these buyers are stupid, or trendy idiots, or smug people in coffee houses with pony tails all you like ... it's awfully hard to argue with the sales figures Jobs drove Apple to with these devices.

      And, contrary to your expectation of objectivity, I must say that subjectively I like the iPods, iTunes, and now iPad progression of nice toys. And, maybe, just maybe, all of these people buying these devices subjectively believe they get value for money.

      At which point you might as well be complaining about Coke vs Pepsi. Because there is no objective criteria, and just because you don't like the product doesn't mean that other people are required to not like it either.

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    52. Re:Lameness by WaywardGeek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Jobs, Gates, Torvalds... I've spent a couple of decades slowly coming around to the idea that it's individual leaders who make the real difference, but everyone else who does the real work. Down below a guy is talking about all the brilliant engineers at Apple working 80+ hours per week, and how that's what really counts, and this CEO worship is stupid. Do you think Sun didn't have those guys? Did they fail because they were stupid and lazy?

      The world is far better off for having let Jobs lead. It's not that guys like Jobs are impossible to find, but getting them into places of power where they have permission to change the world... that is impossible to find. Sony had a guy like Jobs, and when he died, it left the music player market wide open for Jobs. The cell phone industry hadn't had a brilliant innovator with permission to make a difference since the Razor. Jobs fixed it. Bill Gates hasn't been a factor at Microsoft for a decade, and Jobs has walked all over them. The world is far better off due to what Jobs accomplished.

      That said, Jobs was an ass hole, who both saved us from the stupidity of failing innovation in several markets, and shacked us with the most oppressive crap ever invented. If you ever wondered why e-books now cost the same everywhere you normally by them, that's 100% pure evil genius, courtesy of Jobs, called the "agency model". Sony is banned from iPads, and GPL 3 software can't even run on any iOS device legally. Jobs arrogance had no bounds. He wanted no less than 30% of every dollar you spend, even if it was on bread. No one knows of any significant charity supported by this man.

      I hope Apple can find a new middle ground going forward that is somewhat innovative and somewhat less evil. However, the great man has passed through the veil, and while I'm not bashing Apple, there's no way their board could possibly let another Jobs take control. My guess is stock price is headed down... however, my stock advice is generally wrong.

      --
      Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
    53. Re:Lameness by kilodelta · · Score: 1

      Yes he was. I wonder what will become of Apple without the influence of his leadership.

    54. Re:Lameness by haruchai · · Score: 1

      Which is why Mike Markkula, who provided guidance, oversight and funding to Apple in its early day, and supported Jef Raskin's Macintosh over Jobs' own Lisa, deserves considerable praise for Apple's early success.
      But, Jobs definitely was one of a kind - to be booted from his own company but someone he brought on board and then to found 2 more remarkable companies and then return in triumph to lead Apple and to once again change the face of consumer computing and entertainment - truly remarkable.

      I doubt I could have worked within a mile of the man, from what I know of the man, but there's no denying his vision and influence.

      --
      Pain is merely failure leaving the body
    55. Re:Lameness by mederbil · · Score: 2

      THEY TOOK OUR JOBS!

    56. Re:Lameness by J'raxis · · Score: 1

      Try using UTF-8 (1998 technology) if you really want to marvel at the backwardness of Slashdot's comment handling.

      But at least the site is stuffed full of AJAX now. So full of AJAX I had to enable NoScript here in order to make it usable.

    57. Re:Lameness by Reservoir+Penguin · · Score: 1

      I will miss him, even though he was my ideological enemy who set computing back 40 years he is still one of the few men who shaped history.

      --
      US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
    58. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In 2008 76% of Americans believed that zombies are real. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States#Religion

    59. Re:Lameness by rwa2 · · Score: 1

      Whatever... all those people are plastered up on the walls at Microcenter. I'm sooo glad they bought out CompUSA.

    60. Re:Lameness by mikael · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Steve Jobs and Woz did work for Atari as technicians.

      Wikipedia has a story on how they were paid to reduce the chip count on some arcade boards. They worked together to create one ASIC to replace 50 logic chips.

      Reading computer magazines between the 1970's and1990's was an experience. Seeing the evolution of computing from home-assembled S-100 boards in the 1970's to Apple ]['s, Apple Mac, NEXT workstations in the early 1990's, hand-held devices like the Newton in the later years.

      How many other people need three separate pages of historical time lines to list all the products that they were involved in designing?

      Time Line of Apple Products

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    61. Re:Lameness by NFN_NLN · · Score: 1

      Jobs, Gates, Torvalds... I've spent a couple of decades slowly coming around to the idea that it's individual leaders who make the real difference, but everyone else who does the real work. Down below a guy is talking about all the brilliant engineers at Apple working 80+ hours per week, and how that's what really counts, and this CEO worship is stupid. Do you think Sun didn't have those guys? Did they fail because they were stupid and lazy?

      I suppose that depends on how you define success. In my opinion Sun produced far more impressive technical achievements than Apple. Sure Sun was a financial disaster and Apple was a financial success, but that success came at a price.

      Sun gave away or open sourced most of their software IP: Java, Solaris, ZFS, etc. On the other hand Jobs sold overpriced music players and phones to the masses, and then squeezed as much margin he could while trying to stifle competition and hence innovation. I wouldn't worship his technical achievements, just his business skills.

    62. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      too bad it doesn't have to be one or the other. my ipod should be able to play freely in both worlds without any tinkering on my part. that is the problem with my ipod and many other devices.

    63. Re:Lameness by flappinbooger · · Score: 2

      Bravo. Needed to be said. Apple has survived because of Steve Jobs and also in spite of Steve Jobs.

      I don't have a mac or an iphone, but I wouldn't want to live in a world without them.

      RIP.

      --
      Flappinbooger isn't my real name
    64. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Zombie Steve Jobs?

      Too soon?

    65. Re:Lameness by HermMunster · · Score: 1

      I am sad. For a short while I sat in silence. My thoughts during the silence were that he accomplished a lot, more than some, less than others, and that we all leave this planet one way or another. His pain is over. He knew his end. May he rest in peace.

      --
      You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
    66. Re:Lameness by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 0

      That's why Atari lost the console war and were forever banned to a reputation of poor graphics and slow actions.

      I don't know shit about Steve Jobs, but from what you told me Steve Jobs outsourced a lot of things like the high suicide rates of Foxconn. Let the fucker die, and watch the NASDAQ AAPL drop like a dead garden fly.

    67. Re:Lameness by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      You need the grain of sand for the pearl to form around.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    68. Re:Lameness by greyline · · Score: 1

      Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

      RIP Mr. Jobs. He accomplished so much and will be remembered as a true American visionary in technology.

    69. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And before you say that Jobs contributed more than any individual one of them, let me ask: do you really even know how many of his contributions were truly his, and not his underlings'?

      Amazing point, but I think you just highlighted why everyone who hated him is now celebrating him so much.

      He was a leader, he didn't just have ideas (we all had that idea) he made it HAPPEN!

    70. Re:Lameness by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      I thought it was TigerDirect that bought out CompUSA?

    71. Re:Lameness by LocalH · · Score: 2

      That list is inaccurate anyway, it leaves off a whole slew of people. Even just regarding managerial and founding positions, you have Jobs, Wozniak, Gates, Allen, Tramiel, and Bushnell just off the top of my head. I would also include Don French, John Roach, and Steve Leininger of/for Tandy in this list. I would posit that Commodore, Atari, and Tandy had as much to do with "computing for the masses" as did MS and Apple.

      Remember, it's not the "big three", it was really the "big four" - Commodore, Atari, Apple, Tandy - that started out the idea of "computing for the masses". IBM's 5150 PC was designed as a business machine, not primarily as a machine one would have at home (although there were certainly 5150s in homes, I would posit there were far more Apples, Commodores, Ataris, and TRS-80s, even if you only look at one of those four lines).

      Nowhere in this list should Torvalds be included - he's a very intelligent man, and he was a visionary in how he handled Linux in the early days, but the computing industry was already going long before he arrived on the scene, he "merely" helped to popularize FOSS (which is an achievement in itself, by all means). Before the aforementioned people, there really was no such thing as "personal computing", in a practical sense.

      --
      FC Closer
    72. Re:Lameness by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      They weren't producing films when they were a part of Lucasfilm. Jobs saw the potential of the technology there (Lucasfilm obviously didn't), attracted the talent (and kept them, a coup in any tech company) and supported the company through some dark years with personal capital. Then he oversaw their focus shift from hardware to software to the widely successful media company they are today.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    73. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whatever.

    74. Re:Lameness by Lord+Kano · · Score: 2, Informative

      I think you're misremembering what happened there. Jobs ripped off Woz in that deal. Woz did all of the work and Jobs pocketed most of the money.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    75. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously?

    76. Re:Lameness by WaywardGeek · · Score: 1

      I couldn't agree more. I mentioned Sun because everyone talks about them as a disappointing failure. However, I believe that a company like Sun that did the best that any company ever did at innovating in their market deserves tremendous respect. It's not Sun's fault that workstations are no longer needed. Rather than bashing them for not re-inventing themselves as cell-phone manufacturers or some such nonsense, we should realize that they practically invented the modern workstation, and stood by them to the end, much to their customer's delight. In addition, in their later years, Sun became the single most charitable company to open source efforts. You just have to love these guys, even if they all had to find new jobs.

      --
      Celebrate failure, and then learn from it - Nolan Bushnell
    77. Re:Lameness by Ixokai · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Leaders are rightly credited with the accomplishments of their team. Apple would be nothing without the "faceless employees", but would just the right faceless employees have come together, and excelled together without him?

      Jobs cultivated a lot of very excellent lieutenants, despite (or because of) his mixture of passion and draconian habits. His lieutenants were very smart people with thoughts and opinions and could argue with him: but they better be right. That's an actual compelling environment for some types of innovative people: not all, certainly. But he gathered together people who seemed to work quite well in it, and even thrived. These, in turn, cultivated their lieutenants, and down through the company. How many companies get bogged down by bureaucracies and middle-management? You don't end up with a company like Apple without leadership from top to bottom: leadership *matters*. As much as any other single factor, I think.

      Jobs has never claimed the one-man-wonder credit certain parts of the press often heaps on him; he has always praised his lieutenants and their teams by name even, publicly. Is there countless others who are not named? Well, of course. But he's always held that it was a team effort, and that the team mattered.

    78. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You make a good point, however would they have created these things without leadership and the resources to do so?

    79. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please remember that many of them do it happily.

      Also, Jobs was there at the beginning and clearly gave a shit about his products, unlike pretty much every other company out there. He was a person who could build things with his hands, and not just some empty suit.

      Woz was the inventor, and Jobs was the marketing guy, but in the beginning they were both in hardware design. Don't forget.

    80. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I understand that Steve couldn't have executed without the labours of those under him, but without Steve none of the products that have been made would have been anywhere near as great as they were under Steve's supervision, which is very atypical of modern CEOs' influences on individual products.

      Steve himself acknowledged the hard work and dedication of the engineers and technicians many times during the introduction of products like the iPhone and the iPad.

    81. Re:Lameness by jackbird · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Huh? 3D animation was on the desktop long before Jobs had anything to do with Pixar. Imagine 3D, Autodesk 3D Studio, and Lightwave (which started life as part of the Amiga-powered Video Toaster) brought real 3D animation tools to the desktop in the early 90s. While many of the great visionaries who laid the foundations of 3D animation ended up at Pixar, Pixar's Renderman-related patents also arguably held back the industry somewhat.

      And anyway, John Lasseter's genius directorial skills have a great deal more to do with Pixar's longstanding success than anything technological. Cars 2 was the first real dud from the studio after what, 12 features including a trilogy that didn't suck? And the graphics in Red's Dream are 1st-year student work by today's standards (although groundbreaking for the time), but the timing is brilliantly expressive and the script still makes you care about that unicycle 20-something years later.

      Anyway, back on topic - RIP Steve. I never liked using your computers myself, but I liked that they existed and I liked the things other people found easy to do with them.

    82. Re:Lameness by WyzrdX · · Score: 1

      Totally. Steve was a bit of a hippy so I don't know if he believed in an afterlife. If he is up in iHeaven........

      You mean iCloud.

      R.i.P Steve

      --
      M O O N... That spells Slashdot.
    83. Re:Lameness by Runaway1956 · · Score: 1

      Phanbois and bashers alike will have a field day with this.

      Me? I'm sitting here thinking. Hell, Jobs was only 1 year older than me. Damn. Life's a bitch, man.

      Rest in peace, you old bastard. Life's just to damned short.

      --
      "Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
    84. Re:Lameness by mikael · · Score: 1

      It's in the Wikipedia entry for Steve Jobs. There is mention of a rip-off - they were offered $30 per component, managed to eliminate 50, but only got half.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    85. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just to nitpick, when CompUSA's assets were sold off, Micro Center only bought a small part (paper mailing list, IIRC). Most of it (including brand and website) were bought by Systemax Inc, parent of TigerDirect.

    86. Re:Lameness by Morty · · Score: 4, Informative

      This reminds me that computing is unique in that a fair number of the pioneers are alive, or were until very recently. My list of major computer names is a lot longer: Alan Turing, Von Neumann, Claude Shannon, Doug Engelbart, Vint Cert, Bob Metcalfe, Ken Olsen, Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, Bill Gates, Bill Joy, Linus Torvalds, Larry Wall, Guido van Rossum, James Gosling, Grace Hopper, Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Tim Berners-Lee, John McCarthy. Of those names, quite a few are still alive right now. It's actually possible to travel around and meet them. This is a feature of computing that differentiates it from many other fields. In Math, Physics, Biology, etc., most of your heroes died hundreds of years ago.

    87. Re:Lameness by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 1

      *puke*

    88. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Less lifespan than a Wozniak"

    89. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So did those same forgotten engineers and technician deserve the blame for a failing Apple when Gil Amelio was the CEO?

      The employees of a company play an important part in the company's success and it's very important to have good staff, however it's a great CEO that can make them far greater than the sum of their labor: the CEO is the central driving factor of success or failure in reality, not just as a matter of perception. The organization, the direction and the focus of all of Apple's employees are the result of Steve Jobs and he rightfully deserves the credit and praise... just as he would the scorn if they had been a failure. Company's are not merely an assemblage of people that will succeed by the brute force of their efforts. Leadership makes the difference.

    90. Re:Lameness by Lord+Kano · · Score: 4, Informative

      Someone must have sanitized it. Look in the entry for Breakout. Anyway, Woz removed 50 chips from the design and the Jobs was paid $5,000 for the work. Jobs lead Woz to believe that it was a $750 reward, so he gave Woz half of that. In other words, Jobs pocketed $4625 for doing absolutely no work and screwed Woz.

      LK

      --
      "Hi. This is my friend, Jack Shit, and you don't know him." - Lord Kano
    91. Re:Lameness by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      vendors have always made stuff that 'does what we want.' The differences lie in how the product is pitched, how the user is 'allowed' to make use of said features, and how intrinsically a continued relationship with the vendor is tied to said functionality..

      I haven't found a single portable player that 'requires' editing of text files and such, nor have I had a problem ripping cds.. Perhaps the shitty laptop dvd drives apple uses in their desktops do a bad job reading audio at speed? At least other platforms offer a choice.. copying over a directory shouldn't be a process..and it's not...except with itunes. that error prone process of 'syncing' music every time is a pain in the ass, esp when the failure requires a reset of the whole device. ..and please spare me the 'that never happens to me and my friends' routine. it does happen...to lots of people. apple really does fail at KISS because it hides complexity behind a simplistic looking facade that fails when circumstances require more access to that complexity than it provides and/or there's a bug in that wondrous interface.

      argumentum ad populum. argumentum ad opes.

      you fucking hipster. keep stroking that androgynous mound between your legs.

    92. Re:Lameness by jorgevillalobos · · Score: 1

      They tek er jebs!

    93. Re:Lameness by Scarletdown · · Score: 1

      I've had enough of good people dying young of cancer.

      This times 45, since my second oldest sister fell to a rare bone cancer at the end of May this year, about a week and a half shy of her 45th birthday.

      --
      This space unintentionally left blank.
    94. Re:Lameness by Myopic · · Score: 1

      You never thought "I want to use an app that competes with Apple's built-in features"? I bet that's close to what he meant. Or maybe you want to use Flash, or sync via a standard cable, or copy songs off your iPod.

    95. Re:Lameness by dyingtolive · · Score: 1

      Troll? Not like you weren't going to also. The only difference is that I'm honest enough to stand to look at myself in a mirror.

      --
      Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
    96. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      56. Not even average. FAIL applies.

    97. Re:Lameness by Totenglocke · · Score: 1

      Eh, fuck it - I've got karma to burn.

      How exactly is taking other people's ideas / products and putting a shiny look on them "visionary" or "innovative"? That's all Apple has EVER done is stand on someone else's shoulders and then add some polish to the other person / companies idea / product.

      Now if you want to write odes to his legendary bullshitting skills to con people into thinking that his products were visionary and innovative, then I'll wholeheartedly support that. The man was a master manipulator, and you have to admire that.

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    98. Re:Lameness by im_thatoneguy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do you think Sun didn't have those guys? Did they fail because they were stupid and lazy?

      I think other companies fail because those people working 80 hour weeks are only paid to create crap.

      Steve Jobs isn't terribly unique. What's unique is Steve Jobs in a position of influence to devote the resources needed to execute said vision.

      A perfect example is something like the iPhone 4s Siri feature. Last week I upgraded to the new version of Windows Phone 7.5 and I was trying out the voice control features. You can say "Text ___" but you can't say "Message ___" or "Send Text To ____"

      I was lamenting how incredibly stupid that was. It even shows that it perfectly understood my message "Send Text To _____" it just was too brain dead stupid to know what that means. It would take one intern an hour to come up with a list of phrases to *hard-code* into the phone for a number of situations and associate basic commands to them.

      "Send Text to____"
      "Message ___"
      "Send a text to _____"
      "SMS ______"
      "Send a Message to ____"

      Regex those suckers and the feature would actually be pretty cool instead of playing "Guess the magic keyword."

      I have to believe (for the sake of my soul) that someone at Microsoft wanted to do that but was *stopped* for some reason from adding the extra 0.5 KBs of synonymous commands for each of the included commands.

      It doesn't take a Steve Jobs visionary--it just takes getting rid of the all of the anti-visionaries who are stopping innovation.

      Another example, I have a Galaxy Tab. When it shipped its keyboard was useless. I don't just mean "bad" I mean useless. Typing a word would result in a 3-5 second delay. That was how it came out of the box. I fixed it by using a different browser or using a different keyboard.

      Who the #)@# ships hundreds of thousands of products but doesn't do something so basic as... I don't know... turn one on and see if the #*^! keyboard works?!

      The reason the ipad has been so successful isn't because it's some genius product--it's because the competition is evidently brain dead.

      Thank God for Steve Jobs or we might not even have 'acceptable' products. He really pushed at least mediocrity on the industry for which we should all be thankful.

    99. Re:Lameness by arth1 · · Score: 2

      Tandy? Radio Shack didn't have much presence outside the US, and "hobby computers" was a much bigger phenomenon in Europe (and later, Japan) than in the US.

      I'd like to mention these:

      Ed Roberts, MITS Altair 8800. Without that machine, Bill Gates' career would never have taken the path it did. Not all that high sales, but it set standards, like the S-100 bus. And it was arguably the main focus of the Homebrew Computer Club, where Jobs and Wozniak (Altair users, of course) joined.

      Sir Clive Sinclair, ZX-80 and ZX-81. (Later rebranded in the US as Timex Sinclair 1000). The ZX-81 was the first truly affordable hobby computer at under $100. In sales, the ZX-81 sold more in the first few months than the TRS-80 sold during its entire life span.

    100. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jobs (and Gates) *did* do the countless hours you speak of. They WERE the engineers. It is not like they hired someone to make a product for them - they put in the sweat just like facebook was made. This will sound insulting but it is not intended to be - but you know nothing of the history of of how Apple came to be and it would not surprise me if you always were equally unaware of how Microsoft came to be. You seem to be a thinker because you seek the bigger picture. Please continue to see the bigger picture and you will see you comments at present may be accurate (simply because it is a large corporation now) but that these guys were also the developers that created the first products that started the ball rolling.

    101. Re:Lameness by TheLink · · Score: 1

      Compare Apple with Jobs and Apple with Scully. The engineers and technicians were about the same.

      The difference is Jobs has taste. He at least has some clue of what is good, what is not and what is insanely great.

      When 800 engineers come up with ideas, who decides which ideas to bet the company's money on? Who decides to tell the engineers "your ideas suck, give me insanely great ideas" AND is often RIGHT when he does it?

      Look at Nokia if you want a company that does 800 different ideas.

      Apparently[1] this video was made by Microsoft people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeXAcwriid0

      Assuming that's true, the people who did that video know their stuff and could probably do "Apple style" packaging. So guess why Microsoft packaging still looks the way it does? The people at the top matter a lot.

      [1] http://www.ipodobserver.com/ipo/article/Microsoft_Confirms_it_Originated_iPod_Box_Parody_Video/

      --
    102. Re:Lameness by tehlinux · · Score: 0

      You mean iHell. Don't forget how big of a scumbag he was just because he sold a bunch of shiny crap.

      --
      Most linux users don't know this, but the man pages were named after Chuck Norris. Chuck Norris fsck'ing hates noobs!
    103. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup. He was there in the beginning of the modern computing age...one of the main three that brought us the computer world we know now...Jobs, Wozniak, Gates.

      Good thing death doesn't come in threes. ...d'oh!

    104. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We all know incredibly brilliant techies who remain obscure because their company/leader have no vision. Steve Jobs brought out the best in his people because he demanded the best in himself. Full Stop.

      RIP

    105. Re:Lameness by unixisc · · Score: 0

      Tragic indeed!!! Just as he founded NEXT after he left Apple the first time and put Object Oriented Computing in the public eye, chances are he might have started something new and introduced another great thing to the world.

      RIP

    106. Re:Lameness by Chris+Burke · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Gates created the IBM PC as much as anyone who worked for IBM.

      I suppose, in a way... His wasn't the only disk operating system. The IBM PC would not have been significantly different without him.

      The choice of MS-DOS and the non-exclusive licensing agreement they signed with Gates did have an effect on the PC-clone market that developed since they could use the exact same operating system.

      However it was Compaq who actually did all the technical work of reverse-engineering the IBM BIOS, and fought the resulting IBM lawsuit, that really enabled the PC-clone market. Gates' shrewd business decision wouldn't have mattered had it not been for that.

      And without that decision, the clones would have used a DOS work-alike and maybe the OS monopoly would never have gotten established. But now I'm just speculating.

      Nevertheless, I can't say Gates did nearly as much to create the PC as either IBM or Compaq.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    107. Re:Lameness by hairyfeet · · Score: 1

      Actually I would argue that Commodore brought the first true "PC for the masses" and by doing so inspired a hell of a lot of programmers and tech guys which later became the needed workforce to drive the innovation of the industry. How many guys here started on a Commodore? probably a hell of a lot. Their cutthroat pricing also forced the competition to lower their prices, thus making PCs a commodity for the first time. after all what were the first IBM clones but an attempt to leverage the IBM design and commodore pricing?

      In the end though it doesn't matter, there are but a handful of guys that should be in that tiny circle of "guys who changed the world with technology" and no matter what you thought of the company Steve Jobs damned sure had a seat at that table. Before he came along the masses saw PCs as these complex text heavy things that you practically needed a degree to use. hell i got my start in PCs thanks to people buying them then not knowing what to do with them so I'd have to show them how to load from cassette (man I'm dating myself) and input their data into early spreadsheets like Visicalc.

      but Jobs changed all that. He made the personal computer a device your mom could use. He made it sleek and simple, all clicky clicky easy. The man took us from the terminal age to the age of the GUI, and made all GUI all the time the de facto way of using a computer. Vaya Con Dios Mr Jobs, you truly changed the world.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    108. Re:Lameness by johnnyb · · Score: 1

      In anything, you can get people to work around the clock. What made Apple tick was that Jobs organized that work towards a common, definable goal. It is great to have a great crew. But there are a very small number of crews, no matter how great the individuals, who will work in a unified effort without the strong efforts of a leader to provide direction.

    109. Re:Lameness by LocalH · · Score: 1

      Yes, of course, I also left a slew of people out. To clarify, I was merely speaking about the US market, as that's where my experience lies (hence why I didn't mention Sir Clive, as much respect as he deserves, since the TS1000 sold like crap over here - I simply admit to having no real knowledge of the UK scene). I did unintentionally leave Roberts out. However, as influential as the Altair 8800 was, it was not directly part of the mass home computer revolution (I would posit there were far more Apple II machines in homes than there were 8800s), thus my omission is not nearly that grave. I consider the HCC to be more or less the catalyst for what became the mainstream industry. At that time, computing was still either a big business or a hobbyist niche. The guys of the HCC were the ones to pioneer computing for the masses, I agree wholeheartedly.

      --
      FC Closer
    110. Re:Lameness by Kjella · · Score: 1

      The unfortunate truth is that I've met very many such hard-working men and women, but their work is never going to be more than a footnote in history because ultimately they were making a product that never made more than a footnote. It can be code that is the true opposite of thedailywtf, code that is well designed, performs great, is robust, reliable, maintainable, scalable and every other quality you can think of but one - it's not really doing anything important for the users or two customers need it and the rest of the world doesn't. Even if we assume there's an extended circle around Jobs predicting what users will want, it's microscopic compared to the company as a whole and ultimately he was taking the decisions. The kind of decisions that aren't based in fact, that you can't prove is right or wrong at least not until years later. And he was for the most part right.

      It comes down to this. Apple is Apple because of Steve Jobs. If he hadn't been there the whole company could very well have been driven into the ground by one or more clueless CEOs and all those hard-working people would have to find some other place to be hard-working. And I'm sure they'd do well as good people are hard to find, but engineers can't stop a company from making products people don't want while it is possible to fix the quality of a product people do want. Hell, if you've successfully predicted the future the chances are your product is better than anything else on the market anyway, giving you a great head start on every one. Now, hopefully the circle around Jobs is strong enough to take over, but I don't know. It's one thing to say you will predict what your customers will want, it's another thing to actually do it. I'm not sure it can be taught.

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    111. Re:Lameness by Divebus · · Score: 1

      Ballmer? Is that you?

      --

      Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
    112. Re:Lameness by ppanon · · Score: 2

      Yep. Without Woz there would have been no Apple and Apple ][. Not only did he design the motherboard, write the code in the ROMs, he also designed the floppy controller and produced colour video using tricks that had many other people scratching their heads at how he managed it with so few components. Without the success of the Apple ][, and the business software that eventually was written to work on it (Visicalc; word processing like Magic Window; simple flat databases) it's doubtful that IBM would have entered the market as soon it did. You didn't see a lot of Commodore 64s or Ataris in business environments prior to 1981, but you might come across some Apples. Commodore did have a lot of success with the VIC 20 and C-64, as did Atari with the 400 & 800, but Apple had a big hand in pushing them forward through competition. For starters, if IBM hadn't felt as rushed and had a few more years to put out the PC, they would have had the Moto 68000 as an option and might have gone for that instead.

      --
      Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
    113. Re:Lameness by ppanon · · Score: 1

      Instead of moaning "Brains!", you say "We've come for your liver"?

      --
      Laissez lire, et laissez danser; ces deux amusements ne feront jamais de mal au monde. - Voltaire
    114. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What's unique is Steve Jobs in a position of influence to devote the resources needed to execute said vision.

      A perfect example is something like the iPhone 4s Siri feature. Last week I upgraded to the new version of Windows Phone 7.5 and I was trying out the voice control features. You can say "Text ___" but you can't say "Message ___" or "Send Text To ____"

      I dunno. Your example reminds me more of what I'd expect from Apple, if anything. Usually, it's Apple's (Steve's) way or the highway. If you want to do anything even slightly out of the ordinary, forget it.

      For example, the phone feature of the iPhone. The other week I was getting increasingly frustrated that my iPhone doesn't provide any way to block unwanted callers. Some telemarketer was calling a dozen times a day for several days, and it was pissing me off. How hard would it be to implement call blocking? Not at all. I'll bet, like you say with the Microsoft example, some Apple engineer already implemented it, but Steve, or someone in management said no (because "Steve wouldn't approve").

      There are workarounds, but they are all inadequate. You can set the ringtone to a silent file for that one number, but that only works if you're a jackass who annoys everyone around you by having an audible ringtone. I don't; my default ringtone is silence, with vibrate turned on. And you can't disable vibrate on a per-number basis - it's all or nothing! Why so limited and stupid?

      Very, very frustrating. I finally had to install iBlacklist, which may or may not be shady, for the annoyance to stop. What's the point of a "smart" phone if the phone portion doesn't leverage that built-in computer to do "smart" things? It's basically a handheld computer with a crappy phone app tacked on.

      Without Steve Jobs, we might not have 'acceptable' products as you say, but he also worked against this by crusading so hard against "unnecessary" (in his view) features. While simplicity is an important goal to strive for (far too many tech products are riddled with unneeded complexity), sometimes you can take it too far. My fear is that the current mindset at Apple is "simplicity at all costs" without really thinking about where it's appropriate, versus where an extra feature or option really makes something better.

      But yeah, in either case, RIP. Cancer sucks.

    115. Re:Lameness by Divebus · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Sun did some amazing things, so did a lot of other companies and individuals. The thing Steve Jobs did is make off the shelf technology useful. Ever try to make some random person care about ZFS or Solaris? They couldn't care less. But a music player that held 1,000 songs at high quality and didn't skip when you jogged with it was an innovation. Nobody had put that together like that before. For the next five years, they kept improving the function and form factor of the iPod by orders of magnitude in the face of almost no competition. Anyone can call it "nothing new was invented here" and it wasn't - but nobody ever put so much thought into the product, using slimmer, lightweight materials, menu layouts that made sense without an instruction manual, battery life that mattered and a hundred other things completely absent from anything made by a "competitor". It cost more to make than the other crap but it was worth it, so I wouldn't call it "overpriced". Ok, so maybe I'd want it to be a lot cheaper... but it worked well and I got way more value out of my iPods than any other music player (and I've had a few).

      That brings me to the "stifle competition" statement. Believe it if you like, but I view it as Apple selling something people actually wanted instead of the junkyard class crap getting shoveled out by everyone else. Making something that made anything else on the market look 10 years behind isn't "stifling" competition - it's embarrassing the competitors right out of the market.

      My $0.02

      --

      Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
    116. Re:Lameness by macs4all · · Score: 1

      That's why Atari lost the console war and were forever banned to a reputation of poor graphics and slow actions.

      I don't know shit about Steve Jobs, but from what you told me Steve Jobs outsourced a lot of things like the high suicide rates of Foxconn. Let the fucker die, and watch the NASDAQ AAPL drop like a dead garden fly.

      Wanna place a bet on that?

    117. Re:Lameness by Penguinisto · · Score: 1

      Dude... five minutes and an executable downloaded from rockbox.org is "tinkering"?

      Seriously?

      I remember hacking a frickin' iPaq 3530 bootloader over a serial modem connection (because the default USB connector wouldn't cut it), and praying that the act of loading an early beta build of Familiar Linux didn't brick the shiny $500 PDA.

      You know what? Get offa my effing lawn!

      --
      Quo usque tandem abutere, Nimbus, patientia nostra?
    118. Re:Lameness by greenbird · · Score: 1

      Now, for sitting in my recliner, or in an airplane, or a hotel room and essentially just noodling around, my iPad is pretty much exactly something I've always wanted. I'm not writing code on it, or tuning databases ... I'm playing games, watching videos, surfing the web. And in a way a netbook would never be appealing to me.

      The difference is modern Linux distros offer both. As much as deniers to want state otherwise, Linux is as easy if not easier to use that any other OS out there while still allowing you to muck around any way you want to. And yes I have dump Linux on my mother's and numerous other peoples computers and the only thing they miss is expensive software and viruses.

      --
      Who is John Galt?
    119. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And without a leader those same engineers would have spent twice as much time creating a product that would work poorly and sell even worse.

    120. Re:Lameness by greenbird · · Score: 0

      None of them ever tried to control me.

      You're the perfect example of his genius. You have no clue of the level you were controlled and wander on in an ignorant bliss.

      Good thing I have some karma to burn cause the applebots will mod this to purgatory.

      --
      Who is John Galt?
    121. Re:Lameness by Omnifarious · · Score: 1

      Actually, no, I was trying to find a good porn app on an iPhone, and all I could find was the stupid playboy and sports illustrated garbage. Guess Steve Jobs doesn't want me to see any decent porn.

      I've never heard of someone's phone taking over their car. What planet are you from?

    122. Re:Lameness by Fjandr · · Score: 1

      Two of the 3 posting methods in the preferences do not require HTML for newlines.

    123. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes he was.

      The OP's statement that "Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was found dead in his Cupertino home this morning." is tactless and disrespectful. Care to explain that to Laurene. The release said that Jobs "died peacefully today surrounded by his family . . ."

      And why "lameness"?

    124. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Indeed. RIP Steve Jobs. Some of my favorite snippets of stories was Nolan Bushnell talking about his time at Atari in, if I recall, "the History of Video Games" book. Jobs was there before we even knew it.

    125. Re:Lameness by Fjandr · · Score: 1

      Maybe they'll raise him from the dead and we'll have Lich King Jobs at Apple's helm for the next thousand years.

    126. Re:Lameness by tyrione · · Score: 1

      Having known Steve Jobs and been around him, he is the most unique boss and visionary person I've ever met or observed. Sorry, but 99% of the world is average. It's the 1% that stands out. He was in that .1%.

    127. Re:Lameness by bonch · · Score: 0

      From the fall of AOL to the rise of iComputing, we had a 12 year golden age where walled gardens were derided, people owned their own devices, and the landscape of the internet formed more or less naturally.

      You're out of touch with what people actually want.

    128. Re:Lameness by dargaud · · Score: 1

      Love or hate him, no-one can deny the guy achieved a hell of a lot in his life.

      It's usual to say the above when some CEO or other dies, but that's hardly ever more true than in his case.

      --
      Non-Linux Penguins ?
    129. Re:Lameness by yourdeadin · · Score: 0

      RIP. He was a visionary.

      Lets clone him. We a

    130. Re:Lameness by Nabbler · · Score: 1

      You might only know 3 people but surely you understand that that is more a flaw in your efforts to inform yourself rather than an absolute, so please don't act like those were the only people involved in the development and popularization of personal computers.

    131. Re:Lameness by Rockoon · · Score: 1

      Dude... five minutes and an executable downloaded from rockbox.org is "tinkering"?

      No iPod made during or after 2007 seems to be supported by Rockbox. Furthermore, less than 70 million iPods were sold prior to 2007, while 245 million were sold after 2006.

      So Rockbox only supports 22% of all the iPods ever sold, and it actually only supports the iPods most likely to be non-functional today.

      In other words, likely 9 out of 10 iPod owners who would consider Rockbox will find it to be a complete and utter waste of time to download an executable from rockbox.org as you are suggesting.

      Seems to me that the GP's tinkering observation is very salient here, while your rockbox.org retort is misinformation to say the least.

      As for your RS-232 (yes, thats a "serial modem connection") vs USB comment.. you young kids have no idea.. and dont even seem to know the correct terminology. Get off MY lawn.

      --
      "His name was James Damore."
    132. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He contributed so much because he was good, strong and lucky enough to earn the power to do so when it was still possible. If he was born 35 years ago now he would likely be an underpaid (or jobless) tech. There are literally thousands of Jobs-like minds out there but they were born in the wrong place and time.

    133. Re:Lameness by Altrag · · Score: 1

      if Steven Jobs had put the same amount of effort into finding a cure for cancer

      Because luckily, the human body works exactly the same as computing devices and cancer is just a Human/Pathogen Interface (HPI) problem that needs solving.

      In the real world however, being good at one thing doesn't mean you're good (or even could be good) at everything. Probably the best Jobs could have done for cancer would be throw money at the people who work in the field. I have no knowledge of whether he did that or not, but chances are he himself didn't have a right lick at medicine any more than any other computer- or business-oriented person does.

    134. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am no iFanboy by any stretch of the imagination, but Mr Jobs will be missed dearly.

    135. Re:Lameness by V!NCENT · · Score: 1

      Visionary my ass. He had the best speeches. I watched every WWDC, even though I'm a militant hater of everything Apple.

      Apple, under his command, stole everything they could from Xerox, Braun (design, including the clickwheel) and LG (iPhone 4 design from the LG Prada phone) to even Samsung (iPad design from a digital picture frame).

      Steve was awesome. His company (Apple) was a total ripoff.

      --
      Here be signatures
    136. Re:Lameness by sg_oneill · · Score: 1

      Woz never really wanted to be a high flying executive. He just wanted to be a happy geek who made cool shit, and was uncomfortable with Jobs business focus. The two remained good friends right until the end.

      --
      Excuse the Unicode crap in my posts. That's an apostrophe, and slashdot is busted.
    137. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      the high suicide rates of Foxconn

      The suicide rate for Foxconn workers is lower than the suicide rate for every one of the states in the USA.

    138. Re:Lameness by jcr · · Score: 1

      Nah, Ballmer's got more class than that.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    139. Re:Lameness by jcr · · Score: 1

      Do you think Sun didn't have those guys?

      Sure they did, but Sun's incompetent leadership squandered their potential.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    140. Re:Lameness by wienerschnizzel · · Score: 1

      Look at it this way - when a film is being made, you've got the screenwriters who have written the script, stage designers who put up the set, actors that perform the script, cameramen that shoot it and editors who cut it. Why do you need a director then? Can you imagine a movie made without a director? Unless it's like a 5 person project, it would end up a mess. The thing is, directors matter - in movies but even more so in big companies. To give, you know, direction to people, to establish a uniform vision to all parties involved, the development team, marketing and to the stakeholders.

      Good direction makes a big difference.

      Steve was a great director

    141. Re:Lameness by clarkn0va · · Score: 1

      Nah, Ballmer's got more class than that.

      What, is he dead now too?

      --
      I am literally 3000 tokens away from the chaotic crossbow --Stephen
    142. Re:Lameness by EdIII · · Score: 1

      Yet is still George Washington we remember the most at Valley Forge and not the cook who made the meals or the privates who dug the latrines.

    143. Re:Lameness by jovius · · Score: 1

      Truly, and a marketing genius too. It also shows a great sense of tact how subdued the iPhone 4S event was - people must have known already.

    144. Re:Lameness by hairyfish · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Who the #)@# ships hundreds of thousands of products but doesn't do something so basic as... I don't know... turn one on and see if the #*^! keyboard works?!

      The reason the ipad has been so successful isn't because it's some genius product--it's because the competition is evidently brain dead.

      Mod up. I've lost count of the number of times I've tried a new product and thought "what the fuck were they thinking". Are Apple and MS the only companies in the world that do user interface testing?

    145. Re:Lameness by tomaasz · · Score: 1

      Not forgotten. He called them out at the end of many of his presentations.

    146. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Those faceless employees wouldn`t have had the drive and position without Jobs, he took the risks and inspired them to go the distance.
      That is why leaders are remembered and peons are forgotten.

    147. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, he was obviously a good businessman. After all, he propelled Apple and recognized the good ideas at the right time, implemented and marketed them appropriately.

      On the other hand, please, keep the rabid Apple fanboyism toned down: it kinda makes me giggle when I read things such as "We are witnessing the passing of a pioneer the likes of which have not been seen in nearly a century, A sad day for anyone who is a fan of technology.".

      Seriously, if you can't think of someone else who has contributed more to technology (during the last century) than Steve Jobs, you need to get out of the reality bubble and learn some History.

    148. Re:Lameness by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      The other week I was getting increasingly frustrated that my iPhone doesn't provide any way to block unwanted callers. Some telemarketer was calling a dozen times a day for several days, and it was pissing me off. How hard would it be to implement call blocking?

      How hard would it be to implement pasting your phone number in the Do Not Call List ?

    149. Re:Lameness by beh · · Score: 1

      The difference in voice control almost seems to resemble the text adventure games of the 80s -
      most games, like the Windows 7 feature today, basically used 2-word parsers, all instructions were just plain ' ' (open door, n, kill goblin).

      Infocom adventures at the time understood almost plain text sentences; and stood far above the others...

    150. Re:Lameness by Tim4444 · · Score: 1

      There are far less successful companies that also demand insane hours from their people with no overtime pay or comp days. At least at Apple those people were more than rewarded if they had a 401k with some stock in the company.

      Seems to me that Jobs put in his overtime during the early years building Apple.

      Pixar. Many of the people putting in long hours have become known personalities, Lasseter, Stanton, etc. Jobs was almost a faceless CEO in that role by comparison.

    151. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No underlings sold Mac home-computers in wooden boxes out of his garage. He did. His vision drove Apple. He 'is' Apple, but his team at Apple all 'get' where he was coming from now, and Apple will continue to be the stylish, yet functional computer company.

    152. Re:Lameness by sjames · · Score: 1

      Sadly, armies die in combat and generals get venerated. I'm not saying a great general isn't very important and worthy of respect, just that there's a lot of people you'll never hear of who sacrificed more behind any general's success.

    153. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      DERK A DERRB!!! >_<

    154. Re:Lameness by Tim4444 · · Score: 1

      Oh, just because you don't have a sense of humor.

      Sent from my Linux 3.0.4 x86_64 GNU/Linux

    155. Re:Lameness by strangluv2 · · Score: 1

      He also contributed more to bad driving than just about anybody else.

    156. Re:Lameness by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      The leadership in any organization is key for its success. You can't imagine Japan without the contributions of Toyomi Hideyoshi, Tokugawa Ieyasu or Emperor Meiji; USA without Washington, Jefferson or Franklin. If modern USA had a CEO worth of the millions that they usually get paid it was Steve Jobs.

      In my country, Mexico, we have the richest man in the world, Carlos Slim Elu. His achievements? Buying at a pathetic fraction of its real price the state's telephone monopoly company, and then building with his monopoly profits another monopoly in mobile telephony. Anyone can do that. We have our (un)fair share of billionaires, that rule this fucking hellish place, but what greatness is in ruling a wasteland? Jobs changed the world, even if people use Android or Windows, or see Dreamworks movies, they got in those products a great share of the vision and passion of Steve Jobs even coming from different companies that he helmed.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
    157. Re:Lameness by c0mpliant · · Score: 1

      I have to agree, just because I disagree with some of his company's decisions and direction doesn't mean I don't respect the contribution made to the industry. My thoughts are with his family. In essence, iGrieve

      --
      There is no -1 disagree
    158. Re:Lameness by ksemlerK · · Score: 1

      Fuck you. My father died of lung cancer. It was a month from me finding out that he had been diagnosed and proposing, "Dad, if you could have known your date of death a year ago, would you want that information?" ,(and asking in all seriousness) to "Oh shit, my father died." No Time To Cry

    159. Re:Lameness by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      He was Buddhist. If he was from the Zen sect that would explain a lot about him and his vision.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
    160. Re:Lameness by diego.viola · · Score: 1

      I wish I could +1 you.

      Good riddance.

    161. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A visionary with some extreme character flaws. Yeah he might have made shiny consumables but ultimately that's all they were. He was also by many accounts a narcissistic sociopath who basked in the limelight at the expense of people who actually designed and made these products. So yeah RIP but let's not pretend he was a swell guy.

    162. Re:Lameness by gumbi+west · · Score: 1

      From the outside, it looked like he was able to have small business owner type control of that huge business.

    163. Re:Lameness by rtb61 · · Score: 1

      Sometimes personal drive, a single minded focus on finding a solution and,a real gift for achievement can work miracles. Putting the right team together, providing the right environment, supplying motivation, reaching out for ideas, count for more than just throwing money at the problem. Steve Jobs had a real talent achieving a goal once his mind was set on it, could he have resolved the cancer problem, it would at least be an even bet.

      --
      Chaos - everything, everywhere, everywhen
    164. Re:Lameness by Scowler · · Score: 1

      Yup, you sure are a militant hater.

    165. Re:Lameness by Scowler · · Score: 1
      Rational people will also down-mod you, not just the fanboys.

      His statement about not being controlled is absolutely correct, and you are too shallow to even recognize his point.

    166. Re:Lameness by Scowler · · Score: 1
      I want my phone to produce magic ponies, but it can't do that.

      Am I being controlled? Oh noes!

    167. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      By your words, EVERY company which has workers, should be were Apple is (was)...
      I hope you realize how stupid your message really is?
      What about Xerox, Atari, and a lot of other companies which were truly on the cutting edge of technology, with workers with extraordinary ideas?
      With no one to take charge, take responsibility, to be and want to be in the front of everyone else, there wouldn't be any progress.

      "the forgotten engineers and technicians" would be really forgotten and without jobs, had it not been for those special few.

    168. Re:Lameness by localman · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most of what you say is true, however:

          "he either openly ripped most of it off from the Palo Alto Research Center"

      Apple paid Xerox for the tech. You may think they got a good deal, but there was no theft or coercion and Xerox took it. That isn't ripping off.

          "Apple nearly died in the early 90's"

      That is correct, they almost died after Steve was booted. If you don't see how that fact, combined with their mind-blowing recovery after his return, indicates that he was an amazingly effective leader, then you seem to be lacking basic comprehension skills. I'm much more of a technical and creative guy than a leader, so it pains me to say this, but being an effective leader (what Steve did) is a much harder and rarer talent than being technologically proficient or creative. I've known many, many people with amazing minds for technology and creativity. I don't know if I've met _any_ great leaders personally.

      Hate him all you want, he had an impact. Your comments on the stock price indicate a profound misunderstanding of the market. Did you not notice that the stock closed higher today than it was before the iPhone 5 non-announcement? Why would anyone laugh their ass off at meaningless short term market fluctuations unless they were a creepy obsessive trying to feel better about their inability to make sense of the world?

      Good luck, sir. And stay classy.

    169. Re:Lameness by makomk · · Score: 1

      The reason they had "slimmer, lightweight materials" for the iPod in the beginning was through stifling competition - they didn't invent the Microdrive that made it possible, Hitachi did. What they did was buy up essentially the entire production run, making it impossible for anyone to launch a similarly slim and capable MP3 player.

    170. Re:Lameness by t2t10 · · Score: 1

      Generals work for the public good. Jobs worked for his own wealth and power. When generals do that, we call them "warlords".

    171. Re:Lameness by localman · · Score: 1

      Totally agree with your comment on leadership. It's hard for us worker types to admit (I know, I'm one) but effective leadership is a far rarer talent than technical and creative skill. How many great technical and creative people do you know? Now how many great leaders do you know?

      I love cool technology, but the fact is it's not very useful unless you can get it into people's hands, and the more hands the better. If that means an arrogant bastard like Steve needs to head a technology company, so be it. That's better than great ideas dying on the vine because nobody knows how to focus and market them. I think Steve makes an amazing case for that in this video, where he deftly answers a tough pointed question from a developer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FF-tKLISfPE

      Cheers.

    172. Re:Lameness by m50d · · Score: 1

      WGA was derided and never really restricted what you could do, TPM was pretty much dead, DRM was derided and hated as were EULAs, Windows was (and is) actually pretty good these days, litigation and jail time were derided too. All this stuff existed before iDevices, but it took apple to make it fashionable.

      --
      I am trolling
    173. Re:Lameness by mcvos · · Score: 2

      Being a great leader or CEO isn't about coming up with great ideas, it's about recognizing them.

      This is very true. Who here hasn't had a boss who seemed incapable of recognizing good ideas?

      Though one of Jobs' strengths wasn't just using good ideas from engineers, it was also steering his engineers towards coming up with good ideas that added to a good user experience.

    174. Re:Lameness by mcvos · · Score: 1

      He didn't just (inspire others to) create and sell cool computers and gadgets; he was also the most successful CEO we've ever seen. Plenty of people start a company and turn it into something big, but he started a company, made it successful, got kicked out by others, made a few other projects successful (Pixar), then when his old company was about to go bust, he came back and turned it into the single most valuable company in the world.

      In the late '90s, nobody would have believed that Apple could ever overtake Microsoft, but Apple did that and more.

      Mind you, I don't agree with everything he did. The iPhone's walled garden is evil. But it's also effective. There's no denying the uniqueness of his accomplishments, and on the whole, his impact on the world was very positive.

    175. Re:Lameness by wizrd_nml · · Score: 1

      This is the first time where I feel the branding of "Anonymous Coward" couldn't be more appropriate.

    176. Re:Lameness by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      The difference between Jobs and most other CEOs is that he didn't really care what the market wanted. He got his companies to produce stuff that he wanted. If other people agreed, then that was great. Sometimes they did (most Apple products, pretty much everything from Pixar), and sometimes they didn't (NeXT machines). You can trace a lot of what we take for granted in modern computing environments - and especially modern development environments - back to NeXT. The company was set up with the goal of producing the closest approximation of the perfect computer that it was possible to build with available technology. Which meant, really, building a computer that Steve Jobs wanted to use. They sold a total of around 50,000 units over the company's entire lifespan, because there was a very small market for that kind of machine at the price they could afford to sell it. Apple paid far more for NeXT than NeXT made total profits from hardware sales over its entire lifetime, but they got the operating system and sold more computers with its derivatives in a month than NeXT did in a year.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    177. Re:Lameness by wisty · · Score: 1

      They probably thought: "The engineers say there's a technical reason why it can't be done."

      Bill Gates never accepted this crap, because he knew how to implement it as well as anyone else. I think the young Steve didn't accept it, and sometimes screwed up trying to force people into doing the impossible; but the older Steve got savvier, and learnt which limits were "hard", which were "the engineers are either messing up, or have bad specs", and which ones were compromises that *he* had to decide on.

    178. Re:Lameness by Ecuador · · Score: 1

      Yep, he sure was a visionary.
      But personally, I was always bothered with his vision of all of us having the same device (rectangular, with rounded corners) which does only what the manufacturer wants it to do.
      I give credit to the other Steve and to Bill for the PC revolution. Jobs was masterful at what he did, I just don't like what he did.
      Condolences to his loved ones.

      --
      Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent. Polar Scope Align for iOS
    179. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because by "telemarketer" he meant "collection agency". As soon as I read "a dozen times a day" I took it as collections.

    180. Re:Lameness by DrXym · · Score: 1

      I expect the main thing Jobs brought to the Pixar table was money and industry contacts. I doubt he did or even could play any part in the creative process. It worked out extremely profitably for him of course.

    181. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RAP

      Sent from my Newton

    182. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And before you say that Jobs contributed more than any individual one of them, let me ask: do you really even know how many of his contributions were truly his, and not his underlings'?

      Doesn't matter. Being a great leader or CEO isn't about coming up with great ideas, it's about recognizing them.

      Being a great leader or CEO isn't about coming up with great ideas, it's about being credited for them.

      There. Fixed that for you.

    183. Re:Lameness by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      Leaders are rightly credited with the accomplishments of their team. Apple would be nothing without the "faceless employees", but would just the right faceless employees have come together, and excelled together without him?

      It is curious how bad management is derided (rightly so) in places like Dilbert, but good management rarely gest the praise it should. I have worked under bad managers, under one superlative manager and I have tried my hand at management myself.

      I was OK at it, but nothing compared to a really good manager. I have been lucky to have worked under an excellent project manager. She was fine at coding, but did very little for the project. Some really nice code was produced by me and some of the other members of the team, and some good hardware hacks to go along with it. The project was a resounding success.

      The really cool bits were certainly written by others (I think that project has some of my nicest work in it) and of course the project would have been an abject failure if none of the coders had done their jobs. It also would not have been a great project if the other coders hadn't done their jobs really, really well. But more than that, the project would have been nothing without the project manager.

      I wish I knew exactly what the secret was. I have now been in management positions and I was lucky enough to be able to get a really crack team of top notch hackers and engineers. Better certainly than the team I was in before. But, the project was not nearly as successful, because I (for all my technical skills) am simply not a really good manager.

      For success, you need good people across the board. A good manager will ensure that. But, that isn't enough.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    184. Re:Lameness by DrXym · · Score: 1

      Linux is not as easy to use as any other OS. That is wishful thinking. It's true that it has become far easier to use in recent years thanks to usability efforts of people like GNOME and Ubuntu but it's still far too hit and miss, especially when supporting consumer devices.

    185. Re:Lameness by jo_ham · · Score: 1, Flamebait

      Don't blame Apple for the GPLv3 issue - blame the FSF and everyone else throwing their toys out of the pram over "tivo-isation".

      "What?! Someone took the open source code that is free for anyone to use and actually used it for something we disagreed with?! Evil! I don;t care that they're complying with the licence by releasing the changes! This must be stopped!"

      FWIW, GPLv2 is still compatible with the App Store - Apple specifically tweaked their licences to make sure it was fully covered after a GPLv2 challenge, but v3 is very specifically designed to be incompatible, but not from Apple's end.

    186. Re:Lameness by old+and+new+again · · Score: 1

      up in the iClouds

    187. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sometimes personal drive, a single minded focus on finding a solution and,a real gift for achievement can work miracles. Putting the right team together, providing the right environment, supplying motivation, reaching out for ideas, count for more than just throwing money at the problem. Steve Jobs had a real talent achieving a goal once his mind was set on it, could he have resolved the cancer problem, it would at least be an even bet.

      You're blaming Jobs' death on his failure to cure cancer. You're a fucking idiot. Hope this helps.

    188. Re:Lameness by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      "Woz, Jobs, Gates, Torvalds"

      Fixed that for you.

      Jobs would have done nothing without the hardware genius Woz.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    189. Re:Lameness by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      The problem is that Modern Corperate culture discourages this. you dont see real leaders with real vision and the knowlege to back it up in CEO positions anymore because the Boards DO NOT WANT THEM.

      Why? because they are not easy to control.

      Steve Jobs, Bill Gates BOTH also had one thing that set them apart. They STARTED the companies they were running. They have far more passion than anyone else in that position. Howard Hughes was a Steve Jobs in many ways. he was an Aviation Genius that also had some serious leadership skills. The Aviation industry has not had a leader like that since.

      The only way to return to greatness is corporate reform. And with the current crop of easily bought idiots that keep getting elected, that will not happen any time soon.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    190. Re:Lameness by Lumpy · · Score: 0

      It's because your WM7 phone is processing it on the phone, and Siri sends your sound clip to a rack of 900 servers to process the command and send information back to the iphone.

      Big difference, don't be so impressed with Siri.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    191. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yup. He was there in the beginning of the modern computing age...one of the main three that brought us the computer world we know now...Jobs, Wozniak, Gates.

      Think about them what you will, but no denying he's one on the big three that have brought us to the commonly known and use computer tech world that everyone knows today...

      RIP

      Jobs, Wozniack, Gates, and Allen.

    192. Re:Lameness by Alioth · · Score: 1

      Not really a good case, Linus Torvalds wasn't an Apple user. He started with a relative's Commodore VIC-20 and continued on with a Sinclair QL for quite a while before getting a 386 based PC.

    193. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Be it as it may, a charismatic person who inspires cult-like behavior in people is not an accurate barometer of what people really want. It will be interesting to see how the new, more grounded Apple fares.
       
      The notion that a person can tell people what they want without them knowing they want it is ridiculous. iProducts are interactive idiot boxes, formerly glorified by a man who speaks well to idiots.

    194. Re:Lameness by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 0

      Well,
      for starters he lived very long (perhaps always?) as vegetarian, and unfortunately was so hardcore that he often ate raw fruit and vegetables. Unfortunately contrarily to popular belive that is very unhealthy. I assume his cancer (pancreas) and liever problems came mainly from his "stupid" diet.
      At least there is nothing known/published about unhealthy drug consumption ... and it is said he never drank alcohol.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    195. Re:Lameness by rvw · · Score: 1

      Gates created the IBM PC as much as anyone who worked for IBM.

      And without that decision, the clones would have used a DOS work-alike and maybe the OS monopoly would never have gotten established. But now I'm just speculating.

      Without the DOS monopoly, there wouldn't have been much difference with the situation before the PC, with CP/M. That was a "standard" system, yet all computer brands had their own version.

    196. Re:Lameness by some_guy_88 · · Score: 1

      Scuse me, but that should read "Jobs, Gates, GNU/Torvalds".

      FTFY

    197. Re:Lameness by scubamage · · Score: 1

      Or DEC, and Xerox. Apparently nothing was invented at Palo Alto.

    198. Re:Lameness by scubamage · · Score: 0

      Woz, Gates, Torvalds. Jobs would have been nowhere without the Woz's technical prowess. He was only good at marketing, thats why he always worked closely to drive engineers to do their best. He couldn't do it himself, so he hired people who complemented his abilities.

    199. Re:Lameness by scubamage · · Score: 2

      Not to mention Tim Berners-Lee, Alan Turing, Ada Lovelace.

    200. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That said, Jobs was an ass hole, who both saved us from the stupidity of failing innovation in several markets, and shacked us with the most oppressive crap ever invented. If you ever wondered why e-books now cost the same everywhere you normally by them, that's 100% pure evil genius, courtesy of Jobs, called the "agency model".

      Er, yeah. How dare he give publishers the ability to set prices. How dare he.

      Do you know any of the background surrounding that? Amazon is the fucked up evil bully here, not Jobs. They were selling ebooks well below cost, using their print book market position and ability to absorb losses to try to establish themselves as the only ebook provider of note. (note that this is probably illegal under antitrust law, but good luck getting that enforced in the current political climate where anything anti-bigcorp gets shouted down as communist infiltration by Republicans.) Amazon then turned around and used that position much the same way they'd done with print books: they demanded lower prices from the publishers and started making all kinds of power moves to crush any opposition. They were pretty clearly angling for a future in which they would become a monopsonist (single buyer) of content from publishers and a monopolist seller of content to readers. You truly do not want to live in that world.

      The iPad and the agency model saved publishers from having to knuckle under to Amazon by giving them an alternative major ebook sales channel where, unlike Amazon, they could set pricing and not just watch in horror as a rapacious hungry beast prepared to squeeze them to death and then eat them.

      Yeah, that means you have to pay some money. Boo hoo, get over it, you were paying artificially low prices because Amazon was literally trying to buy a monopolistic market position. Competition between different publishers (they don't all have to set the same prices in the agency model) should keep prices in check. And in the end they'll probably be cutting the middlemen like Amazon and Apple out and selling direct to you, which is even better overall.

      Sony is banned from iPads,

      Nonsense.

      and GPL 3 software can't even run on any iOS device legally.

      Thank RMS for insisting on stupid anti-tivoization clauses, then.

      Jobs arrogance had no bounds. He wanted no less than 30% of every dollar you spend, even if it was on bread.

      This is pure fucking idiocy.

      No one knows of any significant charity supported by this man.

      So what? Is this what charity has come down to in your mind, a public display by which rich people prove their worth to you?

    201. Re:Lameness by scubamage · · Score: 1

      Ok so the list is now: Woz, Gates, GNU/Torvalds, Stallman, Lovelace, Berners-Lee,chick who invented spanning tree

    202. Re:Lameness by rolfwind · · Score: 1

      Great generals usually make sure less of their men die than would otherwise.

      Great business leaders allow so many more people be employed than otherwise.

      We're human and can only remember a few things. Are you going to really remember thousands of people, or one person that basically comes to symbolize their efforts?

      That said, I think most CEOs get overpaid and overcredited for mediocrity or just going with inertia. SJ probably was one of the few who wasn't.

    203. Re:Lameness by Tsingi · · Score: 1

      My first was a Sinclair. After I tired of slow basic, I programmed it in Machine code. That was cool.

    204. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      fuck u iPads suck

    205. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No way. I don't want to in any way disparage the man, he was certainly a visionary, but it was the forgotten engineers and technicians, laboring away for 80 hours a week with no overtime who have driven and continue to drive the technology industry. People love to heap praise on the CEOs, because people like having a single figure to praise (and blame). But Apple would be nothing without the hard work of the faceless employees who actually gave form to Jobs's ideas.

      And before you say that Jobs contributed more than any individual one of them, let me ask: do you really even know how many of his contributions were truly his, and not his underlings'?

      No way. I don't want to disparage the forgotten engineers and technicians, but they would have been nothing without the:

        Food grown by hard working farmers across America to feed them, risking one of the highest rates of workplace injuries
        Other engineers and technicians working tirelessly without overtime to build the cars that allowed them to commute to work every day
        Underpaid school teachers who nurtured their minds at a young age and worked to give them the best education they could with the resources they had
        Brave soldiers who fought for their freedom
        Mothers who pushed them out
        Jesus Christ who died for their sins
        Other faceless nobodies who are forgotten thanks to these glory hounds and their legions of fans

       

    206. Re:Lameness by ultranova · · Score: 1

      Scuse me, but that should read "Jobs, Gates, Torvalds".

      Jobs, Gates, Stallman. It was the GNU project that made the free userland that made a free kernel useful.

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

    207. Re:Lameness by ByOhTek · · Score: 1

      He did a lot of good for the computing world, but he did a lot of bad too.

      For the good, he revolutionized very little, but he took mediocrity and gave it polish, making the products useful to the non tech geek.
      Prior to his work with Apple... ... Personal computers were glorified gaming consoles and maybe word processors. He didn't invent the market segment, but he did make it more available to the masses. ... Portable digital music players were available, but didn't have the convenience, simplicity, and visual polish for the average user, he jumped into the market with one and turned it on it's head. ... Smartphones had been available for a while before the iPhone - definitely Blackberry, and maybe even Palm and Windows CE. However, none of these had the appearance and "pretty" factor most users would want in such a device. His leadership gave them this. ... Tablet computers had been available for most of a decade before the iPad. They used clumsy conversions from a desktop-metaphore to touchscreen interface. With the iPad, the device started out with a touchscreen oriented interface, making them more 'natural' to use.

      Conversely, he was also a paragon of hype, cult and marketing, convincing people that something was better than it was, and making that stick (my suspicion is use of cognitive dissonance, but I'm not sure).

      He did good, he did bad. Everyone does, he was just bigger at both than most. Even if he didn't invent all that he touched as many would claim, he did make the most noticeable differences in getting these things into the hands of normal users.

      May his improvements and good influence have a lasting effect on the technology sector. May his harmful influences fade.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    208. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No way. I don't want to in any way disparage the man, he was certainly a visionary, but it was the forgotten engineers and technicians, laboring away for 80 hours a week with no overtime who have driven and continue to drive the technology industry.

      Of course, but the folks at Samsung and HTC are also laboring away, and those companies aren't changing the field that much with all their effort. Garbage men are laboring hauling away our trash, and they're not changing the world.

      It's what you're laboring towards that is also important.

      MLK and Gandhi also had lots of help to do what they accomplished, but them being leaders setting the goals wasn't any less important. This is why Jobs is called a visionary and not an engineer. He had a vision and was able to convince and focus enough people to travel road with him towards it, and the vision turned out to be quite world changing in many respects.

    209. Re:Lameness by AmiMoJo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But a music player that held 1,000 songs at high quality and didn't skip when you jogged with it was an innovation.

      Sure, it just wan't Apple's innovation. The day it was released and instantly panned by Taco for not being as good an iRiver has become part of Slashdot lore. Apple's genius was the scroll wheel interface, and perhaps making it easy to rip CDs with iTunes.

      Jobs didn't invent much, he just figured out how to make things easy to use so that consumers would buy them, going right back to their early computers. I'm not saying there wasn't some impressive technology too, but that wasn't his area.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    210. Re:Lameness by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Mozilla does too apparently, but I wish they would stop.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    211. Re:Lameness by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Torvalds was 9 when Jobs and Wozniak were doing their revolutionizing. There is a good case to be made that without Woz, Torvalds wouldn't have done what he did.

      If you can make the case that Tanenbaum would have spent his time differently, perhaps...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    212. Re:Lameness by Killjoy_NL · · Score: 1

      I would add the "User" to that list, without them, they are nothing ;)

      --
      This is the sig that says NI (again)
    213. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they'll raise him from the dead and we'll have Lich King Jobs at Apple's helm for the next thousand years.

      He will rise from the dead and say "Just one more thing......"

    214. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But more than that, the project would have been nothing without the project manager.

      I wish I knew exactly what the secret was. I have now been in management positions and I was lucky enough to be able to get a really crack team of top notch hackers and engineers. Better certainly than the team I was in before. But, the project was not nearly as successful, because I (for all my technical skills) am simply not a really good manager.

      The best project manager I ever worked under had the following characteristics:

      1. He couldn't possibly have done our jobs, but he knew enough about them to understand us when we talked about what we were doing.

      2. He was utterly uninterested in micromanaging. Not saying you're guilty of it, I have no idea, but a lot of technical people who get promoted into management fall into that trap because they can't resist the temptation to do some vicarious engineering. This guy? If you actually could do what you needed to do, he'd happily get out of your way, let you do it, and not second-guess you.

      3. Whenever something got in your way, he'd knock the obstacle down for you if it was in his power to do so.

      4. He was dedicated to taking care of all the crap managers are supposed to deal with -- scheduling, meetings, etc. -- so that you had as much time as possible to do productive work. (By the same token he didn't insist on long interminable status update meetings for his benefit. He'd do short & sweet daily meetings, and they were at least as much to keep everyone on the same page as for his benefit.)

      5. If higher management was breathing down his neck, he would never sacrifice one of his troops to appease their appetite for blood. Just the opposite -- he would shield his team from it so they could get on with what they were supposed to do.

      6. He was just a genuinely good person. No subterfuge, everybody got along with him, one of the most personable people I've ever met. Could make friends with anyone. You simply wanted to do good work for him, especially when he was taking heat for you when the project was behind schedule.

      If I had to pick one sentence to summarize what he did, it's this: He put a lot of thought and effort into making sure that everyone under him had a pleasant working environment and the resources they needed to do their jobs.

      As you say, that takes a very different set of skills. Most people who are brilliant technically can't do it. Project managers like that guy are worth their weight in gold.

      Steve Jobs was by all accounts a different kind of manager again. Not as personally pleasant as my favorite project manager, but brilliant at the strategy of technology, with an entirely different way of inspiring loyalty and enthusiasm in the people who worked for him.

    215. Re:Lameness by rwa2 · · Score: 1

      Ah, OK, you're right... I guess I just got confused because MicroCenter moved into a couple of the old CompUSA storefronts in the DC metro area. Thanks for the catch!

    216. Re:Lameness by Nehmo · · Score: 1

      After the initial work introducing a PC to the world, he focused on a successful marketing strategy: He made it fashionable to be a dummy with a computer.

      --
      (||) Nehmo (||)
    217. Re:Lameness by dlt074 · · Score: 1

      yet, he wouldn't have made any wealth or gained any power if the public didn't find his products good.

      there is nothing wrong with seeking personal wealth and power(over your own company.) as long as you don't violate anyone else's rights while doing it.

      i missed the part where generals work for the public good. i thought they ordered their soldiers to break stuff and kill people. i guess it's good if you're on the generals side.

    218. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, exactly. He was *infamous* for trashing your ideas and then a week later telling you about this great *new* idea he had that was identical to the one he'd disparaged. A great man, but not a good man.

    219. Re:Lameness by asylumx · · Score: 1

      The person you replied to didn't say any of those quotes... just FYI.

    220. Re:Lameness by Mjlner · · Score: 0

      Torvalds was 9 when Jobs and Wozniak were doing their revolutionizing. There is a good case to be made that without Woz, Torvalds wouldn't have done what he did.

      That's a ridiculous idea! Torvalds has never shown anything but contempt for Apple's products. When Torvalds started hacking together linux, Mac OS was still in version 7 (or was it even 6). Say what you like about the GUI, but under the hood, OS 7 was a complete mess, as were 8 and 9.

      Of course, OS X changed all this, after ten years of Linux, when Torvalds and his kernel had become world-famous. If anything, it is the other way around. Iow, the success of Linux inspired Apple enough to believe that they could greatly improve on their system. Now, OS X is based on FreeBSD, which certainly has been heavily influenced by Linux. I'm not claiming that OS X would never have seen the light of day without Linux, but it would certainly have been a crappier product.

      Of course, this all applies to the technology under the hood. Linus has never been active in GUI development, which is were Apple has become famous.

      --
      Lemon curry???
    221. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      3D animation was on the desktop long before Jobs had anything to do with Pixar. Imagine 3D ... brought real 3D animation tools to the desktop in the early 90s

      Jobs bought Pixar (then called The Graphic Group) in 1986.

    222. Re:Lameness by jeff4747 · · Score: 1

      And, the notion of a walled garden and openness is a political position ... to a lot of people the ease of a well-managed 'walled garden' makes for a pleasant user experience. They have no idea what you're talking about for the most part, they just want to click the pretty buttons.

      I know what a walled garden is. I knew what I was buying into. In fact, it was a selling point for me.

      There's no effective anti-malware for mobile devices. So I had 3 options:

      1. Live in a walled garden
      2. Spend significant effort determining if each app is "safe"
      3. Have malware run on my phone

      #1 is a perfectly valid option. Especially when the people complaining about it have yet to provide an example of something I can't run that I actually want to run on an iDevice.

    223. Re:Lameness by CheerfulMacFanboy · · Score: 1

      Yeah... the actual technology developed by Pixar while it was still a subsidiary of Lucasfilm had nothing to do with it. [/sarc]

      Don't press your luck.

      Technology, Schmecknology. Pixar is known for making great movies. At least outside your little La-La-Land.

      --
      Fandroids hate facts.
    224. Re:Lameness by Divebus · · Score: 2

      Point taken... the flip side being nobody else had the vision to launch a slim and capable MP3 player even though all the parts were already sitting there. Buying up all the production runs did more to aid Apple's bottom line. If it also disrupted competition, well, that's their problem. Apple came out of a long period of their competition not feeling sorry for it and they figured out how to beat it.

      --

      Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
    225. Re:Lameness by binkzz · · Score: 1

      There's also a good case to be made that without Newton, Einstein wouldn't have done what he did.

      --
      'For we walk by faith, not by sight.' II Corinthians 5:7
    226. Re:Lameness by Anubis350 · · Score: 1

      That's a ridiculous idea! Torvalds has never shown anything but contempt for Apple's products. When Torvalds started hacking together linux, Mac OS was still in version 7 (or was it even 6). Say what you like about the GUI, but under the hood, OS 7 was a complete mess, as were 8 and 9.

      AFAIK for quite a while Torvald's personal workstation was a G5 tower. It was running Linux of course, but he was certainly using an Apple product.

      (aha, found the /. article about it)

      --
      "goodbye and hello, as always" ~Prince Corwin, from Zelazny's Amber series
    227. Re:Lameness by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      I don't have a mac or an iphone

      I hate the damn things, I wouldn't be seen dead with one!

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    228. Re:Lameness by Graelin · · Score: 1

      RIP. He was a visionary.

      I guess Bill Gates won eh?

    229. Re:Lameness by elrous0 · · Score: 2

      Being a great leader or CEO isn't about coming up with great ideas, it's about recognizing them.

      No, it's about how skilled you are in taking credit for yourself for them, and selling people on your own brilliance. Jobs was, without a doubt, a jedi master in that arena.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    230. Re:Lameness by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      They're people who made 0 difference in the world

      Yes, because Apple fanatics are the only ones who've ever made a difference in the world.

      Shouldn't you be preparing to throw yourself on the funeral pyre instead of wasting time here?

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    231. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jobs has over 300 patents registered with his name on them, name anyone in tech who has more?

    232. Re:Lameness by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      the applebots will mod this to purgatory.

      No, they're all too busy readying themselves for the mass suicide.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    233. Re:Lameness by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      Um... yes they did. Maybe your threshold is too low to see the AC's post or something, but they did say exactly those things.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    234. Re:Lameness by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs was the right man in the right place at the right time, truly a towering figure, who will be forever remembered. Rest in peace, you left us too early. And I'm not in any way a fan of Apple.

    235. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RIP - in my pants!

    236. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They almost died after Sculley was booted. Sculley had to boot Jobs to save the company.

    237. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You've never been in the military, have you?

      Basic training (high school) gets everyone working as a team.

      Specialized/advanced training teaches a particular skill set (seal, electronics, hull tech, etc.)

      Once taught, you get your assignment - but make no bones about it, you do what's needed, whether it's basic or specialized. Just ask all the cooks of the 101st who defended Bastonne. Those "Beleagured Bastards" went a frickin' week without a hot meal (in December!). That's because the cooks were right there in the foxholes firing away at Nazis with their M1s. They were soldiers FIRST, cooks second.

      As a Navy guy, I can relate to this. The USN has no "fire engine ships" that sail with the fleet/task force. If a fire breaks out, EVERYONE becomes a fireman. If the ship springs a leak, and there are no items on your bench to fix, you're right there next to the hull techs patching it up. That's because you're called "sailors", NOT "swimmers".

      Whether you're foaming the flames on a frigate or blasting baddies at Bastonne, all that training is what you fall back on - no Generals or Admirals need be involved.

      So, yeah, Jobs was a real prick. There, I said it. So is Gates, Ellison, Fiorina (she may be a more feminine body part), etc. In spite of those deficiencies, their companies manage to survive, because the underlings happen to know how to put out fires and eat cold sandwiches while firing their M1s.

    238. Re:Lameness by SlippyToad · · Score: 0

      In other words, Jobs pocketed $4625 for doing absolutely no work and screwed Woz.

      Wow. What an incredible dick Steve Jobs really was. And petty too.

      --
      One day I feel I'm ahead of the wheel / the next it's rolling over me / I can get back on / I can get back on
    239. Re:Lameness by Grizzley9 · · Score: 1
      I liked the guy and I love his gadgets but one thing always bothered me about him. Perhaps it's bad to speak ill of the dead so soon but face it, his work to charity is not highlighted at all. To my understanding Apple stopped charitable giving many years ago and never restarted unlike their rivals. Hoarding over 8 Billion in personal fortune alone does not sound like something someone caring for their fellow man would do.

      I really do like the tech he introduced to the world, but at least to me, his image is tarnished by the lack of his philanthropic activities.

      Mr. Jobs also established a personal philanthropic foundation after leaving Apple but soon had a change of heart, deciding instead to spend much of his fortune — $10 million — on acquiring Pixar, a struggling graphics supercomputing company owned by the filmmaker George Lucas.

      link

    240. Re:Lameness by foobsr · · Score: 1

      Armies need generals, and generals need armies.

      Now the question is whether humanity needs both.

      CC.

      --
      TaijiQuan (Huang, 5 loosenings)
    241. Re:Lameness by N0Man74 · · Score: 1

      Tandy? Radio Shack didn't have much presence outside the US, and "hobby computers" was a much bigger phenomenon in Europe (and later, Japan) than in the US.

      They may have been bigger in Europe, but they still left an impact here. I know many people who got their on CoCos (Tandy TRS-80 Color Computer), and who had their very first experiences with programming on one. I wrote my first BASIC program on a CoCo when I was about 8 years old, and I've always had a soft spot for those machines.

    242. Re:Lameness by abigor · · Score: 1

      He never said anything about technology, you asshole.

    243. Re:Lameness by ahankinson · · Score: 1

      Yes, you're right to a degree. But there are thousands of talented engineers at hundreds of other firms that are making nowhere near the impact that Apple had. The CEO is the person who recognizes genius and puts it forward as the driving force of the company. So, yes, Apple would be nothing without their engineers, but the engineers would be nowhere without a CEO that recognizes their work and places it at the centre of their corporate strategy. I think that when most CEOs look for genius they go to their marketing department, while Apple turns to its engineering and design departments.

      His name is on 300+ patents from Apple. Not all patents from Apple, which makes me think he actually did something substantial to earn those 300. He's often not listed first, but sometimes he is. (Source: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011/08/24/technology/steve-jobs-patents.html) Draw your own conclusions.

    244. Re:Lameness by Gaerek · · Score: 1

      I'd mod this up if I could. A single bad decision can make or break a company. If Jobs didn't really have any contributions, then how come his return to Apple coincided with their comimg back from the brink of bankruptcy? Regardless of what you think of the man, without him, the state of our technology wouldn't be where it is today. That's the contributions of a single man.

    245. Re:Lameness by Will.Woodhull · · Score: 1

      Gates created the IBM PC as much as anyone who worked for IBM.

      I suppose, in a way... His wasn't the only disk operating system. The IBM PC would not have been significantly different without him.

      I have to disagree with this. The other possibilities (CPM and what would become DR DOS) had the beginnings of good security built in. Had someone other than Gates gotten the IBM contract, it is likely that the anti-virus industry would never have come into being and we would not be plagued by all the malware, bots, identity theft issues, and so on that have become such a major part of the Microsoft dependent computer world.

      Gates had more influence on the shortcomings of the IBM PC and its progeny than any other single person. When he was younger, he was not only a master at presenting bight, shiny Grand Visions, he was also a master at hiding making inconvenient limitations from people who should have known better. There was a ten year history of security issues with Unix that IBM engineers were thoroughly familiar with, yet Gates managed to bedazzle them into thinking that security was not important on a tiny 640 K machine.

      --
      Will
    246. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      'o you really even know how many of his contributions were truly his, and not his underlings'?'

      That he prevented us for years to have a recycle bin on the desktop in Windows was definitively his contribution.

    247. Re:Lameness by Tragek · · Score: 1

      Boy I hope someone mods you up.

    248. Re:Lameness by Gilmoure · · Score: 1

      Don't forget Newton!

      (the man, not the cool hand held web browser/reader/mp3 player I have at home)

      --
      I drank what? -- Socrates
    249. Re:Lameness by jackbird · · Score: 1

      I stand corrected.

    250. Re:Lameness by Requiem18th · · Score: 1

      Indeed but none of the fanboys are going to accept that

      Those who have succeeded at anything and don't mention luck are kidding themselves. ~Larry King

      "Apple", would have happened with or without Steve. For all I know it could have been Xerox itself, from which Apple took quite a bit. He had the right vision at the right time and he was first there. From there he built on capital acquired from previous success to buy smarter people so he could be an asshole to them and get them to work 80 HRS/W.

      I just can't quite get on the train and believe that the industry would be in a different place if someone else had been "the Jobs" instead. Obviously there would be differences, but a lot of his stuff was so trivial, aren't we dealing with this constantly in the patent world? The injustice of how independently discovered technology gets arbitrarily assigned to whoever files first? Or just think how people were inventing iphone features faster than Apple so much that Apple had to ban them so they could later claim to have invented these same features?

      --
      But... the future refused to change.
    251. Re:Lameness by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      Neither CP/M nor DR-DOS had any security that MS-DOS did not. Way to totally run offtopic just to bash MS.

    252. Re:Lameness by Hijacked+Public · · Score: 1

      Explain to me in detail how I've been controlled by Steve Jobs. What is it he (or 'his' devices) has had me do?

      --
      "Sacrifice for the good of The State" - The State
    253. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i was talking about the ability to get stuff from both itunes and non-apple-approved locales without jailbreaking the ipod. i'm saying that it doesn't have to be one way or the other, but apple forces that, which they don't have to do. there should really be a plethora of stores to buy stuff for iproducts, without apple taking a cut.unfortunately this is where we're heading. in 10 years, most computers will be just like this. goodbye, open development.

    254. Re:Lameness by Reapy · · Score: 1

      Really I think you don't see many great leaders is because the qualities that usually make up a great leader are not the qualities that are going to actually get you into a leadership position in the first place.

      Lots of those creative types could probably end up being pretty good leaders with a little bit of development. Leadership skills are like anything else in that they take some development and practice, trial and error. I guess like in any field the 'naturals' stand out, but that doesnt mean that most anyone could not learn to do it well.

    255. Re:Lameness by t2t10 · · Score: 1

      yet, he wouldn't have made any wealth or gained any power if the public didn't find his products good.

      People also find the products stolen by thieves and looted by pirates good; that doesn't mean the thieves and pirates acquired them legally.

      i missed the part where generals work for the public good. i thought they ordered their soldiers to break stuff and kill people. i guess it's good if you're on the generals side.

      Generals work on behalf of the public; they don't work for their personal gain and generally don't get rich (at least in the US and Europe).

    256. Re:Lameness by Divebus · · Score: 1

      Nah, Ballmer's got more class than that.

      I believe you're right, jcr.

      "I want to express my deepest condolences at the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of our industry and a true visionary. My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone who has been touched by his work."
      — Steve Ballmer

      --

      Most of the stuff on /. won't survive first contact with facts.
    257. Re:Lameness by ILongForDarkness · · Score: 1

      They were thinking ship it and lets get some revenue. We can fix it later with a software update ... probably, hopefully, oh crap I hope we can.

    258. Re:Lameness by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      I'd love to be at your funeral. I'd place an iPhone in your coffin.

    259. Re:Lameness by networkBoy · · Score: 1
      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    260. Re:Lameness by jimicus · · Score: 1

      Who the #)@# ships hundreds of thousands of products but doesn't do something so basic as... I don't know... turn one on and see if the #*^! keyboard works?!

      This is the sort of thing (I think, correct me if I'm wrong) Richard Branson writes about in one of his books.

      To have a successful business, you do NOT need to have the greatest product on Earth. You just need to be better than the competition. Now, many industries are full of competition, so you'd think that would be really hard - but in fact an incredibly large number of businesses are badly run. So being better than the competition is not necessarily all that difficult.

    261. Re:Lameness by AgentSmith · · Score: 1

      For example, the phone feature of the iPhone. The other week I was getting increasingly frustrated that my iPhone doesn't provide any way to block unwanted callers. Some telemarketer was calling a dozen times a day for several days, and it was pissing me off. How hard would it be to implement call blocking?

      Uh Chief? . . . I feel for you, but that's something that should be handled by your phone service provider. Not necessarily by the device.

      Tackling telemarketers.

      Put your cel phone number on the Fed Do Not Call List. Your state might have one too.
      https://www.donotcall.gov/

      Some telemarketers bypass this by claiming a "business relationship". Calmly tell the telemarketer to take you off his call list and you do not want to receive any more calls.

      If they call again then you call your phone service provider (aka Verizon, AT&T etc.) to have the number blocked.

      If the provider doesn't do anything then call the police and tell them you are being harassed. Be sure to have the dates and times of all the phone calls.

      Yes, it would be more simple if the phone handled it, but sometimes you have to do your own legwork.

    262. Re:Lameness by Smallpond · · Score: 1

      Who said anything about 3D animation? That was years later. You forget that the original IBM PC was a command-line interface machine that ran BASIC. Apple popularized the 2D graphical user interface. See:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_graphical_user_interface

    263. Re:Lameness by Creepy · · Score: 1

      For the grandparent, Wozniak is and always will be the inventor of the Apple computer innards, but Jobs gave it the appliance like form factor. Jobs wanted it completely sealed, but Wozniak insisted that the cover be removable for expansions and tinkering, something he got until Jobs got his way with the Mac (or maybe Lisa - I never got to play with one of those). Gates and Microsoft mainly created the most widely used BASIC at the time, even selling it to Apple (aka Applesoft BASIC, whereas Woz's BASIC was thenceforward Integer BASIC). As far as Microsoft's OS, they didn't really get into that market until IBM paid them to get into it, and even then, they bought the software rather than make it in-house. Jobs also gave us NeXT, which is the platform where I used my first graphical web browser. And Jobs bought the Graphics Group from Lucasfilm and founded Pixar with them, and thus creating all three of my nephew's favorite film at least for part of their young lives, Cars.

        As far as the parent's suggestions, Commodore came out with their PET computer about a year after the Apple ][, with an equally frustrating and horrifically failure prone tape drive compared to Apple's (1978's Disk ][ had me sold on Apple's for years 0 Commodore's 1541 that came out a couple of years later was much cheaper, but also 10x slower). Atari didn't release a computer until 1979 with the Atari 400, which had this awful membrane keyboard (but I wanted one so bad at the time, being a huge 2600 fan). Commodore's mainstream computer, the Vic 20, didn't come out until 1980, but it was a step into the stone ages if you'd used an Apple ][ (back to tape drive and 20+ minute loads that sometimes took 3-4 tries to load until they came out with the 1541 late that year, tiny memory, underpowered graphics, etc), but it was also about 10x cheaper. The C64 is where Commodore really started to shine, but the 1541's load times still drove me nuts. IBM was last to bat, and actually failed in the market, lasting only 5 years (sure their design won in the market, but they started making computers in late 1981 and stopped manufacturing PCs by about 1986-7), but their floppy drive speeds were decent. Many years later I had a similar experience with 1x optical drives loading a CD ROM (20 minutes for Fallout to load a level was typical - when I upgraded to a 4x, it loaded in about 2 minutes, so it wasn't all a drive speed issue).

    264. Re:Lameness by networkBoy · · Score: 1

      Since you have not seen the new Win8 interface I'll forgive you for thinking that MS does UI testing (anymore)... not to make this into a bash thread though, that simply doesn't belong here.
      Apple... Steve...
      I do not use their products, nor their OS, and yet I have benefited in a myriad uncountable ways for the company that Jobs founded and later re-imaged.
      I learned about computers on an Apple II, and later Macs in school (like many here did).
      I have benefited from the competition he brings to the market.
      I have benefited by the ideas he has spawned in others, that I do use.
      I have benefited from the inspiration I have been able to get from him (I've seen him at MacWorld).
      My family has benefited by employment at Apple.
      My family has benefited through entertainment watching Pixar's movies. (He saved them from the brink too).
      My life has benefited through simple things that ultimately can be traced back to something he has had a hand in.
      My world has benefited through the technology he made happen.

      Now, while this is of course some level of idolization, I must say that he did not do all these things himself, but he did make them possible, and for that I am thankful.

      -nB
      a closet windows user
      Linux fanboi
      Jobs admirer.

      --
      whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
    265. Re:Lameness by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      As much I admire the great ethic of late Ken Olsen of DEC, Jobs still was far, far more influential. Xerox did a lot of research at Palo Alto, but they didn't managed to transform that research in to successful products. On the end, many of the large computer companies of the 60's and 70's ended outsmarted by a bunch of 20 some years olds.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
    266. Re:Lameness by mikael · · Score: 1

      One of the problems in Silicon Valley, was that may chip fabrication plants stored their chemicals in underground tanks. When these started to leak, they contaminated the groundwater. This was only detected when clusters of rare cancers were detected.

      Toxic Chips

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    267. Re:Lameness by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      I have to disagree with this. The other possibilities (CPM and what would become DR DOS) had the beginnings of good security built in.

      I'm not sure how that's possible since the 8086 and 8088 processors did not support memory protection or privilege levels or anything else one could use to prevent a malicious program from overwriting whatever it wanted.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    268. Re:Lameness by DavidTC · · Score: 0

      Yeah, I feel the same way. My iPhone would be unusable without the jailbroken software on it.

      Not stupid little apps that were rejected from the store, but stuff like disabling push notifications on a schedule. No, I do not want my nighttime music interrupted and the display to come on because CNN says there was an earthquake in Europe at 4 in the morning. I do, however, want a bing and it to be displayed on my screen at 4 in the afternoon.

      Or the lockscreen gestures to control music...very useful when I'm busy with something and don't want to look at my phone, especially because the damn volume buttons fell off.

      Or the easy-to-access ringer control, because I taped over the hardware switch. It was unacceptably flipping by itself, a disaster waiting to happen when you volunteer backstage at a theater.

      Without jailbreaking, I would not have kept my iPhone. Apple's lockdown is idiotic, and, yes, you're right, it's exactly the sort of crap I'd expect from Apple.

      OTOH, the GP was making the point in that Apple's default UI is usually a bit saner, and I would, indeed, expect them to have more terms in their voice recognition...at the expense of not being able to customize them at all.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
    269. Re:Lameness by iMadeGhostzilla · · Score: 1

      People *love* their iPhones, literally. (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/01/opinion/you-love-your-iphone-literally.html) Jobs may have pissed off a few people like you but his artistic obsession and management and business style delivered joy to tens of millions. That's where his greatness comes from, and that is something that's hard to find.

      And for charity -- Jobs helped create enormous value, and if you assume that the people in that large chain who received some of that value are average contributors, you'd probably get that quite a sum that went to charity because of what Jobs has done.

      Btw I'm not an Apple fan -- I *love* Windows, literally, and don't care for Macs or OSX at all, but I do own iPhone (3G) and iPad (1).

    270. Re:Lameness by bluefoxlucid · · Score: 1

      The big thing Jobs contributed was the drive. Microsoft pushed tablets a decade before the iPad; the Compaq iPaq had a version with a cell phone chip 15 years ago (not to mention handwriting recognition and Microsoft Word); and MP3 players were peaking (and likely to die out) when the iPod appeared. What Steve Jobs did was simple: take existing technology, put it in a cute box with a tiny little screen, and sell it.

      The entire concept of Smart Phones would have died without the iPhone. Fact. Palm did it, Palm died. Blackberries are a good example of a dead technology: you can read e-mail on them and do very little, mostly a joke compared to Android and iOS. Blackberries would have likely remained the state of the art, people would have abandoned anything further due to difficulty marketing.

      Tablets did die. the iPad is a revival. Remember back in the early 2000 years when laptops had swivel screens that folded back over the keyboard? Where did that go? Where did handwriting recognition go (Microsoft's was excellent in PocketPC 6)?

      MP3 players were directionless. The iPod gave direction and long-term capitalization. That's something most technology never gets, and thus it is lost.

    271. Re:Lameness by ackthpt · · Score: 1

      While absolutely important.....I'd have to argue apple and MS have made a bit larger impact on what we now use and interact with on a daily basis as far as common technology. Just IMHO.

      Apple and Jobs strived for usability, while Microsoft headed off into the direction of convoluted operating system mess, they continue to tinker with. Jobs understood the average consumer wasn't interested in learning a lot of technical bits, they just wanted something to work - the iPod really was an obvious idea when everyone looked at it _after_ Apple introduced it - it not only revolutionised portable music players, but the means to deliver product (digitized music) to the masses through a storefront - any man on the street could work it. Jobs true gift, earned by the tuition of his earlier failure with the Apple board, was identifying was to make technology serve people in simple, ordinary ways, which could actually be elegant and attractive.

      As a programmer and developer I often struggle with communicating to users, designing interfaces which are easy and straightforward for them, because I have 30 years of technical background, that user point of view is never to be taken lightly and a much harder task to realise than it seems. End users are not idiots. They want tools, products, devices, which serve or entertain them, not baffle and confound them and require them to learn a lot of technical information (which changes almost daily as technology evolves.) In his idle days Steve undoubtably spend many hours considering the chief failure of technology - it was hard to use and usually only attractive to the small percentage of techies who could relate to it.

      Well done, Steve. Glad you returned to the helm. You did good.

      Requiesce in pace.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    272. Re:Lameness by phorm · · Score: 1

      To put it in free market terms (which I generally avoid using), the market has decided they like these products. People have exercised their free will and chosen to buy these products.

      Except in countries where competing products are banned due pretty much to being rectangular and black with rounded corners....

    273. Re:Lameness by dr2chase · · Score: 1

      Except the two guys I knew were in New England and Texas. Not exactly a geographic cluster.

    274. Re:Lameness by CheerfulMacFanboy · · Score: 1

      Yup. Gonna keep a close eye on AAPL.O tomorrow.

      So did you buy before the rise?

      --
      Fandroids hate facts.
    275. Re:Lameness by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Steve really didn't contribute that much to technology.

      Marketing, yes. He was a fucking genius when it came to marketing, and entire industries have attempted to emulate the approach since. He did revolutionize how technology marketing is performed, but other than that, I'd be hard pressed to name anything that he was personally driving.

      Consumer electronics, maybe. He did push those. He wasn't much of a fan of the functional computer, as we still know it today.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    276. Re:Lameness by ejasons · · Score: 1

      Sure, it just wan't Apple's innovation. The day it was released and instantly panned by Taco for not being as good an iRiver has become part of Slashdot lore. Apple's genius was the scroll wheel interface, and perhaps making it easy to rip CDs with iTunes.

      It was actually even more than that. Apple had an exclusive on the 1.8" hard drive in the iPod (portent of things to come?), and so you had previously only had a choice of either small (~128MB) flash-based players, or quite large 2.5" hard disk players.

      In addition, the iPod had a 400Mb Firewire connection, while all of the other players had 12Mb USB 1.0 connections, which obviously made transfers much faster...

    277. Re:Lameness by mikael · · Score: 1

      One of our family friends died from bladder cancer - doctors treated it with tuberculosis (standard treatment). Ended up being in so much agony that he had to be doped up with morphine to the point that he went into coma and died.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    278. Re:Lameness by dyingtolive · · Score: 1

      Actually, no. I gotta say, I'm pretty startled with what I'm seeing, to be honest. Up almost 10 points. Will be interesting to see what it closes at.

      Still, I guess that's what happens when you try to predict a market reaction.

      --
      Support the EFF and Creative Commons. The war is coming, and they're supporting you...
    279. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Um... yes they did. Maybe your threshold is too low to see the AC's post or something, but they did say exactly those things.
      Maybe you should learn to quote...

    280. Re:Lameness by scubamage · · Score: 1

      Both DEC and Xerox helped create DIX Ethernet, the father of Ethernet, which you're most likely using right now. Xerox created the mouse, as well as window managed OS's, which you're most likely using right now (unless you're posting from Links/Lynx - in which case good god man, let it go!).

    281. Re:Lameness by DavidTC · · Score: 1

      Yeah, that means you have to pay some money.

      Yeah, now we have to pay them more money than it costs for hardback books. (Mainly because bookstores can't offer us members any sort of discount.)

      And forget comparing them to paperback. Yes, I know part of the hardback/paperback difference is what time you can buy them, and you're paying extra not just for the binding but for getting it early...but ebooks don't go down when the paperback comes out. At least, not when I've check them.

      Perhaps ebooks were headed for disaster with Amazon, but the fact is, if they managed to swerve away from that, they swerved right into a tree. What should happen is that bookstores buy copies of ebooks, put them in a publisher-approved DRM, and resell them. The publisher needs to say to bookstores: 'This ebook is $5 for you to buy, and here are the most lax DRM rules we allow, you must wrap it in DRM that does at least that, and other than that, everything is up to you.'

      Having a fixed price that is one dollar below hardback retail price , and allowing no discounts or sales or anything, is just utterly idiotic. No one who regularly buys books pays hardback retail price. Everyone gets a discount except the people rushing it to buy the newest Harry Potter the second it hits the shelves. (Nothing against Harry Potter, that's just an example of a book that people who don't usually buy books bought.)

      All us other people, you know know, the people who buy 30 books a year and hence might actually buy a eReader and hence might actually be ebook customers, expect discounts and sales and paperback prices for older books (And even lower prices for ebooks.) and stuff like that.

      --
      If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
    282. Re:Lameness by AshtangiMan · · Score: 1

      In fact I did. Garage band was not performing well for me, I had recorded a band on an ADAT, and was mixing down into garage band to press their demo CD. But the A-D conversion sounded really weird. So I looked on line and found a free software product to do the same thing. The A-D software for that one was apparently much better, and the overall mix was really nice in the end. I had no trouble installing and using the software on my mini or on my MBP. I also have no problem using Flash on either one, though I usually try not to use flash over the web. As a matter of fact I do some flash development on both platforms. Oh, you were talking about the appliances? I have a jailbroken iPhone, but prefer my iPhone 3Gs running iOS 4. While I cant just install any old app on it, it already does everything I want it to do . . . so for me it's fine.

    283. Re:Lameness by geminidomino · · Score: 1

      All part of the service. ;)

    284. Re:Lameness by Cederic · · Score: 1

      But a music player that held 1,000 songs at high quality and didn't skip when you jogged with it was an innovation. Nobody had put that together like that before. For the next five years, they kept improving the function and form factor of the iPod by orders of magnitude in the face of almost no competition

      That's grotesque historical revisionism and completely unfounded. There were non-skipping disk based music players before the iPod and there have almost always been comparable or better competitors (only the iPod Touch had initially no real competitors, due to its app store support).

      Usability was good, battery life on iPods was worse than the competition,iTunes integration made a big difference to a lot of people but ultimately, Apples success has been a marketing one not a product one.

      Making something that made anything else on the market look 10 years behind isn't "stifling" competition - it's embarrassing the competitors right out of the market.

      That'll be the iPad then. Everything else Apple's produced since the Newton has been an alternative to other market offerings, not a clear differentiated product. Even the iPhone on release was feature inferior to competitors.

      Stifling the competition may however have been a side effect of the marketing rather than its primary intent.

    285. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Xerox created the mouse, as well as window managed OS's

      I didn't know Doug Engelbart had worked at Xerox.

    286. Re:Lameness by scot4875 · · Score: 1

      Nevermind things like WGA, TPM, DRM, the omni-present EULAs in nearly everything that the majority of humanity used, making backups of one's media was considered to be "theft", Windows(!?) was actually poised to take over the server room, decoding an encrypted file or a proprietary chip meant litigation and/or jail time, and many, many other examples...

      You take the good with the bad. With the advent and popularity of newer fashionable devices that are straightjacketed general purpose computers, we have a little less good to go with the bad.

      --Jeremy

      --
      Jesus was a liberal
    287. Re:Lameness by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

      I don't see much need to quote a one-line post.

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    288. Re:Lameness by Mab_Mass · · Score: 1

      I have to believe (for the sake of my soul) that someone at Microsoft wanted to do that but was *stopped* for some reason from adding the extra 0.5 KBs of synonymous commands for each of the included commands.

      In my experience, I would say that it's more likely that the people working on this feature looked at a requirement on paper that said something like "Voice activated SMS ability," implemented the narrowest version of that, and moved on.

      As a recent example - I work in a biotech company, and we have a software package that allows people to view our data graphically. Okay fine. Simple enough. Since our customers are scientists, it is helpful for them to easily share data with other people, and a couple of us started advocating for the ability to select some data in our software, hit copy, then go into your favorite other program and hit paste, which would paste the exact image from our application as an image.

      In other words, it was an extremely useful feature that fits very well into the standard paradigm of how people expect software to work.

      One of the VP's an older electrical engineer, didn't see the point. You could get the same functionality by installing the program "Snag-it" on your computer, then invoking the shortcut key to Snag-it to copy and paste the image. As much as we tried, he never managed to understand that just selecting and hitting copy and paste was a HUGE difference in usability from having to use another application.

      Its a mindset, and part of the culture of an organization - either you care about design and usability or you don't.

    289. Re:Lameness by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      NeXTSTEP from were OS X is derived was developed in 1987-1988 based on the Mach microkernel and BSD code. The big deal with Linux was and is that it was released under the GPL, that forced all the improvements to the code to be made public. In the big scheme of things, perhaps Richard Stallman is more important than Linus Torvalds, but I doubt that any of them care about this. They have better things to do.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
    290. Re:Lameness by Jae686 · · Score: 1

      From the fall of AOL to the rise of iComputing, we had a 12 year golden age where walled gardens were derided, people owned their own devices, and the landscape of the internet formed more or less naturally.

      Nevermind things like WGA, TPM, DRM, the omni-present EULAs in nearly everything that the majority of humanity used, making backups of one's media was considered to be "theft", Windows(!?) was actually poised to take over the server room, decoding an encrypted file or a proprietary chip meant litigation and/or jail time, and many, many other examples...

      Golden age, my ass.

      if I had mod points!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    291. Re:Lameness by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      Tim Berners-Lee developed the web browser and server in NeXTSTEP, now called OS X because Jobs and his team wanted a computer that was powerful and easy to program:)

      We can remember that in the early days of computing, people didn't saw a need for computers outside labs, military or government. Somewhere is a quote about an IBM executive that said that they expected a worldwide computer market of around 5,000 machines in the early 1950's. The same was for TV in the early 1920's. There are many crappy things in TV and the computer field now but thanks to a lot visionaries and engineers that made that vision a reality is that we are talking now.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
    292. Re:Lameness by rgbecker · · Score: 0

      So long as he doesn't re-appear in three days we'll be ok

    293. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The funny thing is few people realized the context of the "summary"

    294. Re:Lameness by prider · · Score: 1

      RIP Steve Jobs...

    295. Re:Lameness by rs79 · · Score: 1

      Yes but not in Palo Alto - they did the hardware, but Xerox El Segnudo did the now famous GUI Star software.

      --
      Need Mercedes parts ?
    296. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you fucking kidding me? Several hundred million people disagree with you. Sure there were players with better battery life, good storage capacity, nice controls, good sound... but NOT IN THE SAME FUCKING DEVICE! The iPod was the first thing to do that well. So well that playing with anything else after you've touched an iPod made you say "what the fuck were they thinking?" or "what a cheap plastic piece of shit". Most of it was junk, throwaway shit designed by a 9 year old. You don't actually remember, do you?

      Then they went on to rapidly improve the iPod to the point that the only things on the market were iPod copies from the year before... or two in the case of the Zune. Hundreds of "mee too!!" players.

      Oh... and what was already out that the iPad did? Some concrete patio tile of a slate computer with a stylus? All the competitors made fun of the iPad when it came out - until they started selling by the boatload. Hell, if iPad details had leaked six months before release, no competitor would have rushed to make one. They DIDN'T GET IT. The competitors are a joke so far. All they sell is the sizzle off the steak.

      And MARKETING you say? I've never seen anyone pull out an Android then command the universe with glowing spheres, bolts of lightning and flying robots in real life... but that's what they're selling. That's marketing for ya'. Most Apple ads, with the exception of "1984", the "I'm a PC" series and some celebrating thought leaders, simply show the product and how it can be used. No thundering electronic voices, red HAL eyeballs or flashy glitz in those spots. The competition is stifling itself.

    297. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oy. To you and the others advising me to use the Do Not Call list: my number is already on there. These people don't care. They spoof their caller id so they are largely untrackable. I think maybe "telemarketers" was too nice of a word. They are definitely scammers out to rip people off in any way possible. They aren't about to let a little thing like the law get in their way.

      The number on my caller id was 858-346-2222. Lots of complaints from other poor souls getting harassed by these scumbags. And go ahead, try to call it - you'll get a message that "Your call cannot be completed as entered..." (I suspect they chose that number to spoof precisely because it's not valid; and thus why they don't just spoof a random number each time). The complaints on that website indicate that it's something about timeshares (I've never owned one in my life), but I'm sure it's just like the scams that say "your car's warranty is about to expire!" or "this is your bank calling about a problem with your credit card" and proceed to try to get your CC number. I got one of the latter once and told them "No thanks, I'll call you back at the 800 number on the back of my card" when asked for the number. Immediately got hung up on.

      I'll say it again: every phone should have the ability to completely ignore unwanted callers. Doubly so for any "smart" phone. It would be ridiculously easy to implement, and even more ridiculously useful.

    298. Re:Lameness by mikael · · Score: 1

      Remember some time ago (back between 1996 and 2001), there was a petition for Apple to adopt OpenGL for 3D rendering.

      Not sure if it was the same petiition, but a group of Apple employees who petitioned their department manager to make a decision over this were all fired. Then months later, the decision was made and Apple begged them to come back.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    299. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How hard would it be to implement pasting your phone number in the Do Not Call List ?

      Pretty hard, when the scammers don't care about it. More details in my other reply.

    300. Re:Lameness by jcr · · Score: 1

      I heard that he had all the flags at MS's offices lowered to half-staff today, too.

      -jcr

      --
      The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
    301. Re:Lameness by freudigst · · Score: 1

      Was your font meant to insult his memory?

    302. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So stating a FACT is reason to be modded down? what moron did that?

    303. Re:Lameness by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      Except that the genius of Woz, is that he found ways to combine software and hardware in a novel way that dramatically reduced price. To my knowledge, Linus isn't a hardware guy at all.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    304. Re:Lameness by vaporland · · Score: 1

      It's better to be a pirate than join the... Army.

      --
      Ask Me About... The 80's!
    305. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jobs didn't invent much, he just figured out how to make things easy to use so that consumers would buy them, going right back to their early computers. I'm not saying there wasn't some impressive technology too, but that wasn't his area.

      Jobs did not invent anything designers did and then he sold them to the fanbois.

    306. Re:Lameness by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      Oy. To you and the others advising me to use the Do Not Call list: my number is already on there. These people don't care. They spoof their caller id so they are largely untrackable. I think maybe "telemarketers" was too nice of a word. They are definitely scammers out to rip people off in any way possible. They aren't about to let a little thing like the law get in their way.

      So waste THEIR time ... tell them your battery is dying and to call you back at [insert $#_OF_SOMEONE_YOU_REALLY_HATE] or [$DIRECT_NUMBER_TO_LOCAL_POLICE_STATION_CAPTAIN] or some politician or something.

      I'll say it again: every phone should have the ability to completely ignore unwanted callers. Doubly so for any "smart" phone. It would be ridiculously easy to implement, and even more ridiculously useful.

      I guess your "smart phone" isn't so smart ...I recently replaced my 5-year-old Motorola cell with a $60 LG, no contract, $35 a month unlimited calling and texting anywhere in the country, and it can block calls from specific numbers. And the funny part was it's the same phone company - just a new "discount brand", so the service is the same. Just half the price.

      Instead of looking for a call blocking app, why not check your phone's existing PHONE functions - it may already offer call blocking.

    307. Re:Lameness by tomhudson · · Score: 1
      If your phone can't block calls from specific numbers, it's a dumb phone. Even the cheap "feature phones" let you block calls from specific numbers nowadays.

      If your phone is too dumb to do that, then you can also check to see if you have the ability to set up a block list with your provider - most do, either as part of their basic plan, or an extra-cost feature.

    308. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One interesting note on that subject is that within 2 weeks of taking over as CEO, Tim Cook reestablished a charitable matching program at Apple. So it seems that Jobs really blocked charity at Apple, let alone in his personal life.

      It's kind of perplexing. The guy didn't exactly live high on the hog. Yes, he lived like a millionaire, but from I can tell, he didn't at all live like the billionaire that he was. Out of curiosity, I checked out his house on Google Maps the other day (search for Jobs, Waverly). It's in a high end neighborhood where homes are worth $2-5 million. Definitely not middle class, but a lot smaller and "lower end" than I would have expected for someone worth $8 billion. I kind of expected a $100-million compound isolated from the world, maybe in a heavily wooded/landscaped area, and employing a staff of 20+. But the street he lives on looks like a normal neighborhood, albeit pretty uppity, with neighbors and sidewalks and such. I'll bet most of his neighbors are worth less than 1% of what he was.

      The point is that he clearly wasn't interested in burning through that money with insanely lavish luxuries like some sultan from Dubai or something. And he knew the end was coming with enough time to start blasting it out to charities if desired. So then what was he saving it for?

    309. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fanbois weren't fanbois until they actually used the products - then they actually understood what they were talking about, unlike you.

    310. Re:Lameness by multimed · · Score: 1

      Why do you believe that recognizing the impact of Jobs necessarily discredits the contribution of those who worked for him? It does not.

      --
      Vote Quimby.
    311. Re:Lameness by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      Two of the 3 posting methods in the preferences do not require HTML for newlines.

      To bad Preferences doesn't work on Chrome, Firefox or IE. The page dims and I get a slashdot logo and an "X".

    312. Re:Lameness by Fjandr · · Score: 1

      Only ones I have immediately available, but it works flawlessly on:

      Opera 11.51
      IE 8.0.6001 x86 and x64
      Chrome 2.0.164
      Firefox 3.0.7
      Chromium 16.0.896

      The only inconsistent browser was Firefox 7.0, though going to the user page and clicking the link worked every time. I've never expected much from x.0 Firefox releases, though, so that one doesn't surprise me in the slightest.

      What versions of these browsers don't work?

    313. Re:Lameness by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      Chrome 14.0.835.202m
      Firefox 3.6.18
      IE 8.0.7600.16385

    314. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Jobs knew that 64K was enough. Luckily he was not listened to.

    315. Re:Lameness by 666999 · · Score: 1

      It wasn't Apple's innovation? The first MP3 player with a hard drive? The first MP3 player that had a faster connection than USB 1.1 to transfer your music? You say the scroll wheel interface was genius, yet that doesn't count as an innovation?

      Very convincing.

    316. Re:Lameness by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      The first MP3 player with a hard drive?

      Nomad

      The first MP3 player that had a faster connection than USB 1.1 to transfer your music?

      Nomad and iRiver both had them before the iPod, and the Nomad even had wifi.

      You say the scroll wheel interface was genius, yet that doesn't count as an innovation?

      Invented by Synaptics, and Panasonic Dynabook laptops had round touch pads which you can scroll by running your finger around the edge.

      It is easy to forget how basic the first iPod was. 5GB HDD, a really poor LCD screen and very few functions beyond music playback (not even audio book bookmarking, which iRiver supported). iTunes only applied to Mac users, Windows users had to rely on Musicmatch which somewhere managed to be even shittier. Non-replaceable batteries had been used in some Braun products before, and the whole look of the iPod is very similar to Braun radios (http://gizmodo.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-apples-future). I suppose you could count the Dock connector, which despite never varying in shape or pinout manages to make old accessories incompatible with newer models. I don't think that had been done before.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    317. Re:Lameness by 666999 · · Score: 1

      The first MP3 player with a hard drive?

      Nomad

      As far as I remember, those were laptop-sized drives. The iPod used the smaller 1.8" ones. I should have been more clear. It was the whole reason it was as small as a deck of cards, and if we're being honest, the Nomad wasn't shirt pocket-sized. But yes, the Nomad did have a 6 GB hard drive-based monstrosity available in 2000.

      The first MP3 player that had a faster connection than USB 1.1 to transfer your music?

      Nomad and iRiver both had them before the iPod, and the Nomad even had wifi.

      And what was this "faster" connection you mention? Serial port? USB 2 wasn't available on anything at that point. Remember, wifi at the time was 802.11b. 802.11g was just on its way, and certainly wasn't in any Nomad or iRiver product in 2001. The very first iPod had firewire, and the wifi and USB connections on the others couldn't come close for transfer and charging speed.

    318. Re:Lameness by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 1

      Scuse me, but that should read "Jobs, Gates, Torvalds".

      Oh wow, modded to -1 by Macheads, how scientology of you.

      --
      Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
    319. Re:Lameness by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The first MP3 player with a hard drive?

      Nomad

      As far as I remember, those were laptop-sized drives.

      Oh, I'm sorry - I thought you said "The first MP3 player with a hard drive," not of "the first MP3 player with a 1.8" hard drive." Oh, that's right... you did.

  2. Goodbye by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sent from my iPhone

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    1. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Sue you later.

      Sent from my Galaxy S II

    2. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This!

    3. Re:Goodbye by TheNinjaroach · · Score: 1

      I love you, Slashdot.

      --
      I went to eat some animal crackers and the box said, "Do not eat if seal is broken." I opened the box and sure enough..
    4. Re:Goodbye by A.+B3ttik · · Score: 2

      I remain firmly convinced this is a prelude to proving the iPhone 5 can resurrect the dead.

    5. Re:Goodbye by roc97007 · · Score: 2

      There's an app for that...

      --
      Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
    6. Re:Goodbye by game+kid · · Score: 1

      Nah. That'll be the iPod's job. iPod mini, iPod nano, iPod necro...the pattern's easy to see.

      --
      You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
    7. Re:Goodbye by phil_aychio · · Score: 1

      iPassed

      --
      obvious redundancy is obvious
    8. Re:Goodbye by Grog6 · · Score: 1

      I guess iNecro is right out?

      --
      Truth isn't Truth - Guliani
    9. Re:Goodbye by mykepredko · · Score: 1

      I don't think the parent is funny - it's appropriate.

      Thanx Steve

    10. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sent from my hack.

      Since my Macbook Pro is a piece of shit and poor quality product.

    11. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sued you first!

      / Steve

    12. Re:Goodbye by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      Sent from my Psystar.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    13. Re:Goodbye by jo_ham · · Score: 3, Funny

      I bet the top execs at Samsung are all shitting themselves now.

      I mean, one of them has to have a copycat death - preferably the one closest to 56 years old.

      RIP Steve.

    14. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh sent from your stolen patents phone ...
      that will come to an end now

    15. Re:Goodbye by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Thank you. I wasn't aiming for funny, I really did post that from my iPhone.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    16. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Twat

    17. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ironic coming from a Samsung product. It mirrors Apple in every way.

    18. Re:Goodbye by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      heh good one. Check out some cool tributes for Steve at www.pixt.com/remembersteve

      You can even upload your own. RIP big Steve!

  3. http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Fireking300 · · Score: 5, Informative
    1. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Kagura · · Score: 5, Funny

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.

      RIP Steve.

    2. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by electron+sponge · · Score: 4, Funny

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches. RIP Steve.

      with rounded corners

    3. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Wearing a single-button shirt.

    4. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by WrongSizeGlass · · Score: 5, Insightful

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches. RIP Steve.

      with rounded corners

      Rounded rectangles are everywhere

    5. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.

      That will guarantee that the Paulbearers "WILL HOLD IT WRONG!!!"

    6. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that he be wearing a black turtleneck and loose fitting blue jeans.

    7. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Monkey-Man2000 · · Score: 1

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches. RIP Steve.

      with rounded corners (Patent pending)

      FTFY

      --
      This post was generated by a Cadre of Uber Monkeys for Monkey-Man2000 (603495).
    8. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Funny

      Ashes to Ashes.. Dust to Dust. Now would the pallbearers please drag the casket to the trash can*.

      * :)

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    9. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry, that's patented by Samsung

    10. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.

      RIP Steve.

      That's coffin 2.0. There was a problem with the white paint being too thick.

      Said with love. We'll miss you Steve!!!!! Written on my iMac

    11. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.

      RIP Steve.

      with rounded corners

      but due to a patent issue it will only have square corners.

    12. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The carriers must be careful where they put their hands on and in which position.

      Remembering Steve, the one who made the technology company which gets the consumer and product features.

    13. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would hope so. I mean, even my computer illiterate grandpa got an iCoffin.

    14. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait... as we learned when Steve Jobs left Apple the same day that CmdrTaco left Slashdot, there's credible evidence that CmdrTaco IS Steve Jobs...

    15. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by ArundelCastle · · Score: 4, Funny

      That must be a deprecated version of his will. The new coffin is supposed to be a single piece of curved glass with an aluminum base.

      iRP Steve.

    16. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.

      RIP Steve.

      Makes sense, it no longer has any user-serviceable parts. I hear his last words were: iDie

      RIP Steve.

    17. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by anubi · · Score: 1

      I had the utmost respect for Steve.

      He knew what was important and what was fluff. And stood up to doing it right.

      --
      "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]

    18. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      For anyone who doesn't get the humor, you used to eject floppy discs from a Macintosh by dragging the icon to the trash can -- probably the worst, most counter-intuitive, emotionally-haunting UI gesture ever conceived in the history of computers.

    19. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      Don't you mean Stevebearers?

      I shouldn't joke, though. While I'm not an Apple fanboy, there's really no denying what the man accomplished was, well, insanely great. Truth is, even Windows would suck a lot more if it didn't have Apple to chase in the UI/usability department.

      Rest well, Steve. Ya done good.

    20. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And a single button.

    21. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by airfoobar · · Score: 2

      Don't be sad everybody! Mr Jobs is not dead, he's just moved on to a higher plane of existence. Now he can be downloaded as an app.

    22. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by reboot246 · · Score: 2

      His name wasn't Paul.

    23. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      that will only function when held a certain way

    24. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Virtual_Raider · · Score: 1

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches. RIP Steve.

      Makes sense since no longer has any user-serviceable parts. I hear his last words were: iDie

      RIP Steve

      Typed from my Macbook pro

      --
      +Raider of the lost BBS
    25. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and a battery that cannot be easily replaced - RIP Steve !

    26. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Narnie · · Score: 1

      So, who was responsible for ensuring his head was preserved in a jar?

      --
      greed@All_Evils:~#
    27. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by electron+sponge · · Score: 1

      For anyone who doesn't get the humor, you used to eject floppy discs from a Macintosh by dragging the icon to the trash can -- probably the worst, most counter-intuitive, emotionally-haunting UI gesture ever conceived in the history of computers.

      You still eject thumb drives that way, iirc.

    28. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FUCK YOU!!! NORMALLY I would think that was FUNNY but I LOVED Steve Jobs!!! Make jokes about a different famous person that dies, NOT the founder of Apple!

    29. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      www.apple.com

    30. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.

    31. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Script_God · · Score: 1

      The trash icon changes into an eject icon when you're dragging an umountable volume. It's still undiscoverable, but it isn't quite as silly.

    32. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by electron+sponge · · Score: 1

      Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most... human.

      Wrath of Khan quote, for the win.

      Play him out with the pipes, Scotty.

    33. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/

      Of course the text on that page is a big ol' .png file that is immune to indexing and unnecessarily difficult to modify. Typical apple behavior.

    34. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by lexsird · · Score: 1

      You should be ashamed, countless Chinese workers who make Apple products are grieving.

      --
      Take the Red Pill.
    35. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      Ha! I still remember being afraid it was some trick and I was being fooled into erasing my disk. :)

    36. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      haha

    37. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hopefully the pallbearers don't hold it wrong.

    38. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and it will have really really bad reception

    39. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by GNUALMAFUERTE · · Score: 1

      No, his name was Robert Paulson

      --
      WTF am I doing replying to an AC at 5 A.M on a Friday night?
    40. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nooo! That will eject the corpse!

    41. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.
       

      But unfortunately his soul cannot transmit itself to heaven while the pallbearers are holding it by the sides.

    42. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His coffin only fits in a proprietary hole.

    43. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wait... as we learned when Steve Jobs left Apple the same day that CmdrTaco left Slashdot, there's credible evidence that CmdrTaco WAS Steve Jobs...

      FTFY.

    44. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Totenglocke · · Score: 2

      And it must be the thinnest, lightest coffin on the market.

      --
      "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." ~Thomas Jefferson
    45. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by tomhudson · · Score: 1

      For anyone who doesn't get the humor, you used to eject floppy discs from a Macintosh by dragging the icon to the trash can -- probably the worst, most counter-intuitive, emotionally-haunting UI gesture ever conceived in the history of computers.

      You forgot clicking on START to STOP.

    46. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by i.got.nothin · · Score: 0

      Ugh. Sure, it looks nice -- but we'll have to ship it to Apple whenever we need a replacement corpse.

    47. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Fjandr · · Score: 1

      Jobs is Lawnmower Man?

    48. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anubis+IV · · Score: 1

      That was version X of his will. The current version, version X+4, calls for a unibody aluminum design machined from a single block of aluminum stock. It's also 20% thinner and comes in five anodized colors.

    49. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ashes to Ashes.. Dust to Dust. Now would the pallbearers please drag the casket to the trash can*.

      * :)

      As in 'eject'?

    50. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ... and an Apple logo

    51. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Starteck81 · · Score: 1

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches. RIP Steve.

      with rounded corners

      Just watch, the pall-bearers will complain about the lack of handles.

      But in all seriousness RIP Steve. You will be missed. :-(

      --
      "There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order." -Ed H
    52. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Bitmanhome · · Score: 1

      All rectangles have rounded corners with radii of at least one atom, but usually much much more.

      --
      Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.
    53. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That page is typical Apple and typical Jobs. The text is quite beautiful, wonderful font, perfectly aligned. But it is an image, no alt text, no title.
      Do you like to override stylesheets with your own font? That isn't the way Apple wanted it, you are out of luck.
      Do you prefer white on black instead of black on white? That isn't the way Apple wanted it, you are out of luck.
      Do you want to use a devise that is not a standard browser to view the page, like a screen reader or, heaven forbid, Lynx? That isn't the way Apple wanted it, you are out of luck.
      Do you want to use a devise that is not a standard browser to view the page? That isn't the way Apple wanted it, you are out of luck.

      That is Job's legacy. I may sound like a curmudgeon, but good riddance.

    54. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by xenobyte · · Score: 2

      And it will open and close at the touch of a button... THE button... The only one.

      --
      "For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
    55. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by BetterThanCaesar · · Score: 1

      Yes it was. Steven Paul Jobs.

      --
      "Stop failing the Turing test!" -- Dilbert
    56. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Front page image on apple.com has a neat file name...
      http://images.apple.com/home/images/t_hero.png n

    57. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by should_be_linear · · Score: 1

      He is alive, it is all part of iPhone5 glorious introduction later this month, and, if you ask me, gets quite creepy already....

      --
      839*929
    58. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by hlavac · · Score: 0

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.

      That will guarantee that the Paulbearers "WILL HOLD IT WRONG!!!"

      When the bearers and coffin get together, you can’t help but notice an instant connection. That’s because they designed them to work with the coffin — and the other way around. For starters, coffin has magnets built right into its frame — magnets that align perfectly with the bearers for an effortless fit. On the opposite side, magnets inside the bearers help them stay put. It’s ingenious yet simple. Secure yet easy to remove. In fact, the coffin and bearers work so well together, it’s easy to think of them as one device.

    59. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No.

      If you don't want it the way Apple made it, you are welcome to go elsewhere.

    60. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by cp.tar · · Score: 1

      Why would you want to eject him?

      --
      Ignore this signature. By order.
    61. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And the coffin will be 8mm thick and weigh 0.3 pounds

      rest in peace

    62. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nah, it'll only have one button. That will cause it to levitate, float to the crypt, and start a hologram that will run in a constant loop until the Crypt 3.0 comes out.

    63. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 2

      Obviously you never had a Mac at that time. Because if you had, you knew why it is done like this and why it is super intuitve, contrarily to your believe.

      Imagine: how do you copy a file from a floppy to another floppy when you have no hard drive and only one floppy drive?

      You insert floppy A, which gets mounted as a disk icon on the desktop. Perhaps you open a document, the disk is now certainly "in use". Now you think that you would like to copy a file from that floppy A to another floppy. So you obviously need to insert that other floppy. What now? You hit Command-E or choose "Eject" from the Finders menu. Floppy A is ejected but its icon remains as a grey icon on the desktop, the open window with its files in is still open, and the document you opened before is still "open", too. In other words: the disk is still mounted but not in the drive.
      Now you insert the floppy B. You have the icon of B on the desktop. You drag files from the ejected floppy (its grey icon, you remember?) to the other floppy. The Finder is asking you to put in the approbriated disks. If the file is to big to fit into memory, or if you copy several files at once, this my be repeated several times.
      In the end you end up with a few floppies that you don't want to be on the desktop anymore. So you "dismount" them. Gray disks, e.g. can simply be thrown away by dropping them into the trash can. But if you still have a file open on that disk, the Finder and the Application using it will not let the disk go but complain (thats a win because you won't forget to save it).
      So finally for your ignorance: dragging a disk that is actually still in the drive to the trash can is a short cut for ejecting + unmounting. To make it perfectly clear to you: no you don't drag it to the trash to eject it, you drag it to the trash to unmount it. However ... I assume 90% of the Apple haters don't knwo what mounting and unmounting means ;D

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    64. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by MadKeithV · · Score: 1

      I guess Steve uploaded to the great Apple pie in the sky.
      All joking side, my condoleances to those that knew him, and goodbye to a visionary that, though I may have only rarely agreed with, at least knew the direction he wanted to take with things.

    65. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Don't be sad everybody! Mr Jobs is not dead, he's just moved on to a higher plane of existence. Now he can be downloaded as an app.

      Or as a friend of mine used to say: old programmers don't die. They just branch to a different address.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    66. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by VJ42 · · Score: 1

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches. RIP Steve.

      Not just dead but iDead - a new more stylish type of dead, released just in time for Christmas...

      RIP Steve

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, you have no reason to search me
    67. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by arkham6 · · Score: 1

      ilaughed.

    68. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      with no user-replaceable body

    69. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No sir, it's still unintuitive, and nothing you just said addresses that issue...

      You want anecdotal evidence it is unintuitive? There I was, a young kid working on a Mac, just saved my work to a floppy and... no button to eject the disk. Hrm. No obvious way to get the disk out. Okay, I ask somebody, "How do you eject this disk?", to which they respond, "Drag it to the trash".

      It took me several minutes before I believed them, and then only because they demonstrated it on their disk on a different Mac. When the logical result of an action would be to remove the data from a disk (That's what the Trash Can is for, after all), and the ACTUAL result is ejecting the disk, "intuitive" is not a word you can apply...

    70. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      there's really no denying what the man accomplished was, well, insanely great.

      Watch me.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    71. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anne_Nonymous · · Score: 1

      No, Jobs is really dead, but the Apple website indicates that he's scheduled to rise from his tomb in three days.

    72. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You guys are sick. A man died, have some decency.

    73. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by roman_mir · · Score: 1

      Do you think it'll screw up his reception?

    74. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Burial will need to wait a few years. Only the black version is available right now.

    75. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Rounded rectangles are everywhere

      except in photoshop

    76. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by CheerfulMacFanboy · · Score: 1

      Sorry, that's patented by Samsung

      What, getting buried?

      --
      Fandroids hate facts.
    77. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      So I guess he doesn't want them to replace his batteries this time around. Sad.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    78. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Palshife · · Score: 1

      His name wasn't Paul.

      His middle name was.

      --
      Attention deficit disorder is a complicated issue, spanning several major... HEY LET'S GO RIDE BIKES!
    79. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by ynot_reprise · · Score: 1

      I wonder if his funeral will support flash photography?

    80. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches.

      It also specified that the coffin should be buried in a walled garden.

    81. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ by VisceralLogic · · Score: 1

      His name wasn't Paul.

      Clearly, GP misspelled pallbearers, but still, his name was Steven Paul Jobs.

      --
      Stop! Dremel time!
  4. I read somewhere... by ArcherB · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

    His contribution will be sorely missed.

    --
    There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    1. Re:I read somewhere... by techsoldaten · · Score: 0

      Don't turn this into an Apple versus M$ you dolt, a man died today!

      Oh wait...

      See, even trolls can't overcome the remarkable sadness on the news of his passing. Beyond the hardware, he inspired a lot of debates here and elsewhere that will have a lasting impact on people. I can't believe how awful this is to hear.

    2. Re:I read somewhere... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Well... everything except for the massive Flame War he started.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    3. Re:I read somewhere... by MightyMartian · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers. The Apple II was probably the most important step into the world of computers in the home, school and business, moving us from the era of hobbiest kit computer to what we view as the standard computer, keyboard and monitor. Jobs was instrumental in that as well. This is a man, whether you liked him or not or approved of everything he did or not, who was in fact instrumental in a number of steps in the post-1960s computer revolution.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    4. Re:I read somewhere... by geekoid · · Score: 1

      what are you talking about? the poster is, basically, correct.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    5. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There seems to be some kind of mistake, I didn't get anything from Steve.

    6. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

      Not to say Jobs doesn't deserve every ounce of credit he gets for what he accomplished in the last decade. Mainstreamed personal media players, dragged the music industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century with his online music store (and now with the cloud service that's set to go live in a week), mainstreamed smartphones, conjured a market for tablets out of thin air. Dude has absolutely accomplished way more in ten years than many of us will in six or seven lifetimes.

      But for the first wave of personal computers? All Apple ever made in that era were computers that cost a shitload of money and did fuck-all. Especially the Lisa.

    7. Re:I read somewhere... by ArcherB · · Score: 1

      Don't turn this into an Apple versus M$ you dolt, a man died today!

      Oh wait...

      See, even trolls can't overcome the remarkable sadness on the news of his passing. Beyond the hardware, he inspired a lot of debates here and elsewhere that will have a lasting impact on people. I can't believe how awful this is to hear.

      I'm a PC-Linux-Android guy. No flames intended. Both Gates and Jobs are the tip top of their field, yet reached there in their own way. Both played critical roles in the industry.

      Again, no flames or trolling intended.

      HERE is the original quote:

      He was the reason many of us got into this industry, or even care about technology at all. He made the computer personal, and the smartphone fun. Bill Gates may have put a computer on every office desk, but it was Steve Jobs who put one in every dorm room and bedroom and living room. And then, years later, he repeated the trick, putting one in every bag and every pocket, thanks to the iPad and iPhone. If you use a computer or smartphone today, it is either one he created, or an imitation of his genius.

      --
      There is no "I disagree" mod for a reason. Flamebait, Troll, and Overrated are not substitutes.
    8. Re:I read somewhere... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Your definition of shiny is amusingly broad. On the next video game story I'm going to talk about how the Wii is shinier than the PS3.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    9. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are the only one implying this was intended as a MS vs apple debate.

      If you weren't so thick headed, you'd realize that this was intended as a positive note.

    10. Re:I read somewhere... by jedidiah · · Score: 0

      If you don't want this turned into a Apple versus everyone else nonsense then don't post bogus nonsense.

      Don't swim in the kool-aid. Certainly don't expect the rest of us to go along.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    11. Re:I read somewhere... by LordLucless · · Score: 2, Insightful

      His contribution will be sorely missed

      No, it won't. He might be sorely missed, but his contribution is still here.

      --
      Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    12. Re:I read somewhere... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 2

      Hey man, I think you read that wrong. I don't think he's saying that Bill was better or worse. I think he was putting them on the same pedestal.

      I don't think he was aiming for anything disrespectful.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    13. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

      I think you're not giving Woz enough credit.

      This is a man, whether you liked him or not or approved of everything he did or not, who was in fact instrumental in a number of steps in the post-1960s computer revolution.

      Although Jobs had his part, it was Woz that designed the first two generations of apple computers himself.

      I'm not trying to make light of this death, but the engineers behind all the devices are still alive.

    14. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Commodore 64, TRS-80, TI 99/A, Timex Sinclair, Atari 400/800, and BBC Acorn would like a word with you...

    15. Re:I read somewhere... by frosty_tsm · · Score: 1

      Were non-techies using those to type up their English papers? I didn't think so...

    16. Re:I read somewhere... by Osgeld · · Score: 2

      The apple 2 was nearly 6 years old when the C64 was released
      The apple 2 was nearly 5 years old when the TI99, Acorn, and Sinclair was released
      The apple 2 was nearly 2 years old when the Atari 400/800 was released

      The apple II even beats the trash80 by a couple months

    17. Re:I read somewhere... by fatphil · · Score: 1

      And let's not imagine for one minute that Jobs was the sole mould-breaker in Apple. There were indeed two key contributors in that direction - Woz and Raskin.

      Metaphorically praying for the end of the reality distortion field...

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
    18. Re:I read somewhere... by __aasehi2499 · · Score: 1

      I was 8 years old when a TI 99/4A came home, and it was a blast of a gaming machine to rival all that Atari had to offer, and a few years later, yes I was typing papers on it.

    19. Re:I read somewhere... by Macgrrl · · Score: 0

      RIP Steve Jobs, before his time with so much more he could have contributed.

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
    20. Re:I read somewhere... by zixxt · · Score: 1, Informative

      Not jobs but the Woz. Woz Made Apple Jobs was just a design marketing guy.

      --
      ---- GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation.
    21. Re:I read somewhere... by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      How, with a Ouiji Board?

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    22. Re:I read somewhere... by Truekaiser · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      and Wozniak is who i respect more then jobs. jobs was little more then a egomaniac control freak.(see pirates of silicon valley). yes some apple products were successful under him but many people seem to forget stuff like the apple cube or 'the your holding it wrong' debacle instead of admitting the antenna was grounded wrong..

      all the ones that were successful were neither the first to market nor the best available either, they were only the best marketed. if you looked past the ad's and away from best buy or target you could find great deals on much better products.

      that's where he excelled as a marketing guy. he also seemed to have reached new lows before he died though in abusing the legal system to get a complete ban on any sort or rectangular thin computer device in Germany (see here: http://www.dailytech.com/Apple+Crushes+Samsung+in+German+Court+Galaxy+Tab+101+Ban+is+Complete/article22682.htm ) and other countries using photoshoped( see here: http://www.itworld.com/it-managementstrategy/195473/apple-files-inaccurate-evidence-dutch-samsung-case and here: http://www.pcworld.com/article/238047/apple_offers_flawed_evidence_in_lawsuit_against_samsung.html ) pictures that were made to make the galaxy tab look more similar to the ipad then it actually was. But i guess android out selling apple's iphone( see here: http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/android-outsells-iphone-2-to-1-in-summer-smartphone-sales-18775/ ) was too much of a blow to his ego to get those 'inovating juices' flowing?

    23. Re:I read somewhere... by iMaple · · Score: 4, Informative
      Bill Gates respects and misses him too http://allthingsd.com/20111005/bill-gates-i-will-miss-steve-immensely/

      I'm truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs' 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.

    24. Re:I read somewhere... by arth1 · · Score: 1

      The Beeb, most certainly. Not in the US, of course.

    25. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe. There were also the TI 99, TRS 80, Commodore computers (PET, CBM 8032, C64, VIC20), as well as the IBM PC.

    26. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

      His contribution will be sorely missed.

      Sounds like Trojan's marketing plan.

    27. Re:I read somewhere... by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My 2nd computer was an Apple II. My first was a Commodore 64.

      I never cared much for Apple..... or Microsoft. Despite my disagreements that have mostly to do with privacy, hardware ownership, walled gardens, and perpetual live unpaid beta testing (Microsoft you...) the fact remains that without Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, The Woz all of us geeks would be enjoying a world that is far far less cool than it is.

      Those men made technology cool. If it were not for them, there were would be near infinitely less hot blondes that needed their computer fixed. Consider that :)

      I can't say I ever agreed with Steve much on his approach, but I will always be deeply awed and respectful by just how much he helped change the world. He truly was a genius at what he did.

      At Stanford in 2005:

      Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

      R.I.P

    28. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Are you seriously calling iGadgets computers?

      I mean seriously?? Here on Slashdot??
      Where everybody will laugh at you for not even knowing what a computer is.

      I'll explain: A computer is a freely programmable device used to automate your work away.
      A gadget has fixed functionality and at best replaceable modules. It is not programmable and usually not really modifiable, unless you void the warranty. (Like an appliance.)

      To the end-user, that is exactly what an iGadget is.

    29. Re:I read somewhere... by LinuxIsGarbage · · Score: 1

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers. The Apple II was probably the most important step into the world of computers in the home, school and business, moving us from the era of hobbiest kit computer to what we view as the standard computer, keyboard and monitor. Jobs was instrumental in that as well. This is a man, whether you liked him or not or approved of everything he did or not, who was in fact instrumental in a number of steps in the post-1960s computer revolution.

      So true. What the Apple II represents compared to other computers at the time is amazing.

    30. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah but the visionaries (and designers and marketers) are rarely the engineers...the visionary shows the engineer the future and the engineer carries the visionary there. Either one without the other is only marginally useful.

    31. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      None of it would have seen the light of day without Jobs though. Woz is a genius, Jobs took that genius and changed the world forever. RIP brother.

    32. Re:I read somewhere... by cnaumann · · Score: 1

      I should fire up my Apple ][.

    33. Re:I read somewhere... by Raenex · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Somebody like Woz needed somebody like Jobs to reach the masses, at least before the Internet came around. He wasn't just "design and marketing", though those are areas are extremely important. He was also the guy who had a vision for a consumer product and brought the company to fruition. Woz was never going to do that on his own.

      It's not just Jobs, and it's not just Woz. They were a team.

    34. Re:I read somewhere... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      Um, what does Texas Instruments have to do with Jobs? The IIe was an awesome computer for its time, which was about the time your TI was out. There were a LOT of great games for it, including a pirate Pac Man that was identical to the arcade machine. Used the IIe at the library. Had a buddy with a TI99, I wasn't impressed.

      I had a Sinclair at the time (the TI was far better). But I was a little older than 8 (hell, I'm 3 years older than Jobs).

    35. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Woz would still be doing what his boss at HP told him to do if it wasn't for Steve.

    36. Re:I read somewhere... by mcgrew · · Score: 1

      You're wrong -- there will be no more contributions, and the contributions he would have made had he lived WILL be missed.

    37. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not to say Jobs doesn't deserve every ounce of credit he gets for what he accomplished in the last decade. Mainstreamed personal media players, dragged the music industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century with his online music store (and now with the cloud service that's set to go live in a week), mainstreamed smartphones, conjured a market for tablets out of thin air. Dude has absolutely accomplished way more in ten years than many of us will in six or seven lifetimes.

      But for the first wave of personal computers? All Apple ever made in that era were computers that cost a shitload of money and did fuck-all. Especially the Lisa.

      With respect, the Lisa wasn't the first wave of personal computers. RIP, Steve.

      Typed from my Woz-autographed Apple //e.

    38. Re:I read somewhere... by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      No dissin' Woz, but what, exactly, did he do after Apple? Jobs left Apple, founded NeXT, Pixar, and then took a dying Apple and turned it around again.

      If Jobs was "just a design marketing guy", how did success manage to follow him? And if Woz was the real key to Apple's success, why couldn't he turn that into something else, somewhere else?

      Could anyone else have created the tech that Woz did? Probably. Could anyone else market it like Jobs? Obviously not.

    39. Re:I read somewhere... by Uberbah · · Score: 0

      Yes. Real computers use vacuum tubes, take up an entire floor in an office complex, and suck enough power to light up a small town.......

    40. Re:I read somewhere... by realityimpaired · · Score: 1

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

      I think you're not giving Woz enough credit.

      I think neither of you is giving Gates enough credit... most of the first wave of personal computers, including the Apple II, ran MicroSoft BASIC, one of the few pieces of software that Gates actually wrote himself.

      Not that I harbour much love for Mr. Gates, nor do I want to hijack a memorial thread for Mr. Jobs, but you really can't overlook the difference that MS BASIC made in the first wave of computers, and in making it accessible to the world. An awful lot of programmers who are today giving you the computers and ui's and tablets etc. that you use on a daily basis cut their teeth on that system in one of its forms.

      You are right, however, that Woz did design the hardware. The Apple ][ was the first computer I ever got to muck with at school (though my parents had an 8086 at home), and it was one of the first I ever programmed for. It's the end of an era. :(

    41. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

      I think you're not giving Woz enough credit.

      This is a man, whether you liked him or not or approved of everything he did or not, who was in fact instrumental in a number of steps in the post-1960s computer revolution.

      Although Jobs had his part, it was Woz that designed the first two generations of apple computers himself.

      I'm not trying to make light of this death, but the engineers behind all the devices are still alive.

      Yeah, and all of those engineers that made successful products under Steve just kept making hit products when they left Apple. NOT.

      You can be the best engineer that ever lived and not be able to create something that people will actually use. Steve took those engineers and made them USEFUL.

      What Steve did with the talent at Apple is much, much harder than it would seem.

      Of course Steve needed those engineers, but are you saying that Microsoft's engineers are any less capable? Give the man the credit he deserves, and let him RIP.

    42. Re:I read somewhere... by NJRoadfan · · Score: 1

      The Apple II was also revolutionary in being one of the first computers in an attractive beige case too. (really)

    43. Re:I read somewhere... by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

      You mean business desk, home users still used commodores and ataris and amstrads.

      --
      Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    44. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, and all of those engineers that made successful products under Steve just kept making hit products when they left Apple. NOT.

      You can be the best engineer that ever lived and not be able to create something that people will actually use. Steve took those engineers and made them USEFUL.

      What Steve did with the talent at Apple is much, much harder than it would seem.

      Of course Steve needed those engineers, but are you saying that Microsoft's engineers are any less capable? Give the man the credit he deserves, and let him RIP.

    45. Re:I read somewhere... by SplashMyBandit · · Score: 1

      Only in America. There quite a few billion more people in the world which your statement is patently untrue for. Think global!

    46. Re:I read somewhere... by SplashMyBandit · · Score: 1

      Amen to that.
      Jobs was an amazing showman and was great at minimalist design (mantra was pretty much: "can we remove it?"). However, he was not the technologist or leading-edge innovator that many people mis-attribute to him.

    47. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill did that while working for Apple

    48. Re:I read somewhere... by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      No dissin' Woz, but what, exactly, did he do after Apple?

      He made a universal remote none has ever heard of, sponsored a failed music festival, then gave up and went dancing.
      Woz is a nice guy, a genius even, but he's not exactly savvy.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    49. Re:I read somewhere... by Solandri · · Score: 2

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

      I think you're not giving Woz enough credit.

      Although Jobs had his part, it was Woz that designed the first two generations of apple computers himself.

      (I am an engineer.) Most engineers who found their first company go bankrupt because they think a product will sell on its technical merits alone. They eschew marketing, considering marketers to be liars who sell through deception. The ones who succeed do so after figuring out that a successful company needs a combination of good engineering and good marketing.

      Woz was the engineering genius. Jobs was the marketing genius. Without each other, they both likely would've ended up mere footnotes in history.

    50. Re:I read somewhere... by xero314 · · Score: 2

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

      Not to down play Jobs importance in the personal computing revolution, but the name you are looking for is Chuck Peddle. Without Chuck Peddle's inovation in manufacturing cheap microprocessors there would have been no Apple to begin with. Chuck was also the head of engineering behind the first personal computer to sell 1 million units and the best selling personal computer of all times.

      Now what Jobs did in his later years was truly remarkable. He turned computing devices into a status symbol. You might not think that is significant, but there would be a lot less computing devices around if it was not for that.

    51. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe there was an Apple with engineers and no Steve jobs for a while...didn't work out too well...

    52. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

      His contribution will be sorely missed.

      Don't you mean Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every affluent person pocket, purse and dorm. Unless you are arrogent enough to completely forget the entire rest of the world who can only afford PC's and Nokia phones.

    53. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No dissin' Woz, but what, exactly, did he do after Apple? Jobs left Apple, founded NeXT, Pixar, and then took a dying Apple and turned it around again.

      Almost correct. George Lucas founded Pixar 7 years before Jobs bought it.

      And don't give us any shit about how he transformed Pixar into what it is today - he did do that, but you said "founded."

    54. Re:I read somewhere... by leptons · · Score: 2

      The Apple II was not 'the most important step into the world of comptuers in the home, school and business', not at all really, this is just stupid. Commodore far out-shined Apple in bringing computers to the masses. The early apple computers were way overpriced compared to their competition (and they had plenty of competition), much like their later models. The commodore 64 was the best selling computer model of all time. Apple were one of many, and not even the most prolific. Apple computers still hover around only 10% market share. Saying all this stuff to aggrandize apple because stevie is dead is just lame. I love my iPad, but really, all this over-the-top praise of a dead businessman is making me a bit nauseous.

    55. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woz was an engineer. Jobs could have found another one to suit his needs and after the partnership with Woz dissolved he did (and better ones at that). Don't get me wrong, I'll always think Woz is a cool guy, but he was never a change-the-world type of guy. He was just fortunate enough to partner with one. At the time their partnership was mutually beneficial. Once Apple started raking in millions it was all Jobs.

    56. Re:I read somewhere... by nine-times · · Score: 2

      I think it should also be recognized that Jobs relentlessly pursued the idea that computers should be able to be used by normal people, that computers should not be frustrating, and that computers can be tools for making beautiful things and not just utilitarian things. At various times in the history of personal computing, Jobs pushed these ideas forward in ways that changed the direction of the industry.

      So we can argue whether Windows is better than OSX or whether Android phones are better than iPhones, but without Apple (and Jobs) pushing the idea that computers should be easy to use and that they should be beautiful, it's unlikely that Windows and Android would be as good as they are.

    57. Re:I read somewhere... by SydShamino · · Score: 1

      I think the Commodore 64 fills that step ahead of the Apple II.

      Then there were the dark days of Apple, and then Steve came back and had more than a decade of near-consecutive hits. That's his most important legacy at Apple.

      --
      It doesn't hurt to be nice.
    58. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers. The Apple II was probably the most important step into the world of computers in the home, school and business, moving us from the era of hobbiest kit computer to what we view as the standard computer, keyboard and monitor

      I think the Commodore 64 fills that step ahead of the Apple II.

      Check your history, kid. Commodore 64 was second-wave and did none of the things listed above.

      It did sell a helluva lotta units, granted.

    59. Re:I read somewhere... by ZeekWatson · · Score: 1

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers. The Apple II was probably the most important step into the world of computers in the home, school and business, moving us from the era of hobbiest kit computer to what we view as the standard computer, keyboard and monitor.

      Thats a romantic view, but actually its the Commodore 64 that was the machine that brought computers into homes, schools and offices. Faster, better graphics, real sound (Apple ][ could only make beeps and boops), and less than half the price.

    60. Re:I read somewhere... by MightyMartian · · Score: 2

      What are you talking about? The only computer Commodore had out when the Apple II was released was the PET, which, beyond a few educational institutions, had almost no penetration at all. Commodore didn't begin dominating the market until the early 1980s.

      The major systems available around the same time as the Apple II were the Commodore PET and the TRS-80 Model I, but for those first years, Apple had the dominant platform. A lot of computer historians over the years have pointed out that the Apple II with Visicalc pretty much created the notion of microcomputer as a small business machine.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    61. Re:I read somewhere... by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      The Commodore 64 came out five years after the Apple II. Good grief there are some pretty historically ignorant people here.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    62. Re:I read somewhere... by guruevi · · Score: 1

      I think he remained an Apple employee. Either way I think he simply lives off his money earned with Apple and does a bit of screwing around and philanthropy. And why not, not everybody has to make more money, he just enjoys life (as does RMS) from what he made early in life. I wish I could just quit my day job and start companies at will.

      --
      Custom electronics and digital signage for your business: www.evcircuits.com
    63. Re:I read somewhere... by epine · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Apple II had a forty column display of upper case only, which made it well suited neither for programming nor word processing. The TRS-80 had 64 columns, but no lower case, either; despite the font ROM having these characters, the video memory was organized as 1Kx7 bits, to save a single 1024x1 memory chip. Early versions of the Commodore Pet were also limited to 40 columns.

      The Apple III has a proper 80 column display, but it also had bank switched memory, and did not become successful.

      The early success of the IBM PC was in large measure driven by providing a decent keyboard and monitor, which I regard as ergonomic virtues. It certainly wasn't sold on performance.

      I purchased a fat Mac with dual floppies which I soon regretted. Trying to run a compiler, it would constantly request a floppy by ejecting the floppy it would immediately need next. I'd have to push that one back in and paperclip the other one (or was there a keystroke if I was feeling less bitter?) The hard drive upgrade was prohibitively expensive, so I purchased a beige crap-box with a 20MB hard drive, and finally managed to write some code without being in a constant state of exasperation.

      Jobs was brilliant at marketing, but I never felt Apple lead the market in technical innovation. Mac OS had tragic memory management for years and years. For everything they got right, they got another thing wrong.

      What Jobs had was the vision to define the customer's aspirations. All these aspirated customers go around redefining history, but what can you do?

      Moore's law more or less dictates that innovation follows a straight line (e.g. the slow adoption of adequate displays). The person who gets to claim the innovation is whichever sales guy is good at getting the customer to buy a more expensive machine before others can afford it. The real innovation took place--in almost every case--in the context of designs that hardly anyone could yet afford.

      His real genius for innovation didn't emerge until devices became a lot less expensive.

    64. Re:I read somewhere... by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      As has been pointed out multiple times, the C64 was the second wave, five years after Apple IIs, TRS-80 Model Is and Commodore PETS. I don't remember the C64 ever being seen as a business or education machine. It was pretty much a game machine.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    65. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The popularity of the PC is hardly due to Microsoft, it's primarily because IBM didn't (or couldn't) preventing cloning, so PCs were relatively cheap, available from multiple vendors and became a popular target for application developers.

      Microsoft was along for the ride, and just outcompeted other application developers because they also provided the OS and would use undocumented interfaces to make their applications work more seamlessly. Occasionally they even deliberately sabotaged the operation of competing applications.

      I remember back before anyone used Windows, PCs were already the most common platform for office applications (and one of the most common home computers). The applications they used weren't dominated by Microsoft; Word Perfect and Lotus were just as common as Word and Excel (Lotus was probably more common than Excel).

    66. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woz as much as a love the guy hasn't done shit in 20+ years. I take that back he did dance on some TV show and date some shitty stand up comedian.

    67. Re:I read somewhere... by euroq · · Score: 1

      The person who gets to claim the innovation is whichever sales guy is good at getting the customer to buy a more expensive machine before others can afford it. The real innovation took place--in almost every case--in the context of designs that hardly anyone could yet afford.

      His real genius for innovation didn't emerge until devices became a lot less expensive.

      You know, you're pretty right. That being said, he did REAL good at what he did at that point. And you know what? He did okay before that point... remember, he made a multi-million dollar business in a few years, back in the 70s or early 80s or whenever it was.

      So drop all the fanboy crap, and just remember what he did. He really was there in the beginning of the personal computer. He was there in that shit. He failed at many things. But those "failures" were still good enough to make him very successful (in monetary terms, he was a millionaire). And then, by the time devices became a lot less expensive, he was a mother fucking badass. So one can dismiss the early contributions in the sense that there were other people who were the most badass in those early times, but he was still a major player. What everyone is now mourning is the motherfucking badass that happened beginning with the iPod.

      --
      Just because the U.S. is a republic does not mean it is not a democracy. Democracy/republic are not mutually exclusive.
    68. Re:I read somewhere... by jedwidz · · Score: 1

      Wikipedia has the Apple II, PET and TRS-80 on the leading edge for home computing, all being released in 1977. Those other machines you mentioned (aside from the TRS-80) came later, and were basically just new permutations and incremental enhancements on the same designs.

      But of those first three, what I found particularly striking about the Apple II was:

      • It was the first to be released
      • It was the last to be discontinued (the Apple IIe, arguably just a revision of the Apple II, was selling into the 90's)
      • It had the most influence on the IBM PC
    69. Re:I read somewhere... by martin-boundary · · Score: 1

      That raises the question: are we supposed to be praising companies for their success, or for the quality of their products? Microsoft (and Apple) are extremely successful, and both are genius level at marketing. But on technical merit, we all know the quality of Windows.

    70. Re:I read somewhere... by jewelie · · Score: 1

      Without attempting to depreciate his work and Apple's importance, the Apple II was not quite as relevant in other countries. Popularizing of computers took a slightly different path in some other countries, especially the UK, so beware the generalizing statements. RIP Mr Jobs. :(

    71. Re:I read somewhere... by bronney · · Score: 2

      Those men made technology cool. If it were not for them, there were would be near infinitely less hot blondes that needed their computer fixed. Consider that :)

      The damn thing is, he made computers that don't break and don't need fixing... *RAGE* But yeah, RIP Steve-o :D Always thought apple is pretentious and gay until I got my first iPod Touch. Changed my life.

    72. Re:I read somewhere... by 91degrees · · Score: 1

      But on technical merit, we all know the quality of Windows.

      It's responsive, stable, had a journalled file system as standard long before Linux did, gives a consistent interface, is compatible with just about all hardware, and can be configured without having to edit a bunch of text files.

      I'm not saying it's perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but Slashdot seems to have this attitude that all the issues of Windows ME made it into Windows 7.

    73. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

      According to the data, other manufacturers made this before Apple.

    74. Re:I read somewhere... by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      Those men made technology cool. If it were not for them, there were would be near infinitely less hot blondes that needed their computer fixed. Consider that :)

      So my life would be a lot less sexually frustrating?

    75. Re:I read somewhere... by southr6 · · Score: 1

      No. Wozniak created the computer no doubt, but without Jobs, Wozniak would have just had a really nice computer once. Saying Jobs was awesome doesn't detract from the also awesome engineering of Wozniak. You're still stuck in the mindset that saying something is good means other things around it are not. And when Wozniak dies, then people will say he was cool and someone will say but what about Jobs.

    76. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

      His contribution will be sorely missed.

      Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

      His contribution will be sorely missed.

      Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

      His contribution will be sorely missed.

      Actually the only contribution Gates has gave the world was Microsoft to use the internet, which in fact Gates stole from Steve Jobs, which would of originally named Mac n Tosh.. Therefore Bill Gates is nothing but a thief, and a nobody in my eyes. Steve Jobs on the other hand was a legend/icon and will truly be missed.. Thank you for all your contributions and Rest In Paradise
                      ~ Richard

    77. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the annoying thing about people dieing... it's the ultimate PR move and people get credit than they don't deserve.

    78. Re:I read somewhere... by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      You might be surprised...

      --
      No sig today...
    79. Re:I read somewhere... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Pixar before Jobs was a support division of LucasFilm that did some special effects. After Jobs, it was a company that made films. Everything from Luxo Jr. onwards was Steve Jobs' Pixar. Before Jobs, Pixar had not even made a short film, let alone a feature film, it had just done effects work.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    80. Re:I read somewhere... by SteeldrivingJon · · Score: 2

      Woz would probably have been happy if the Apple Computer had remained at roughly the Apple 1 "some assembly required" stage of development.

      Woz may have designed the hardware, and done a fantastic job, but I expect it was Jobs who pushed to give it the polish and ease-of-use necessary to make it work as a product for people who don't know how to solder.

      --
      September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA
    81. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, of course. Don't forget that Steve Jobs and Apple are responsible for all the best things about the Microsoft Windows user interface!

    82. Re:I read somewhere... by William+Robinson · · Score: 1

      But for the first wave of personal computers? All Apple ever made in that era were computers that cost a shitload of money and did fuck-all. Especially the Lisa.

      Many visions start like that. It still deserves credit to the visionary, because others could see flaws in it and make it better. You may have issues accepting this, but, it is a huge loss. Industry might find it very difficult to find a true visionary like him.

    83. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Although Jobs had his part, it was Woz that designed the first two generations of apple computers himself.
      I'm not trying to make light of this death, but the engineers behind all the devices are still alive.

      Engineers, including Woz, make great gadgets. Salesmen, including Jobs, turn gadgets into cultural icons. It helps if the gadgets are great, but the actual quality of the gadget is largely beside the point.

      Take linux, for example. Lots of great engineering in linux, lots of great technical bits. No one outside the small circle of engineers and technologists cares. Jobs, more than Gates, more than IBM, was responsible for taking the interesting capabilities of a personal computer and presenting them so that non-technical people could see and access the utility. If there's a lesson to take from Jobs' successes, it's that Interface is Everything.

    84. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's great. He still didn't found it.

    85. Re:I read somewhere... by RogerWilco · · Score: 4, Informative

      Yeah, but I think Jobs proved that it's not just the engineers that make a product a success.

      I think Jobs brilliance was in steering brilliant engineers to make something non-engineers can understand and use.

      Engineers left to their own devices will give you Linux and BSD, but Jobs could get them to make OSX.

      An engineer will give you an IBM PC, Jobs had the vision to have them make a Mac.

      An engineer will give you an Alienware, Steve got us the iMac.

      An engineer will give you fixed font, Steve thought text should look good.

      iRiver vs. iPod, Windows Mobile vs. iOS, iPAQ vs. iPhone, PirateBay vs. iTunes, netbook vs. iPad, the list goes on...

      What Steve was good at, is getting some brilliant engineers together, and have them make something that my grandmother and my 3 year old kid would be able to use almost intuitively.

      He will be missed, because ow the engineers will take over again. (I'm one of them).

      --
      RogerWilco the Adventurous Janitor
    86. Re:I read somewhere... by poofmeisterp · · Score: 1

      Well... everything except for the massive Flame War he started.

      "When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and you argue about what to do about it only after you have had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb."

      - J. Robert Oppenheimer

    87. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      RE: “the fact remains that without Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, The Woz all of us geeks would be enjoying a world that is far far less cool than it is.”

      OK. On this point I have to call BS. Stop and ask yourself who invented/developed calculus, the cotton gin, the telephone, the automobile, or the airplane? If your answer is a person who spoke English, you need to do a bit more research because your thinking underlines the problem that plagues our current patent system and the strangle hold it has on innovation and the speed of human progress in today's world.

      All of the individuals mentioned have made tremendous contributions to the lives of geeks and non-geeks alike. But to believe that if they had not made the contributions that they did no one else would have either is simply stupid. Every single one of them were enabled by the sum total of humanity that preceded them, by their hard work, and by a heaping dose of blind luck in the circumstance and timing of their birth (what Dawkin's calls the lottery of birth).

      When you remove the knowledge base from which most inventions emerge, most patents amount to little more than one smart person calling “shotgun” first in the dash to the front seat at the patent office before some other smart person can get the words out of her mouth.

      The only concession I would make to the above would fall into the realm of design (think iPod vs. Zune). At this point in human history only design should be granted patents for longer than five years. The sooner the underlying technologies are freed the sooner all of humanity can advance together without the drag of those who were lucky enough to get there first. Everyone would have to compete on execution without the burden of subsidizing whoever managed to yell “shotgun” first, and the sooner we'll be free from situations like Microsoft using secret extortion tactics to make money off of Android.

    88. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A lot of people designed computers in the 1970s. Woz never finished anything and had little interest in building a business. Without Jobs, Woz is just another guy showing off hobby hardware at the Homebrew club. Jobs is the one who recognized his genius, recognized his work, and realized the opportunity to build a real personal computer company.

    89. Re:I read somewhere... by Hatta · · Score: 1

      They eschew marketing, considering marketers to be liars who sell through deception. The ones who succeed do so after figuring out that a successful company needs a combination of good engineering and good marketing.

      These two things are not mutually exclusive. Marketers are liars who sell through deception. But lying makes money.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    90. Re:I read somewhere... by psiclops · · Score: 1

      Have you tried asking for payment up-front?

      --
      i spent five minutes thinking and all i got was this crappy sig
    91. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you miss the main point, which was that Woz designed the computer, but Steve Jobs designed the package; the robust and stylish plastic case, cheerful logo etc. And that is what Jobs carried on to excel at; managing the development of beautifully styled, designed and packaged devices which people found easy to use and wanted to buy.

      -- Tim

    92. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had a smartphone long before the iPhone, and a personal organiser before that. People are giving this man far too much credit for things he didn't even do.

    93. Re:I read somewhere... by __aasehi2499 · · Score: 1

      I was participating in the thread. Read the rest of it to understand my post please.

    94. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill Gates drove me to discover Steve Jobs.

    95. Re:I read somewhere... by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      I thought that was IBM.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
    96. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alot of people are rewriting history today. It's sad that a human being has died. But we must be careful not to make up and twist history just because of emotion.

    97. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bull.shit.

      Apple II was never the most popular home computer anywhere. It was never the most popular business computer. anywhere.

      Far, far, far too much credit is paid to Apple.

    98. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You forgot the bathrooms. iPhone changed the way I poop.

    99. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woz made computers for geeks.

      Jobs made Woz's computers usable by everyone else.

    100. Re:I read somewhere... by laird · · Score: 3, Informative

      Good point. But while I think that Woz is a brilliant engineer (his Apple ][ floppy disk controller made personal computers feasible), there are great engineers at all sorts of companies, and very few companies that can have a clear, unified vision and execute on it. So as much as I admire Woz, it was Jobs that had the vision and the drive to take Woz' technical brilliance, Ives' industrial design, etc., and drive them to produce brilliant products.

    101. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The C64 vastly outsold the Apple II.

    102. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM introduced the personal computer to the world
      Bill Gates took advantage of IBM's oversight in not licensing DOS for just their products and sold it to everyone
      Compaq, Digital, Gateway, HP, et al brought the PC to the world
      Steve Jobs made a computer in his garage and made everyone believe it was 'as good as IBM clones'. He founded Apple and, after some really bad decisions, brought SPARC's point-and-click interface into the sunlight and made everyone believe it was better than DOS (and Windows, and UNIX and Linux). He left Apple, founded another company that more or less failed and then came back to Apple as a savior, dragging his failed OS behind him like a kid with a blanket. Steve brow-beat his employees into creating a sparkly OS and loaded it into computers that looked like toys and made everyone believe it was a great computer. He took the already viable idea of portable MP3 players, stuck a shiny OS into a pretty box and made everyone believe he invented something new. Ditto the iPhone and iPad. Steve Jobs may have been a leader. I know he made his employees fear him and that is not my definition of leadership. He may have been an innovator but his innovation seem to be based on someone else's innovation. What I know is that Steve Jobs was a marketer and the biggest thing he sold everyone is that Steve Jobs is an innovative inventor and a great leader.
      If Jobs had been born a hundred years ago he would have been a traveling preacher, a snake-oil salesman, a rain maker. He looked into you soul, took your fondest tech dream, bubble-wrapped it and sold it back to you at a premium. Come next year, when the Jobsian Reality Distortion Field runs out of juice, there will be a lot of people looking at their iWhatevers and seeing them for the toasters those are.
      RIP, Steve. God help us all.

    103. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

      I think you're not giving Woz enough credit.

      Martian doesn't mention anything about Woz so you shouldn't assume that Woz is being credited or discredited. However, since you mention Woz, let me state this: Woz solely made the technology (no one denies that), but Jobs convinced people to look at that technology and actually use it.

      I believe many engineers can probably learn a lot from Jobs if they want to have their technology be used in the future by much of the population.

    104. Re:I read somewhere... by mikael · · Score: 1

      But for the first wave of personal computers?
      Everything in that era cost a shitload of money and did fuck-all. That was the cost of components. You would need to get hardware engineers to design the motherboards, custom case and keyboard layout. if not ASIC's as well. You would also need some software engineers to write the GUI as well.

        Did lead to an incredible diversity in hardware at the time.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    105. Re:I read somewhere... by tmarsh86 · · Score: 1

      You mean Xerox PARC.

    106. Re:I read somewhere... by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      I think you're giving Jobs too much credit. The Apple II was primarily (I'd say 'exclusively' but my recollection of his autobiography is murky, and Wikipedia disagrees) designed by Steve Wozniak.

      What Jobs was was this: he was a shrewd marketer. In the footsteps of Marx and Lenin, he knew how to sell ideas, and that's why Apple gave so many computers to schools in the 1980s and early 90s. Indoctrination goes a long way: the generation which got those free school Apples (and, if like me, remembered them and Oregon Trail quite fondly) is the generation that had the most disposable income when Jobs came back a decade later. Apples have been marketed since as sleek, futuristic, and no-strings-attached computing devices (despite the factuality of the contrary, in many regards).

      Was he a visionary? Yes. He was very good and true to his ideas. He was great at marketing, absolutely astounding. But the important things that he pushed weren't created by him. I give him credit for recognizing them, but arguably he encumbered them with more baggage (patent lawsuits, litigation against users, etc) than was good, and things would be drastically different (for the better) had he not gone that route.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    107. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM put a computer on every desk. (Bill Gates bought the software to run them from a guy and sold it to IBM.) There, fixed that for you.

    108. Re:I read somewhere... by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      Some of your comparisons don't make sense. For example, iPAQ vs iPhone, PirateBay vs. iTunes, and netbook vs. iPad. iPAQ's are old ass PDA's or PDA's combined with smart phones. Hardly comparable. PirateBay is a website where everything is free and/or illegal, not a content delivery system you install on your pc, nor would I call iTunes superior in many ways nor easier to use. A netbook is a mini-laptop, not a tablet at all. Netbooks aren't even meant to compete with the same market. Other tablets existed before netbooks and iPad you could compare to.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
    109. Re:I read somewhere... by CheerfulMacFanboy · · Score: 1

      The Commodore 64, TRS-80, TI 99/A, Timex Sinclair, Atari 400/800, and BBC Acorn would like a word with you...

      The oldest on that list came out half a year after the Apple II, some half a decade. BTW, guess what the "II" means - yup that one wasn't the first one they made.

      --
      Fandroids hate facts.
    110. Re:I read somewhere... by SydShamino · · Score: 1

      Yeah, and it was still pretty much a hobbyist market. It wasn't until the explosion of the Commodore that computing went mainstream. You can't argue with it being the top selling computer of all time.

      There are some pretty rude people here, too. It never hurts to be nice.

      --
      It doesn't hurt to be nice.
    111. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was not so much Steve as it was the Woz!
      Steve gave us the Mac, the iPad, iPod, and the iPhone.

    112. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The Apple II had a forty column display of upper case only, which made it well suited neither for programming nor word processing.

      My Apple II+ had an 80-column display mode through an installed option card. I figured it was common, but apparently not.

    113. Re:I read somewhere... by SickLittleMonkey · · Score: 1

      I think neither of you is giving Gates enough credit... most of the first wave of personal computers, including the Apple II, ran MicroSoft BASIC

      The Apple I & II originally ran Integer Basic, written (on paper) and hand-assembled entirely by Woz.

      --
      main() {1;} // zen app
    114. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Funny, I've been saying the same thing about that guy named Jesus.

    115. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill Gates put a computer on every desk. Steve Jobs put one in every pocket, purse, dorm room and bedroom.

      His contribution will be sorely missed.

      hm, bedroom, like in vibrates a lot?

    116. Re:I read somewhere... by wickedskaman · · Score: 1

      Not all of them. The man who was the primary engineer behind the Macintosh died of pancriatic cancer several years ago: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jef_Raskin.

      --
      Sand's overrated... it's just tiny little rocks.
    117. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not all of them. The man who was the primary engineer behind the Macintosh died of pancriatic cancer several years ago: Jef_Raskin.

      Raskin's insights and contributions were huge, but he was not an engineer. He was mostly a documentation and project manager at Apple.

      Burrell Smith was the primary engineer of the Macintosh - even before Raskin quit.

    118. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >>I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit

      Every one has a part.
      Even Woz knew his part.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK_XEGrzHUo&feature=youtu.be

    119. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Bill Gates put a computer on every desk.

      That was because the IBM PC-style computers were to clunky to use anywhere else.

      If you mean that Bill Gates put a computer in every home and desktop, that is plain wrong, a myth spread by Microsoft. Even today, there are lots of homes and offices without computers around the world, most of the countries that have personal computers in most homes and workplaces today also had that pre-IBM PC (with the largest exception being USA, which was computerized very late).

      If we ignore all the homes and workplaces in the underdeveloped world, I live in Sweden, we had personal computers in most homes and workplaces in 1979, before any MS/PC DOS based computers arrived to the market (they had their large breakthrough in Sweden about 1986-87). The personal computers of that time were not necessarily placed on a deskto, since some of them (ABC 80 was very popular, arriving in 1978 it was way more powerful then the original IBM PC, to less then 1/20 of the cost, originally conceived as a home computer, it become very popular to use as a controller for machinery in the industry (it was incredibly robust and reliable, and had very well documented and accessible hardware)) was pretty easy to use everywhere you wanted. I believe all the other developed countries also had computers in most homes and offices a few years prior to the debute of the IBM PC. Granted some of those computers used Basic Interpreters made by Microsoft (but not the really early personal computers, they had Basic, Forth, or similar interpreters, developed by other companies, in 1981, most of the business (a.k.a. C/PM based) computers also had Pascal compilers in 1982).

    120. Re:I read somewhere... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I purchased a fat Mac with dual floppies which I soon regretted. Trying to run a compiler, it would constantly request a floppy by ejecting the floppy it would immediately need next. I'd have to push that one back in and paperclip the other one (or was there a keystroke if I was feeling less bitter?)

      Yes -- Shift-Cmd-1 for the first floppy, and Shift-Cmd-2 for the second floppy. To this day, the screenshot to disk and screenshot to clipboard use '3' and '4' for this very reason. CK.

  5. Well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    that sucks

  6. RIP Steve Jobs by crafty.munchkin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Thank you for giving people something to be smug about, no matter what side of the argument they are on.

    --
    ... wait, what?
    1. Re:RIP Steve Jobs by ACS+Solver · · Score: 2

      Sad news. I don't own Apple products and the last time I used one, there was no OS X yet, but I have a deep respect for Jobs. I admire his spirit, his constant desire and drive to innovate and push things forward, and his efforts in making technology more accessible.

      So RIP Steve Jobs, a man with profound impact on personal computing.

    2. Re:RIP Steve Jobs by gooman · · Score: 1

      Thank you for giving people something to be smug about, no matter what side of the argument they are on.

      It's just a matter of time and Bill Gates is going to copy him. Typical.

      --
      "Kittens give Morbo gas!"
    3. Re:RIP Steve Jobs by swalve · · Score: 1

      Couldn't have said it better myself.

    4. Re:RIP Steve Jobs by Twinbee · · Score: 1

      Wow, the 2nd half of the sentence completely changed the tone there.

      --
      Why OpalCalc is the best Windows calc
  7. I recommend people read this blog by EkriirkE · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you haven't already, filter through http://folklore.org/ , his antics at the beginning of Apple are hilarious.

    --
    from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
    1. Re:I recommend people read this blog by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you haven't already, filter through http://folklore.org/ , his antics at the beginning of Apple are hilarious.

      It's funny to read Hertzfeld's blog posts. When I was a kid Andy Hertzfeld was my household's icon of poor choices and half-assed thinking - my family was deeply entwined with a lot of the people in the image on top of his blog and none of them thought much of him.

    2. Re:I recommend people read this blog by Niris · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Watch Pirates of Silicon Valley, too. Good flick, and a fair amount of background on Jobs' early years.

    3. Re:I recommend people read this blog by Uberbah · · Score: 2

      While remembering that Xerox got paid....a little detail left out of the movie for dramatic purposes.

    4. Re:I recommend people read this blog by Deus.1.01 · · Score: 2

      After that, get the three part documentary "Triumph of the nerds".

      Sometimes i run it in the background for some hacker inspiration while I'm coding.

      --
      My -1 Troll is actually a +1 funny. And my -1 flame is actually a +1 insightfull.
    5. Re:I recommend people read this blog by Deus.1.01 · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the people at Xerox Parc was pleased on behalf of their PHB's.

      --
      My -1 Troll is actually a +1 funny. And my -1 flame is actually a +1 insightfull.
  8. RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Amazing (short) life.

    1. Re:RIP by willie3204 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      At times like this it is best to remember the good contributions from a man who provided so much to our industry. Thank you Steve wherever you are now

    2. Re:RIP by bug1 · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Well, he didnt advance technology so to speak.

      What he did was copy other people advances and make them appeal to superficial people.

      He was very good at it though, deserves respect for that

    3. Re:RIP by blahbooboo · · Score: 1

      wow talk about passive aggressive comment. Geesh. Even now you give an asshole comment.

      What have you achieved in your pathetic life....

    4. Re:RIP by MightyMartian · · Score: 3, Informative

      Everything builds on everything else. He was instrumental in the Apple II, and that was, no matter what anybody may say, a titanic shift in the manufacture, marketing and public perception of the computer.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    5. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Cool, I see your point. After your mom brings you your Mountain Dew and Cheetos for dinner, maybe we can discuss this further.

    6. Re:RIP by geekoid · · Score: 1

      That's factually wrong, and flamebait. Stop it.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    7. Re:RIP by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1

      Flamebait, perhaps. But not factually wrong. Steve Jobs was a brilliant salesman, perhaps one of the best the world has ever seen. But he reaps a ton of credit for technology he didn't create. Some of it is technology even Apple didn't create. His true genius and achievements were marketing, not tech.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    8. Re:RIP by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      How many people would you classify as "superficial"? According to sales numbers, it would have to be, roughly, a fuck-load. Either all of those people are superficial, or maybe the appeal wasn't just to superficial people. Maybe non-superficial people also found value in Apple's products. Wouldn't you think that, if the products really weren't that good, those superficial people wouldn't tell their superficial friends and relatives about them? Being superficial, wouldn't they drop Apple products for the next "shiny"? Is that happening? If not, why not?

      And if that was all he did, why couldn't anyone else do it? Superficial people are easily swayed, right?

    9. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What he did was copy other people advances and make them appeal to superficial people.

      You know, for all the whining the Apple haters do about the smugness of Apple users ... you guys are some of the most smug assholes around.

      Despite your 5 digit ID, if you really think that all Steve Jobs did was to copy other people's stuff, then you're a moron who knows nothing about the history of the tech industry.

      By steering Apple to success (twice), as well as founding NeXT Steve jobs did more to lead the tech industry forward than a lot of other people will ever be able to claim. Oh, and the whole Pixar thing. There's an entire list of consumer technologies that were popularized as a direct result of Jobs' vision,

      What did you contribute to the world that people will remember you for? Or is all you've got is some snark and some of your own smugness?

      I hope that when you die people stand around saying what a useless ass you were.

    10. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mod this disgusting bastard down, for the sake of all that is decent and good.

      what kind of depths has slashdot sunk to...?

    11. Re:RIP by Zancarius · · Score: 1

      Well, he didnt advance technology so to speak.

      What he did was copy other people advances and make them appeal to superficial people.

      I know you're already going to get dragged over the coals for this, and you're probably trolling Slashdot somewhat, but seriously. That's a pretty shitty--and ignorant--position to take: All technology is built off the shoulders of giants. Innovation is usually a process of small steps on uncharted terrain, and very seldom giant leaps over mountains.

      I'm no fan of Apple; I don't own any Apple products. But you know what? I bought my mum an iPod Touch precisely because she wanted something to carry around to play her music that would be easy for her to use, and frankly, some of Apple's offerings are far better than anything anyone else offers. Yes, Apple has smug fanboys and fangirls, but given the success of their mobile devices, Apple--thanks to Jobs--managed to do something no one else has yet. Indeed, I think that the success of Android can thank Apple for breaking new ground and the related paradigm shift that brought the appeal of smart phones to the masses.

      The world has truly lost a visionary. Perhaps the saddest commentary on this, though, is that everyone including many here had been expecting--almost begging--for a big announcement from Apple yesterday. I guess they got what they were asking for today, and that's what's damn sad.

      --
      He who has no .plan has small finger. ~ Confucius on UNIX
    12. Re:RIP by electron+sponge · · Score: 1

      Flamebait, perhaps. But not factually wrong. Steve Jobs was a brilliant salesman, perhaps one of the best the world has ever seen. But he reaps a ton of credit for technology he didn't create. Some of it is technology even Apple didn't create. His true genius and achievements were marketing, not tech.

      Xerox PARC deserves some credit, sure. But there's a reason people are using Apple-produced Macs (or Windows-based PC's) and not Xerox whatevers. That reason is, Xerox were idiots. They were so focused on making dittos they forgot about the future. Apple and Microsoft were all about the future (because, as I recall, the present sucked). My first foray into a windowed operating system didn't come from either of them, but they both got it right in my estimation. Apple needs to get on the horse and innovate some more as far as a desktop goes, though. OSX in its many iterations is getting long in the tooth. Windows XP, its contemporary, would be on service pack 7 by now. In Mac Land, service pack 7 is called Lion.

    13. Re:RIP by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      Apple is currently the only company designing products according to Dieter Rams' ten principles of good design. Go and read them:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams#Rams.27_ten_principles_to_.22good_design.22

      Steve Jobs seemed to be the only man who understood how important this is (except the consumer obviously, who reacted to the design by buying metric-shit-loads of product). Apple products are not 'shiny' or 'flashy' - they are the opposite.

    14. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      tharsman, you are one of the most disgusting fanboys that has appeared on this site over the years, and there have been many.

      i'm not entirely sure how you can live with yourself, tbh.

    15. Re:RIP by rapidreload · · Score: 1

      Thank you Steve wherever you are now

      Steve Jobs has gone to the iCloud

      --
      To all newcomers - people here are very close-minded and can't handle complaints about Linux. Keep this in mind.
    16. Re:RIP by nevermore94 · · Score: 1

      As much as I hate Apple, I will always remember Steve for creating the NeXT computer system which first introduced me to Unix on a state of the art system back in high school. R.I.P.

      --
      Nevermore.
    17. Re:RIP by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1

      Well, I'd disagree that Apple is following all of those, not to mention that those speak to only aesthetic design... not functional, which I consider by far more important. Still, it hardly matters, because even if those rules are the only thing that is important and Apple follows them to a T... Steve Jobs didn't cause that. The designers and engineers that he oversaw caused that. To whatever extent Apple has made excellent products, those products are the achievements of the people who created them, and not Steve Jobs.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    18. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think it best at times like this to be truthful. When I was in middle school, one kid who was a perpetual stoner and thorn in everybody's side drove a car off a bridge and died in the creek below. Yes, it was sad. But was equally sad were all the people who the next day saying what a wonderful guy he was. It was fun asking people what he did that was so wonderful -- and they could not think of anything. One girl said (after a long thought) : "Well, he helped me with my homework once ..."

      The fact of the matter is this: Steve Jobs was a complete and total visionary often recognizing what people want -- when people did not themselves know what they wanted. Yes, he created locked down computers such as the IPhone but at the same time, these same computers are not wildly susceptible to viruses. I develop software on Windows and I like Windows (mostly because I like Visual Studio) but for my family, I'm buying a Mac. I just wish that more companies could recognize customers needs in the ways that Steve Jobs did. Steve Jobs was also a wonderful foil against his antithesis: Bill Gates. Who would you rather have in control of the Internet?

      Steve: I'm sure you are now reinventing that big network in the sky -- one that will be without (significant) viruses making the cosmos safer and more user friendly for all.

    19. Re:RIP by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1

      It's true that history remembers those who use technology to accomplish things, and not those who created the technology. I would not agree with history that this is the important thing, however. I value the people who created the thing far more than the people who saw how to make others want it.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    20. Re:RIP by foofish · · Score: 1

      I would definitely not agree that their products are long-lasting, when iPhones are essentially intended to be thrown out once the new model comes out. I would also not agree that they are environmentally friendly. Wrapped in environmentally friendly marketing, perhaps...

    21. Re:RIP by electron+sponge · · Score: 1

      It's true that history remembers those who use technology to accomplish things, and not those who created the technology. I would not agree with history that this is the important thing, however. I value the people who created the thing far more than the people who saw how to make others want it.

      Please don't misunderstand me, I do value PARC's contribution to our present GUI environment. I decry Xerox's lack of vision. They had the world beater in the early 80's and they let it slip away.

    22. Re:RIP by intheshelter · · Score: 0

      That's so ridiculously false. If you can't even say something intelligent and true then have the decency to piss off on this thread.

    23. Re:RIP by EdIII · · Score: 4, Insightful

      At times like this it is best to remember the good contributions from a man who provided so much to our industry. Thank you Steve wherever you are now

      I would say helped create our industry. Both Jobs and Gates were instrumental in showing the world what was possible with computing. I sincerely doubt there would even be an Internet without them. Geeks would not be the new coolness, or at least in such demand, and I truly have no idea what computing would be like.

      I have been with computing from the start of it and can honestly say that despite all the faults of both Microsoft and Apple, the entire industry was spawned by those two men and the groups of people they led.

      Everybody else was just a 3rd party vendor.

      Seriously... try to imagine an alternate reality where neither Apple or Microsoft existed. Who was going to create our industry the way that it is?

      IBM? I sincerely doubt it. They would have never believed in personal computing, or that there could even be personal computing. Computers would still be AS400 mainframes to this day most likely.

    24. Re:RIP by bug1 · · Score: 2

      "All technology is built off the shoulders of giants. Innovation is usually a process of small steps on uncharted terrain, and very seldom giant leaps over mountains."

      It would nice if Apple acknowledged the shoulders it has stood on.

      e.g. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_PMP300 by Diamond multimedia was the first commercially successful portable mp3 player, release in 98. In contrast, the iPod was released three years later in 2001.

      The designers of the RIO got no credit for being innovative, but they did get recognition from the RIAA, who sued them.

      The ipod three years later got all sorts of awards for being an innovative _product_, however the most innovative thing about it was the fact they managed to do a deal with the RIAA and sell music online.

      Another example would be Mac OSX being based on BSD.

      I agree with you he was a visionary, he influenced the world in ways nobody else had (or is likely too), but while praising him for what he was. We shouldnâ(TM)t give him credit for what others did.

    25. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's also best to remember the bad practices, and look for them in your own doings and those of companies still around. Ignoring the negative is only a good idea when you're having sex.

    26. Re:RIP by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      But he reaps a ton of credit for technology he didn't create.

      Because he packaged said technology in a way that people wanted to buy it (first microdrive mp3 player with fast i/o), or helped to move the industry (USB-only iMac*). There's a word for this.....innovation.

      * Yes, USB, deal with it. Manufacturers in the cutthroat peripherals industry were slow to move to the new standard when "everyone" already had serial or parallel ports on their PC's - why add an extra cost to your device when nobody needs it? That changed when Apple created a captive Mac market with a connector that would also be compatible with PC's made in the last couple of years.

      ** No, seriously, deal with it. Sure, some USB devices were available at the time. But that doesn't mean that they had taken over the market, anymore than USB 2.0 has been replaced by USB 3.0, just because it's "available".

    27. Re:RIP by Nursie · · Score: 1

      This.

      I'm not exactly an Apple fan but you can't deny he has had a huge impact on the tech world over his lifetime, and played a major part in driving the masses to portable technology. It's sad to see him go.

    28. Re:RIP by lgarner · · Score: 1

      But he reaps a ton of credit for technology he didn't create. Some of it is technology even Apple didn't create.

      And? Neither MS nor Apple "invented" the GUI, either, but nobody else was able to get it onto the desktops. I suspect that a lot of inventions don't succeed in their original forms.

      Some think of things, some create things, and some gett things to a point where they can succeed. Jobs was very good at that.

      His true genius and achievements were marketing, not tech.

      That's probably a good thing, or there'd be a lot of Apple tech that nobody uses because it was created without a vision for those who might use it.

    29. Re:RIP by brantondaveperson · · Score: 1

      That's a fair point - but he did bring them together, and oversaw their output, and the result has unarguably been an astonishing success.

    30. Re:RIP by RobinEggs · · Score: 0

      Look, I'm sorry to be an asshole here, again, but I think it's important to remember that Steve Jobs wasn't a serious technologist. He was a genius at design and marketing, but not a technical man. I think it's insulting to the people who actually make the electrons flow to give him sole credit for the entire Apple product line the way so many people do. He was the very first and very last link in the design and quality control of many, many blockbuster products, which is absolutely huge, but he wasn't the only man in the builidng, and I get a little irritated when people even accidentally imply that he was. The guy was a visionary, an asshole, and a bunch of other things, but he was *never* a one-man company at Apple.

    31. Re:RIP by lennier · · Score: 1

      Seriously... try to imagine an alternate reality where neither Apple or Microsoft existed. Who was going to create our industry the way that it is?

      IBM? I sincerely doubt it. They would have never believed in personal computing, or that there could even be personal computing. Computers would still be AS400 mainframes to this day most likely.

      Well, for a start, there were microcomputers before and alongside the Apple II; the entire S-100 ecosystem, for a start.

      But the big deal in the 1970s was time-sharing: small companies and individuals would rent access to applications run on big centralised machines in data centers through terminal devices which were hard-coded to be mostly 'dumb' interfaces, with command sets for reading and drawing and a little local storage, but most of the processing would be in the mainframe.

      Fast-forward through the micro revolution of the late-70s-80s and the Web/Net buildout of the 1990s, and suddenly here we are in 2011. And what are the hottest new trends? Web 2.0 online apps, Cloud computing, iDevices with cut-down OSes optimised for being dumb terminals to the Cloud, and centralised oligopoly providers of rentable computing: Amazon, Google and Facebook. It's shinier, and we've got more brute processing power in our pockets, but at the App Store layer the model is converging back to the Bell/IBM vision of the future. HTML is becoming an updated VT-100 protocol, and the anarchic "everyone is a peer server" net of the 1990s seems an anomalous blip.

      Steve Jobs led the personal computing revolution, but he also led the counter-revolution. He made personal computing devices desirable and ubiquitous luxury commodities; he didn't necessarily aim to make the production of computing content, rather than its consumption, open and democratic.

      Is the consumerisation of a revolution a good thing or a bad thing? Well, that may depend on your political standpoint. But it's a thing.

      --
      You are not a brain: http://books.google.com/books?id=2oV61CeDx-YC
    32. Re:RIP by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1

      That's the exact opposite of innovation. Innovation is creating something new, not repackaging existing ideas.

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    33. Re:RIP by bigstrat2003 · · Score: 1

      Sure - I'm not saying the man was a nobody, that's obviously untrue. I just feel that he should be given credit for what he actually did (sell the shit out of products), rather than what others did (create said products).

      --
      "16MB (fuck off, MiB fascists)" - The Mighty Buzzard
    34. Re:RIP by Anarchduke · · Score: 1

      other than google, who does it all the time.

      --
      who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
    35. Re:RIP by E+IS+mC(Square) · · Score: 1

      Oh no. Somebody speaks truth at the wrong time.

    36. Re:RIP by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      No, that's you confusing innovation with another i word, invention.

      Case in point: Apple did not invent the micro-hard drive or MP3 players. But they innovated by being the first one to use such a drive as the basis for an MP3 player, when everyone else was making tiny capacity flash-based players or pocket-unfriendly players based on laptop or desktop hard drives.

    37. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Fuck you, fanboi. I am glad you can't suck his balls anymore. (Though I am sorry to see him go).

    38. Re:RIP by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 2

      iDevices with cut-down OSes optimised for being dumb terminals to the Cloud, and centralised oligopoly providers of rentable computing: Amazon, Google and Facebook.

      iDevices are anything but dumb terminals. Google is the one that's trying to move everything into the cloud, Apple's the opposite putting devices in your pocket that sync from the cloud to your devices (the cloud as syncing mechanism) with a strong focus on local applications.

      he didn't necessarily aim to make the production of computing content, rather than its consumption, open and democratic.

      Is that why every mac ships with a free development environment, a music creation application and a video editing application ? Oh and iMovie and Garageband are also available on iOS.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    39. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah Slashodot, where a very accurate post is flamebait.
      Still the fanboys are all cut up so it is to be expected.
      Fuckwads.

    40. Re:RIP by leptons · · Score: 2

      >While I'm not a fan of Apple's business practices, Steve made a lot of advances in technology. Like what exactly? What advances in technology did Steve Jobs make? I'd really like to know. What did he actually invent instead of borrow or steal?

    41. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What?!??!

      I didn't know Steve Wozniak was dead!

    42. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Seriously... try to imagine an alternate reality where neither Apple or Microsoft existed. Who was going to create our industry the way that it is?"

      Commodore. Atari.

      Seriously, people need to get the silly notion out of their heads that things would not progress without individual "X".

    43. Re:RIP by juggle88 · · Score: 1

      Right on. Unix is the core of every Mac and iPhone and iPad today.
      Without Unix, Apple will have devices that crash and burn all the time just like the old Mac pre-OS9.

    44. Re:RIP by Hognoxious · · Score: 0

      Both Jobs and Gates were instrumental in showing the world what was possible with computing. I sincerely doubt there would even be an Internet without them.

      Horsefeathers. Haven't you heard of Al Gore?

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    45. Re:RIP by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Rounded corners. And white plastic.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    46. Re:RIP by bug1 · · Score: 1

      "or helped to move the industry (USB-only iMac*)."

      Part of the way Apple helped move everybody to USB was by participating in the development of IEEE 1394 (codename "firewire").

      After the standard was finalized apple revealed their trademark on the term and demanded a $1 royalties everytime the word was mentioned.

    47. Re:RIP by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

      Most new windows software will still work even in win2000, and WinXP, its not hard to write software that disables new os features if the lib versions are too old.

      But only macs make new software LOCKED to the new OS, and not run on the older 1 gen OS on purpose by business decisions, not technical ones.

      OS & APPS should be very very separate, and very little of the higher layers should depend on very recent versions of middle/lower layers.

      --
      Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    48. Re:RIP by makomk · · Score: 1

      Invention: creating the hard drive
      Innovation: coming up with a way to build smaller hard drives
      Repackaging: combining those smaller hard drives with existing chips bought from someone else and a contracted-out software package to create a better MP3 player.

    49. Re:RIP by daktari · · Score: 1

      I highly doubt it. Where there's money to be made businesses are likely to innovate. The fact that the other players at the time did not "see the future" does not mean that this future would not have come about (perhaps in a different form). Bringing computing to the masses seems like an overwhelmingly obvious step to take...eventually. I don't think we'd all still be living in the tech stone age without the likes of Gates/Woz/Jobs. But I could be wrong.

      --
      A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees. -- Willam Blake
    50. Re:RIP by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't say that Xerox were idiots. The licensing fees from the laser printer patents alone completely covered the cost of operating PARC. They also got a big chunk of Apple shares (not sure when - or if - they sold them) in exchange for the guided tour of the centre. I don't know how much they made from Ethernet, but I wouldn't be surprised if that added up to a lot as well...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    51. Re:RIP by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Which wasn't really a problem. Sony just called it i.Link. Other people just called it IEEE1394.

      USB 1 and FireWire weren't anything like competitors though. USB was very cheap to put in devices, while FireWire devices needed a full host chip. USB only ran at 11Mb/s (less before 1.1), while FireWire ran at 400Mb/s. FireWire supported isochronous transfer, USB didn't. FireWire placed very little load on the CPU, USB was a CPU hog at high transfer rates. The iMac had both: USB for things like mice, keyboards, MIDI devices, and so on, FireWire for external disks and video cameras.

      The thing that spurred the PC industry to adopt USB but not FireWire was Intel putting USB controllers in their south bridge chips. If you used an Intel chipset, you got USB for the cost of connecting the pins to a port. If you wanted FireWire, you needed an extra chip. This made motherboards with FireWire significantly more expensive. For years, PCs were crippled if you wanted an external hard disk. You were limited to 11Mb/s via USB as the fastest external connector on most, while the few that supported FireWire found the bottleneck in the drive, not the interconnect.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    52. Re:RIP by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Wow. Where did you go to school? The cheapest computers NeXT ever sold were around $5,000, well out of the budget of most high schools. It was hard enough for the company to sell them to universities...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    53. Re:RIP by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      At NeXT, he was the one who brought object oriented programming and rapid application development into the mainstream. Both were ideas that were on his must-have feature list from the day he founded the company. Saying that he wasn't a technologist is just woefully ignorant.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    54. Re:RIP by pthisis · · Score: 1

      I would say helped create our industry. Both Jobs and Gates were instrumental in showing the world what was possible with computing. I sincerely doubt there would even be an Internet without them.

      Jobs and Gates did a lot, but let's not go overboard.

      The ARPANET went online in 1969, many years before Jobs and Gates had an impact on computing, and Vint Cerf had written the TCP spec by 1974. Intercontinental Internet traffic from Stanford to London started in 1975.

      --
      rage, rage against the dying of the light
    55. Re:RIP by serviscope_minor · · Score: 1

      He was instrumental in the Apple II, and that was, no matter what anybody may say, a titanic shift in the manufacture, marketing and public perception of the computer.

      I think you're overstating the impact of the Apple II, especially outside of the USA. The titanic shift was more the work of Mostek and Zilog who powered that first generation of computers. But really, it was poised to happen at that point in time.

      Apple/Steve has never been especially revolutionary. What they have been exceptionally good at is entering an immature market and producing a really coherent, polished product.

      I'm not trying to deride him: clearly that is a very difficult skill that few others, if any, have managed to master.

      --
      SJW n. One who posts facts.
    56. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Seriously... try to imagine an alternate reality where neither Apple or Microsoft existed. Who was going to create our industry the way that it is?

      Somebody else who would not had its way blocked by Apple or Microsoft or ended up working for them.

      As for the Internet, Apple doesn't care much about it (they are in the consumer electronics business) and Microsoft was forced to pay attention to it when they realized it could turn Windows into a commodity and destroy their profit. They didn't invent it and they would have been much happier without it (no Google to compete with).

    57. Re:RIP by pthisis · · Score: 1

      I would say helped create our industry. Both Jobs and Gates were instrumental in showing the world what was possible with computing. I sincerely doubt there would even be an Internet without them

      They were influential, but let's not go overboard--the ARPANET went live in 1969, and by 1975 Vint Cerf had spec'd TCP and there was intercontinental Internet connectivity from Stanford to London.

      --
      rage, rage against the dying of the light
    58. Re:RIP by dgr73 · · Score: 1

      While I'm not a fan of Apple's business practices, Steve made a lot of advances in technology. RIP.

      You mean advances in design.. the technology innovations weren't his, he just took them to the next level of usability. Something which I aspire to somewhat in my own line of work. So I didn't appreciate a lot of the things Apple did and don't own the toys (because that's what they are), but I don't deny what they did to the field of personal computing.

      RIP Jobs.. enter greedy corporate bastards carving Apple's carcass into their own personal empires.

    59. Re:RIP by Osiris+Ani · · Score: 1

      I will always remember Steve for creating the NeXT computer system which first introduced me to Unix on a state of the art system back in high school.

      Ditto that. When I was in high school (which had the Mac Plus in my drafting and architecture class), I was an intern at a civil engineering company, at which we had a NeXTstation Turbo. I'm not sure which changed my life more— the internship itself, or my time at that NeXT keyboard.

      These days, my own NeXT Cube sits on a shelf in my home office above an original Macintosh.

    60. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Checking my AAPL, I'd say has business practices were as brilliant as his technology implementation.

    61. Re:RIP by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      From the subtitle on this page:

      http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is/

      "Built on a rock-solid UNIX foundation, OS X is engineered to take full advantage of the technologies in every new Mac. And to deliver the most intuitive and integrated computer experience."

      They've made no secret of the fact that they have a BSD core - and in fact spend a great deal of time contributing back to it and the open source community. Not just through "legal obligation" by the licences involved, but with new projects and so on. They do far more than they are "obliged" to by licences like the GPL.

      As far as the deal with the RIAA - that was nothing to do with the iPod. The iPod was a product in itself that existed long before iTunes was selling music on the net (that didn't happen until at least 2 years later). The RIAA deal is irrelevant. While the iPod wasn't the first portable mp3 player, it was the first one to really shake up the UI and physical design. I knew someone who had a Rio and it was poorly made with a cumbersome UI. The iPod came along and changed the game. It wasn't first, but it was what people wanted.

      Apple don't claim to invent things like the iPod and iPad and so on, but they do claim that they've created something *right* (whether you believe them is entirely subjective), and in many cases that is exactly what they do.

      I'm not going to give Jobs credit for "inventing the mp3 player", that misses the point entirely. I will give him (and the team around him who he managed) the credit for making the mp3 player great.

    62. Re:RIP by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      By "very accurate" you mean "biased and deliberately flamebait" right?

      The are certainly criticisms to be made of Jobs and Apple, but the GP'd post was nothing but trolling.

    63. Re:RIP by jo_ham · · Score: 2

      NeXT, for one. Founded it, helped to shape it into what it became (including the first web server and web browser; cheers Tim Berners Lee), and took it with him when Apple bought it.

      He was responsible for driving the early creation of the Apple II along with Woz - two essential sides of a coin - one could not have succeeded in quite the way they did without the other.

      He was extremely good at what he did, and had an eye for helping to shape technology to take it beyond the realm of geeks and tech-minded people. You may not think that's a worthy skill, but it is a large part of why Apple is so successful.

    64. Re:RIP by nevermore94 · · Score: 1

      I went to high school at a small Class B high school in North Dakota. But, many of the small Class B schools in our region got NeXT computer systems granted to them some how (didn't really know where the money came from and didn't really care at the time, lol). I was just reading about NeXT in a Popular Science magazine and then a couple weeks later I walked into our schools library and seen one sitting in a little alcove in the back. I almost had to pinch myself because I couldn't believe what I was seeing. And, this wasn't just one of the little Monochrome Slabs either. This was a full on NeXT Cube with a 21" color (tube) monitor and laser printer. I had never seen anything so big on a computer. Most other computers were 486's with 14" tubes running Windows 3.1 at the time. Thus began my path of becoming a UNIX and then Linux geek.

      --
      Nevermore.
    65. Re:RIP by Dammital · · Score: 1

      IBM? I sincerely doubt it. They would have never believed in personal computing, or that there could even be personal computing. Computers would still be AS400 mainframes to this day most likely.

      You are unaware, then, of the IBM 5100 - introduced in 1975.

      IBM was coming around to desktop computing, but was hampered by a strong corporate culture of eating their own dogfood - they rolled their own processors and circuit packages. That little 5100 was a sweet machine for its time, but terribly pricy.

      Don Estridge convinced IBM to use off-the-shelf components in the mad drive to get the 5150 (IBM PC) out the door in Boca Raton, which made them competitive.

    66. Re:RIP by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Wow, that's probably close to $15K of hardware. I am insanely jealous. Those machines are still pretty expensive - they go for more than PowerPC Macs second hand - although that's probably more due to rarity than utility. I wish Apple would release the i486 version of OPENSTEP as a free download, like they did with MacOS 7.5 for people to run in emulators. NeXTSTEP / OPENSTEP is incredibly impressive when you consider that the machines it ran on were an order of magnitude slower than a first generation iPhone.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    67. Re:RIP by olau · · Score: 1

      4 Insightful? Come on! No offense, but personal computing was going to happen, Jobs or Gates or not.

      Sure, Jobs has made a difference by insisting on design all along (like it or not), and usability. No argument there.

      AS400 happened in 1988 according to Wikipedia. My father had a Samsung IBM clone (Intel 8088 processor) with MSDOS before that. According to Wikipedia, the original IBM PC was introduced 1981. I don't think you have your facts straight.

    68. Re:RIP by EdIII · · Score: 1

      When I say Internet (capitalized), I am referring to it an its entirety as it exists now. I am fully aware of what it is, its actual origins, etc.

      It is a lot more than just some TCP specs. All of the websites, businesses, technologies, communications, and how integrated it has become in our lives would not be possible if everyday people were not shown a compelling reason to participate.

      What allowed everyday people to make a decision to get an Internet account in the first place?

      Personal Computers.

      Who was part of a group of companies and people that made Personal Computers a reality?

      Steve Jobs.

      I am not going overboard at all. Without Apple and Microsoft playing their parts I am not sure if personal computing would have become as big as it did, as fast as it did. That was their vision they were trying to make a reality.

      I honestly don't see any other company having that kind of vision back then, which is essential to creating the environment that made all of this possible.

    69. Re:RIP by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      It is a lot more than just some TCP specs. All of the websites, businesses, technologies, communications, and how integrated it has become in our lives would not be possible if everyday people were not shown a compelling reason to participate.

      It was Steve Jobs that invented pr0n? I never knew.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    70. Re:RIP by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Repackaging: combining those smaller hard drives with existing chips bought from someone else and a contracted-out software package to create a better MP3 player.

      And there's a word for that: innovation.

      Apple was the first manufacturer to use a micro drive in an MP3 player, and the first to use a fast interface (400 MBPS Firewire vs 11 MPBS USB 1.1, or even parallel). That's innovation. Deal with it.

    71. Re:RIP by Zancarius · · Score: 1

      It would nice if Apple acknowledged the shoulders it has stood on.

      Yes, absolutely.

      The designers of the RIO got no credit for being innovative, but they did get recognition from the RIAA, who sued them.

      The ipod three years later got all sorts of awards for being an innovative _product_, however the most innovative thing about it was the fact they managed to do a deal with the RIAA and sell music online.

      Make no mistake about it: I don't condone Apple's business practices, past or present, but I did feel that your original post was neglecting certain truths in the business world--and, well, innovation in general.

      I do think that my reply to you was unnecessarily harsh, so I apologize for that. Other than that, I do agree with the point you're making.

      The biggest problem with your original post, I think, is that you could have explained the detail (here, for instance) of your rationale and you didn't. I've done that before, and have gotten slammed, and oftentimes, we're not likely to spend a great deal of time crafting a lengthy post when there's a relatively simple kernel of thought behind what we're writing. :)

      The problem with Slashdot in general is that short posts can be construed as trollish and inflammatory, which provokes a defensive reaction in people even if that wasn't the intent. Judging by other replies to you, I think that's likely what may have happened. Thank you for clarifying what you meant, though. I do agree; I don't feel that Apple necessarily acknowledges those whom they've borrowed from (although, no one else in the corporate tech world does, so it's not exclusive to Apple).

      --
      He who has no .plan has small finger. ~ Confucius on UNIX
    72. Re:RIP by GPLHost-Thomas · · Score: 1

      Both Jobs and Gates were instrumental in showing the world what was possible with computing. I sincerely doubt there would even be an Internet without them.

      People tend to forget that there wasn't only Microsoft vs Apple at the time, but a hell of a lot better computer products. Atari and Commodore computers were cheaper, and a way better as well: better hardware, and better software too. Up to today, I never found a more convenient way to write GUI programs than at the time I was playing with the AES and the GEM. Today's toolkits like GTK or Qt are crap (and especially compared to it). Mind you, Internet started on the Unix world, not at all on Apple or PC computers.

      While to some degree, I can agree that Apple played a role in making complicated things more simple and accessible for the masses, I can't agree with your above words. And really, Microsoft products were only parasites, their product never were leading and showing the way, but always following. And it is still the case.

    73. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would nice if Apple acknowledged the shoulders it has stood on.

      e.g. The http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rio_PMP300 by Diamond multimedia was the first commercially successful portable mp3 player, release in 98. In contrast, the iPod was released three years later in 2001.

      Um dude? I got news for you. Successful companies don't spend much time talking up what their competitors do, or did. At best, expect "here's what we do better than competitor X". If, as in the case of Diamond, it's history rather than a relevant competitor, well... companies tend to use their official communications to sell you things, not inform you about history. Which is fine if you ask me. I'm not sure I want to get my history from an inherently biased source.

      Back when they were leading the mp3 player market, I don't remember Diamond spending much time promoting Fraunhofer, the company which made MP3 players possible at all by inventing the format, including doing lots of groundbreaking basic research on perceptual codecs. And Fraunhofer wasn't Diamond's competitor, it was their partner!

      When you get right down to it, Diamond didn't do any innovative engineering, they just rolled together the first reasonably good implementation of a MP3 player from off-the-shelf bits licensed or bought from other places. Why weren't they spending all their time talking about Fraunhofer, or whoever created the CPU used in the PMP300, or the companies which invented the SmartMedia flash memory cards it used for expansion?!

      (yes, I am deliberately channeling the idiots who try to claim Apple does nothing innovative)

      The ipod three years later got all sorts of awards for being an innovative _product_, however the most innovative thing about it was the fact they managed to do a deal with the RIAA and sell music online.

      This is wrong in two major ways. The first is that the iPod was around long before the online iTunes store. They launched the store concurrent with the 3rd generation iPod hardware. The second is that if you think the iPod didn't innovate in any way over other MP3 players of the time, you have got to be crazy. There was nothing else like it. It was as small as most flash based players of the time, but featured a multi-gigabyte HD so it could store vastly more music.

      (Actually there's a third way it's wrong. You're not giving Diamond enough credit! They actually had some kind of online music service to go with the PMP300, long before Apple. And they weren't the only ones. Just as with MP3 player hardware, Apple was far from the first to do it at all, but scored high in the much more important "first to do it right" category, so much so in this case that you forgot other attempts even existed.)

      Another example would be Mac OSX being based on BSD.

      Yeah, because they go to SUCH great lengths to hide that.

    74. Re:RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It would nice if Apple acknowledged the shoulders it has stood on.
      Another example would be Mac OSX being based on BSD.

      Lots of systems are based on BSD, to the point where it's not even much of a claim. NeXT was more distinctive for having chosen the Mach microkernel rather than choosing BSD.

      What's more, everything that is novel, innovative, and exciting about Mac OS X is stuff that was added by NeXT/Apple. They built it, it's theirs, and they are right to take credit for it. By contrast, almost nothing in the system that comes from BSD is worth mentioning in an ad. Stability is about it.

    75. Re:RIP by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      I would say helped create our industry.

      Yup, thanks to the personal computer most of us reading /. have a job.

      Is not hard to imagine an alternate reality without personal computers, since Japan in early 90's had a very small market for personal computers but a very healthy market for big iron from Fujitsu, Hitachi, NEC and foreign makers. PC's, DOS/V machines and Macs certainly were sold, but not at the same scale like they were sold in USA or western Europe. For this reason consoles like the Sega Saturn were used in some business. Still, Apple managed to have 30% of the limited japanese personal computer market with the Mac, I suppose that it was thanks to its graphics capabilities that made them a good fit for word processing in japanese.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
  9. RIP by flosofl · · Score: 2

    RIP, Steve. Love or hate you, you definitely made a huge impact on the tech industry.

    --
    "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence" - Vyvyan "The Young Ones"
  10. RIP by danbuter · · Score: 2, Interesting

    While I'm not a fan of Apple's business practices, Steve made a lot of advances in technology. RIP.

  11. Au revoir. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wasn't a fan of the man in the past half-decade. But before that, he was a pretty awesome guy. In hindsight, he must have known this was going to happen for a while now, seeing as how he stepped down not too long ago.

    1. Re:Au revoir. by Lyrael · · Score: 1

      Considering he's been battling this cancer for years...I'm gonna have to say that yeah, he saw it coming.

    2. Re:Au revoir. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The worst part is he saw it coming and still got a liver that someone else could have used longer than 1.7 years...

    3. Re:Au revoir. by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

      I wonder if he donated say, 2-3 billion dollars to a cancer institute 4 years ago, would they have saved his life, or at least make him half MAN, half iAndroid.

      There have been many breakthrus in science. Or was he very 'let fate take its course' guy.

      --
      Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
    4. Re:Au revoir. by The+Creator · · Score: 1

      I wasn't a fan of the man in the past half-decade. But before that, he was a pretty awesome guy

      He was a lot like Elvis in that regard.

      --

      FRA: STFU GTFO
  12. rest in peace by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    rgds

  13. Sad day by schnikies79 · · Score: 2

    :(

    --
    Gone!
  14. The iKing is dead by Mr.Fork · · Score: 1

    The iKing is dead. Long live the iKing! Hail Steve Jobs!

    --
    Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things. - Peter F. Drucker
    1. Re:The iKing is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ding Dong! The Witch is Dead!

    2. Re:The iKing is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Que in the dreaded Yub Nub song....

  15. RIP Steve. by bartyboy · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Also, if CmdrTaco's trend continues, tomorrow will be a very bad day for him.

    1. Re:RIP Steve. by frank_adrian314159 · · Score: 1

      Amen.

      The only time I saw him bow to shareholder pressure was the first time he resigned. And the second time around, he showed you didn't have to if you stuck to your values. I hope there are others out there like him.

      --
      That is all.
    2. Re:RIP steve. by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it

      I've never died, you insensitive clod!

      Hey, wait, you've never died either!

    3. Re:RIP Steve. by wasimkadak · · Score: 1

      He hasn't updated his Google+ page for a while now. Should we fear the worst? Or should we give him till the end of the day?

    4. Re:RIP Steve. by syockit · · Score: 1

      It doesn't work that way. First he has to come up with a new news portal software, then he buys back slashdot, and make use his new software. Then you only need to worry when he tenders his resignation for the second time.

      --
      Democracy is for the people; you only vote once per season and we'll do the rest of the work for you don't have to.
    5. Re:RIP Steve. by pablodiazgutierrez · · Score: 1

      You got one thing backwards: Slashdot would have to buy that site to bring him over.

  16. Last Post by nothajan · · Score: 1

    ... RIP. Not a fanboi, but a great contribution.

  17. Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    rip steve u will be missed

  18. What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    He brought user friendliness, usability concepts to top of the pile, and caused computer technology to go for more style, but what he did with locking in his customers, limiting their freedoms and then making enormous profits over these, has caused almost all other companies to follow the same style. now every company, even google, is trying to lock in people to things so that they can cash-cow them. imagine how internet would be if it was limited to 10-15 companies and their app stores, estores, media stores etc from the start.

    unfortunately, due to what he did, this is the direction the movers and shakers of the information technology are taking.

    talk about the openness, freedom of apple at the starting stages, and talk about after jobs. i wonder if the other steve can turn things around and make apple more in line with the spirit of information technology freedom and progress again ...

    1. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by jo42 · · Score: 0

      Don't be a 'tard. If it wasn't for Apple, then Microsoft, Google, Samsung and the rest of the industry wouldn't have anyone to copy. Before Windows there was Mac OS, before any Android-base product there was iPhone with iOS. Apple blazes a path, everyone else follows.

      You will be missed, Steve. :[

    2. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by electron+sponge · · Score: 4, Insightful

      He brought user friendliness, usability concepts to top of the pile, and caused computer technology to go for more style, but what he did with locking in his customers, limiting their freedoms and then making enormous profits over these, has caused almost all other companies to follow the same style. now every company, even google, is trying to lock in people to things so that they can cash-cow them. imagine how internet would be if it was limited to 10-15 companies and their app stores, estores, media stores etc from the start. unfortunately, due to what he did, this is the direction the movers and shakers of the information technology are taking. talk about the openness, freedom of apple at the starting stages, and talk about after jobs. i wonder if the other steve can turn things around and make apple more in line with the spirit of information technology freedom and progress again ...

      I hate to dance on a grave. So, I won't. His family and friends are saddened today, and I would offer condolences.

      But the Apple model is not one we want to have replicated - and it is being replicated. In 20 years will we mourn Jobs or curse him? A brilliant man, there is no doubt. Walled gardens do us no favors.

    3. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh my god, the man just died... you don't have to toe the EFF party line every second of every day

    4. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Before Mac OS there was Xerox Alto

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto

    5. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by peragrin · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Gardens don't like walls. either you control it to tightly and everything whither and dies, or you let it loose and it over grows beyond real control.

      maintaining a perfect balance for any length of time is extremely difficult. Apple's controls will either be ripped away from them, or they will control it to tightly and it will whither. All it takes is time. It has been 4 years and the competition is just really catching up. In another 5 we shall see.

      All that said steve's push for usable interfaces pushed computing technology in directions that no other manufacturer dared to go. For that alone he will be missed.

      --
      i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
    6. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Absolutely this,

    7. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by geekoid · · Score: 2, Informative

      Sigh, not true. They all have based things off each other. Android has many features before the iPhone. It still has feature the iPhone doesn't.

      If you want a single group top point at about computers, point to Xerox PARC
      How soon people for get the MS wrote software for Apple.well, a guess a couple of decades isn't soon, but still.

      MS and Apple where working on the GUI at the same time. Apple release a few months earlier.

      It's like me saying Apple copied MS because the went to a hierarchical structure after 1985. That would, of course, be misleading at the best.

      At that time, Gates, Jobs, Woz were all in communication, and all pretty much reading the same stuff and talking to the same people.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    8. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wish I had mod points for ya brother

    9. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Unless you have a mouse in your pocket, you don't speak for 'we'.

    10. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by PhunkySchtuff · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Walled gardens do us no favors.

      I don't know about you, but I kind of like not having to worry about running malware scanners on my phone.

    11. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by CannonballHead · · Score: 2, Informative

      While I agree that Jobs was apparently a good CEO and realize that many people love Apple products...

      The history of Windows dates back to September 1981, when Chase Bishop, a computer scientist, designed the first model of an electronic device and project "Interface Manager" was started. It was announced in November 1983 (after the Apple Lisa, but before the Macintosh) under the name "Windows", but Windows 1.0 was not released until November 1985.

      (wikipedia article on Windows)

      And from the wikipedia article on the X windows system:

      Several bitmap display systems preceded X. From Xerox came the Alto (1973) and the Star (1981). From Apollo Computer came Display Manager (1981). From Apple came the Lisa (1983) and the Macintosh (1984). The Unix world had the Andrew Project (1982) and Rob Pike's Blit terminal (1982).

      .

      The whole "who came up with the idea of "windows" in a GUI" argument can get rather frustrating. It appears that the real first was the Xerox Alto and the Xeros Star back in 1973:

      The Xerox Alto (and later Xerox Star ) was an early personal computer developed at Xerox PARC in 1973. It was the first computer to use the desktop metaphor and mouse-driven graphical user interface (GUI).

      It was not a commercial product, but several thousand units were built and were heavily used at PARC, other Xerox facilities, and at several universities for many years. The Alto greatly influenced the design of personal computers in the following decades, notably the Apple Macintosh and the first Sun workstations.

    12. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, go to fucking hell. This isn't the time for that.

    13. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by rapidreload · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know about you, but I kind of like not having to worry about running malware scanners [google.com.au] on my phone.

      Agreed.

      I used to have an idealistic belief that the walled garden was a bad thing too, that user convenience and security should not take precident over a locked-down infrastructure. But as I've gotten older that belief has withered away. People have clearly shown they LIKE the walled garden because it makes things the experience ultimately less painful, and more enjoyable. People seem to prefer a walled garden environment, and companies like Apple are gladly going to give them what they want. Geeks prefer the open environment but as it turns out, the benefits aren't substantial enough to negate all the other problems.

      Steve Jobs knew what he was doing, and Apple succeeded because of the fact he didn't believe the die-hard geeks were worth listening to. Sometimes it's important to realize geeks don't understand what normal people want in technology.

      --
      To all newcomers - people here are very close-minded and can't handle complaints about Linux. Keep this in mind.
    14. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 1

      replying is enough.

    15. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 0

      In reality, though Apple has produced a number of slick and innovative products over the years, Jobs was driven not by a desire to make things easy for the world or by altruism, but by his own ego and greed. Building Apple into a profitable and influential company, twice, was quite a feat, and I would never harbor any ill will for anyone who had not wronged me. But I also had no particular love for Jobs or Apple, unlike a lot of people here, I guess. Didn't anyone ever get the feeling that Apple was just another money-sucking corporation with a really good marketing department and shiny, over-priced products? Sorry, but Steve Jobs got ridiculusly rich by telling you what you can do with your gadgets, Macbooks are over-priced, iPods have not helped end world hunger, and you COULD live without one. Tonight's news was sad, but come on, this guy was not your friend (except maybe for the three /. users who actually did know him, for whom I am sorry).

      --
      This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
    16. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

      Steve can't hog all the credit for that. Go look up the Blaster worm some time, no company wants that sort fo PR.

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    17. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by evil_aaronm · · Score: 2

      WTF are you on about? IBM, HP and many others tried for far more "vendor lock-in" than Apple. I got tons of Apple gear, but I'm not locked into Apple at all. I could take my data off of my MacBook Pro and use it just as well on a Linux or Win box. In fact, I store a large portion of my data on both Windows partitions and Solaris partitions, and that data is used by other users on both platforms. How is that locking me in?

    18. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by westlake · · Score: 1

      but what he did with locking in his customers, limiting their freedoms and then making enormous profits over these, has caused almost all other companies to follow the same style

      The essence of the thing is that Jobs wasn't producing a product for the geek --- but ordinary people whose needs and desires define "freedom" in a very different way.

    19. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 1

      first, most of what you try to give examples of, pertain to vendor lock in of corporations by corporations. it never was otherwise, and even in the most open stages of i.t. revolution it was there. it is going to be there probably into foreseable future. but, by the time steve came back, the information technology and internet momentum in regards to people like you and me as citizens, was at its peak, and IBM compatibles with all their customizability and variety were leading the way.

      after a few 'i's later, things changed.

    20. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by axis_omega · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry but I will have to post this. Innovation is "to renew or change". He has renewed and changed common objects, such as cellphones that we tough was just useful piece of communication. To be copied is a sign of leadership btw. What you call locking down, I see technology flourishing, people building millions of app, learning new programming languages. Doing business around some hardware and on the competitions hardware. What is locking down ? The consumer has so much choice. Indeed in your mind, everything is lock up. Have you build an app on any of theses new gadgets ? What is limiting your imagination ?

      Price ? Brand ? You can almost do whatever you want. You can go to build any decent application and try to sell it. They are blocking your app ? bouhou, go somewhere else. It is called the market. Like a new business that pops around your corner, but it's virtual, the strong survives. The others go home.

      Share your source, share your ideas if it doesn't work, Innovate.

      The people want to buy stuff ? let them. Who has the right to tell them that they are wrong ? me ? you ?
      You tell them that they are not free ? They don't always need freedom. They need something that works. Too much options on a device is not compatible with the use of common people. They are not always techno-ready. They don't have and need an IT background.

      They just want to go with their live, to their family, not wondering what is the best piece of equipment that will accomplish their dream.

      Friendliness, usability and even style is alot of contribution to this world. I cannot accept the fact that you think that what he took is more precious.

      He brought innovation.

      Like Einstein said "Imagination is everything", but I would add Innovation is everything.

      --
      It's funny how I make sense to others and not myself...
    21. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by ScottyLad · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Sometimes it's important to realize geeks don't understand what normal people want in technology.

      This is an important point which is often overlooked in technology discussion forums such as this one.

      Steve's genius was in predicting the things nobody thought they wanted until he showed it to them. "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them," he once said. "By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."

      --
      Philosopher (n) - a wise person who is calm and rational; someone who lives a life of reason with equanimity
    22. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Moofie · · Score: 1

      Museums are different from flea markets. Having only one model in the universe is worse than having several models, one of which you don't happen to like.

      I'm happy to pay Apple to do some rudimentary QA on the apps that run on their phones. (And, looking at where the market is nowadays, I'm not paying them very much at all...)

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    23. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by sootman · · Score: 2

      Yeah, because nobody tried to lock in customers before Apple.

      There is always a yin and a yang, a back and forth, an up and down, everywhere. You might see iDevices as a low point in the cycle but they are not the first step on the road towards the end of computing freedom. Apple has done plenty of stuff in the open direction, too. Putting a rather open, very-tinkerable UNIX on tens of millions of desktops? WebKit? Thoughts on music? Thoughts on Flash? All the work they did to make Web apps as close to first-class citizens as possible on mobile devices?

      No one is perfect, but I think (and I think history will show) that he gave a LOT more than he took.

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    24. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by electron+sponge · · Score: 1

      Oh, go to fucking hell. This isn't the time for that.

      There is no hell, so I can't go there. Sure a man has died, but does that mean we can't still be objective about what he brought about during his all-to-brief stay with us? I mean, if your tender sensibilities can't take an objective criticism of something this man can be rightfully criticized for just because he's no longer with us, perhaps you should unplug the modem for a couple days, or stop being such a mincing emo.

    25. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      It's already withering... iOS is steadily losing marketshare. Sure, they're selling more and more iPhones and iPads each quarter, but that's because the market as a whole is growing faster than their loss of marketshare. It's already on a downslope, just masked by the general market as a whole. iOS devices will end up like Macs - relegated to a small, single-digit share of market, basically irrelevant to the industry as a whole. They had a good run with media players until that market was subsumed by cell phones, and are now watching the cellphone market go away from them as well... It will be interesting to see what they move to next.

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    26. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by TrancePhreak · · Score: 1

      As long as jailbreaking is possible you will need to worry about malware.

      --

      -]Phreak Out[-
    27. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by electron+sponge · · Score: 1

      Museums are different from flea markets. Having only one model in the universe is worse than having several models, one of which you don't happen to like.

      I'm happy to pay Apple to do some rudimentary QA on the apps that run on their phones. (And, looking at where the market is nowadays, I'm not paying them very much at all...)

      If that was all they did, I'd concede the point.

    28. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by chrb · · Score: 1

      What exactly is linking "malware scanners" to a Google search for "android malware" (6.01 million results) meant to prove? If your point is that the number of Google hits is some kind of evidence of malware problems, then note that a search for "iPhone malware" produces 102 million results - the very first result being a malware scanner for the iPhone - exactly the product that you are complaining about.

    29. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 1

      none of these mean anything, if you take people's freedoms away. if it wasnt there at the onset of i.t. revolution, none of these would mean shit.

    30. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      Please define this for me, then: "locking in his customers, limiting their freedoms and then making enormous profits over these".

      Then kindly provide a concrete example of when that happened.

    31. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Pete+Venkman · · Score: 1

      I understand that you may be trying to make a point, but your timing sucks. Also, while I said you were trying, I believe you were wrong in saying that Apple was open and free at the beginning before Jobs. Jobs was AT the beginning. He was the salesman that got those boxes sold while Steve Wozniak did the technical work. Furthermore, the other Steve has almost no involvement with Apple anymore. That's three strikes--you're out.

    32. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you're a disgusting little creature and a real traitor to the human spirit.

    33. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      If that was all they did, I'd concede the point.

      If Steve was holding a gun to your head to buy Apple's products, I guess I could see yours.

    34. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 1

      search 'walled garden' here.

    35. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 1

      another steve was there with him then. then later, he wasnt.

    36. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by PhunkySchtuff · · Score: 1

      The search was meant to indicate that it is widely accepted that there is malware for Android.
      Point me to one piece of malware for iOS that doesn't require a jailbroken device to work.

    37. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Worry, no. See: herd immunity.

    38. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He died, give him a break. Running a huge company isn't going to be easy. Even if I was to agree that he was so terrible, there have been worse men.

    39. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gardens are walled by definition. If you don't control a garden, it stops being a garden. Apple products are good products because 1) Apple put forth the effort to *make* them good and 2) they had a clue what good actually is.

      For an un-walled "garden" analog, please see the sizable weed-beds of unfinished OSS software.

    40. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by electron+sponge · · Score: 1

      If that was all they did, I'd concede the point.

      If Steve was holding a gun to your head to buy Apple's products, I guess I could see yours.

      He wasn't. And I didn't. That doesn't make my criticism of their business model any less valid.

    41. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by the_fat_kid · · Score: 1

      ahhhhhhh, haaaaaaa, haaaaaa, haaaaa...
      do you give investment advice too?
      aaaaaah, haaaaaa, haaa, haaaaaa.

      get back under you bridge.

      --
      -- Sig under construction...
    42. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by EdIII · · Score: 1

      I don't know about you, but I kind of like not having to worry about terrorists blowing up buildings and planes. The feeling of security and safety feels so good I hardly miss all those things from before. They were called something like rights and freedoms were they not?

    43. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Pete+Venkman · · Score: 1

      What are you talking about? I was referring to your "i wonder if the other steve can turn things around and make apple more in line with the spirit of information technology freedom and progress again ...". The other Steve has almost nothing to do with Apple as it is run now. You were just saying things to hear yourself talk.

    44. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by metallurge · · Score: 1

      Does this count?

    45. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by The+Conductor · · Score: 1

      I would say the walled garden metaphor misses the point, or at least it gets taken too far. A better way to think about it is delegation and trust. With Linux, you can, in principle, trust no one and collect all the cource code yourself and compile it. The next step is to delegate the job of compiling code to a distro, trusting them (or for Slackware, Pat) to use only open source software in keeping with the distro's community values. Various other relationships can go from there: you presumably trust your employer-provided laptop not to spy on you, and they trust you not to improperly divulge company information on it.

      I would say that Steve Job's real innovation was to be cognizant of this delegation of trust, and he was good at getting people to buy in: Call it Charisma or the RDF. Apple products are offered as a package deal, take it or leave it. If you want the nice ease of use and aesthetic package, you have to play by Apple's rules. No modding, no tinkering, no exceptions, no whining. I never cared for the deal and always walked away, but I would admit that it is appropriate for some (most notably the very old and very young).

    46. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      "Gardens don't like walls. either you control it to tightly and everything whither[s] and dies, or you let it loose and it over grows beyond real control."

      I really, really hate this analogy. Seriously, I know us nerds don't get out much and all but do none of you actually garden? You know: Fruits, vegetables, legumes, etc? Because having a bountiful garden is incredibly time consuming. You need to constantly maintain it. It needs attention every single day, or it dies.

      Maybe we should change it to "Gardens don't like slugs!" "Slug gardens do us no favors!"

      :)

    47. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by rapidreload · · Score: 1

      Apple products are offered as a package deal, take it or leave it. If you want the nice ease of use and aesthetic package, you have to play by Apple's rules. No modding, no tinkering, no exceptions, no whining.

      Perhaps... however the thing about Apple products is that in general, they get the products to work very well such that you don't HAVE to mod or tinker with it to work well. Every time I use a Linux distro I'm always irritated with some design aspect of the desktop environment or design of how certain components fit together (or commonly in Linux's case, don't). With most Apple products they've worked out the kinks, polished off the edges, such that as long as the functionality it presents its enough for your needs, it's optimized to a higher level than you'd find in a competitor.

      I say this without even being a user of any Apple products. I can at least recognize the fact that their "defaults" if you will work extremely well for the vast majority of users. Linux is the polar opposite of Apple's philosophy of course, but it clearly shows when you just want to use technology as opposed to messing around with it.

      --
      To all newcomers - people here are very close-minded and can't handle complaints about Linux. Keep this in mind.
    48. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Walls keep the riff-raff out.

      Cetainly serve a purpose and have their place.

      RIP, Steve Jobs.

    49. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I see it, above, but that does not define "locking in his customers, limiting their freedoms and then making enormous profits over these".

      I have an iPod. I also have an iPad. How is this "walled garden" limiting me? I can find apps, developed by thousands of developers all over the world, or by me, and transfer my data to and from either device at will. Again, kindly provide a concrete example of how we are locked in.

    50. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 1

      I have an iPod. I also have an iPad. How is this "walled garden" limiting me?

      if you are using this site and still asking that to me .... i cant do your reading for you.

    51. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

      Facts are inconvenient things, aren't they? So what makes you think iOS is maintaining or gaining marketshare? It's sliding away...

      --
      Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
    52. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by unity100 · · Score: 1

      i cant do your reading for you. you got your search.

    53. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by arielCo · · Score: 1

      He showed how tight control could lead to great end results. Now others are scrambling to achieve the same in a freer, more diverse ecosystem. In the end the consumers win.

      --
      This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
    54. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by The+Conductor · · Score: 2

      That is sort of the crux though. Steve Jobs takes things out: the SD slot, the keyboard, the command prompt, the floppy drive. Taking stuff out makes it possible to simplfy the user interface. If anyone else did this, the product would fail in the market for being feature-poor, but he could get away with it because he was trusted (by some, not all) to do it well. Granted, some of the stuff Jobs took out should have been left in, the lack of fan on the early Macs comes to mind. That is the charisma, the RDF, or maybe just street cred for having introduced the Mac. Whatever it is, it accrued to him personally, not to Apple as an organization which went adrift whae he was gone.

      That also explains the stupid holy wars that surround Apple:

      • Look at Apple's new product! It is so innovative and easy to use! (Because he took stuff out and simplified)
      • It is not innovative! Everything there was already done by others. (True, but that is not what makes it easy to use)
      • Apple's stuff is merely a toy! (It is lacking certain features, but that is the price of simplicity. You are not the intended market.)
      • Apple is an industry leader! Everyone copies them! (Now everyone else can take those things out without being accused of being feature-poor.)
    55. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by PhunkySchtuff · · Score: 1

      No, because it's not malware and it's been fixed. Just like this isn't malware, it's just plain stupidity and a malware scanner wouldn't have prevented either of these incidents from happening.

    56. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by PhunkySchtuff · · Score: 1

      This on the other hand does count.

    57. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      No. It's your personal preference, and it's rather pretentious to pretend that Apple not meeting said preference is some failing on their part. If Apple's mobile platform wasn't your cup of tea, Jobs probably would have been the first one to tell you to right ahead and buy a device from a competitor.

    58. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by mercurywoodrose · · Score: 1

      to expand on the arguments of open source and free software advocates, I dont think a for profit company driven by stockholder demand for profits can do anything but create some form of walled garden. If we were serious about demanding open platforms etc etc we would insist on democratic, nonprofit control of computing platforms. access to the network should be considered the same as freedom of assembly and freedom of speech. If we leave access to private companies, we get what we have now. Steve was the hands down greatest visionary working WITHIN this system. He couldnt do it much different even if had wanted to. He gave us as much freedom as a private company could create, and gave us tools to make the use of this freedom as straightforward as possible. If we want to continue his legacy, we would probably need to overthrow the technocracy/corporatocracy, and create democratic, privacy protecting social networks, funded by all of us. Good luck nationalizing the whole lot of them (and i am fully aware that nationalization just may have its own problems...) ps. i hope that Apple can celebrate its scores of engineers and designers. only they, as a group, can come close to replacing Steve as the symbol of apple.

      --
      You hear about the person who didn't rely on anecdotal evidence to support his belief system?
    59. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by gknoy · · Score: 1

      * Note: Users must be running the Hurd to get Hurd Immunity.

    60. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      iOS has been losing marketshare since they are no longer the only game in town ?! Tell us more, captain obvious.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    61. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh read some (recent) history you Apple freak. Apple stole damn near everything they made, then danced around proclaiming themselves geniuses (even with "genius bars" filled with half-wits who can't fix a damn phone) who created it with their profound "vision" of usability and a user-centric philosophy - and doing what no other group managed to do in spite of fad-after-fad from the media, making "cool" into "sheep".

      If Steve Jobs hadn't known a great computer engineer, he would have ended up EXACTLY like Charlie Manson - and you idiots are praising him, for what?
      Thievery? (the mouse, entire OS design, right from the original Apple to the newest BSD-rip-off-and-closing-of-source)
      Deceit? (the entire Apple "culture" of halfwits too full of themselves to understand how their computer works, and too idiotic to accept they need to learn something)
      Enslavement? (foxcom comes to mind immediately, Apple's early days [yes, in America] were even the first incidence of all the evil code-sweat-shop practices everyone complains about today, the man fucking PIONEERED it!)
      Narcissism? (again, Apple culture - plus the whole conflict with IBM to start, becoming in turn even more evil than IBM was at it's worst)
      Murder? (we all know how he got the liver - Chinese execution van)

      I mean good god, he could go on a ride through each level of hell and never run out of things to make up for. And what did he actually DO? Really, what did Steve create, design, even so much as come up with the initial thought for? A corporation that became absolute evil - yes, lets wish him the best..

      Hope hell is eternal just for you, Steve.

    62. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by rapidreload · · Score: 2

      The removal of stuff is a mixed bag. To do it successfully requires one to be very careful about what you're removing and why, as well as having something to replace that lost functionality if it's still important. Steve got rid of the floppy drive - this didn't matter since removable media turned to flash drives. Was the move to flash media pushed by the loss of the floppy drive? I don't know if Apple had much influence to spurn the replacement, but maybe Steve Jobs had enough insight to realize floppies were dead and some form of removable media was going to flourish soon enough anyway.

      GNOME has tried (and continues to try) the Apple approach of removing stuff to make things easier, but in my experience the GNOME team removes too MUCH stuff without some kind of replacement. They haven't learnt the reasons *why* stuff is removed, they just copy Apple's approach without knowing why, except that if Apple does it, maybe GNOME will benefit by copying said approach.

      I try to avoid operating system/browser/editor/tech holy wars these days. They don't achieve much because the few posters who post good, well articulated and balanced views with accurate information end up completely ignored by others in the battle to rage louder than the next guy.

      Oh, and Steve definitely had charisma, that's for sure.

      --
      To all newcomers - people here are very close-minded and can't handle complaints about Linux. Keep this in mind.
    63. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Agreed. The wilderness can be nice but sometimes you just want to sit in your garden and not have to worry about being mauled by bears or getting malaria.

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    64. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by roblarky · · Score: 1

      I couldn't agree more. I personally do not care for Apple products for the same reasons many around here often cite.

      However, I think they have their place. When a friend or acquaintance mentions they got an iPhone, I generally think "Yea, you're probably better off." because they're very simple-minded people when it comes to technology, they don't really know what they want and are content to have things walled up. These are usually the people who would install anything that popped up on Windows; it really is better for them to have a walled garden.

    65. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by TheLink · · Score: 1

      He's not a pioneer in locking people in. Many companies have done it, and will continue to try to do it.

      He's probably a pioneer in locking people in AND having them intensely love it (maybe even have a religious[1] experience out of it ).

      Many like this bondage and submission thing, but not everyone does, so as long as enough companies don't do it, the rest of us should be fine :).

      [1] I wonder how many say they hate religion but follow the cult of Jobs/Apple ;).

      --
    66. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by metallurge · · Score: 1

      Oh, I don't know, my personal malware scanner says I am not comfortable with the security of either Android or iOS offerings (particularly in combination with App Stores, which would seem to be a rather large part of the draw for these devices.) I don't really have a horse in the race you are running. (shrug) From the perspective of this (hypothetical) owner, something like the iOS location logging "feature" I mentioned is, in fact, manufacturer-installed malware. I just thought you might appreciate hearing a different perspective.

    67. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When Steve Jobs introduced a new product to the world his love for the product was visible. He cared about quality products. He believed in Quality with a capital Q. The Robert M. Pirsig Quality is God Quality.

      He also believed that there was commercial value in Quality products. That as long as the product was of sufficient Quality people would pay enough for it so the company could profit. The way capitalism should work.

      For further evidence of this: NeXT and Pixar.

      People who believe in these things are often slandered as pretentious or egotistical or whathaveyou - Pirsig certainly was - but it's precisely their belief in something that transcends themselves that drives them forward without ever worrying about how they're perceived. But they're also looked up to by those who share their values. That's why the Apple fans are so adamant in their defense of everything Jobs (as is this post) - we see in him man's greatest aspirations realized. It's a value system that we share.

    68. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by metallurge · · Score: 1

      Hard to dispute that.

    69. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by arose · · Score: 1

      People can stay within the walls even if there's a gate. You can talk about what people like once there's a gate and they choose to stay, right now it's indistinguishable from rationalisation.

      --
      Analogies don't equal equalities, they are merely somewhat analogous.
    70. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Belial6 · · Score: 1

      Agreed. I get the Apple fanboys getting sobby about one of their personal heros dying, but for everybody else, it isn't a whole lot different than if Donald Trump died. I wouldn't even say that it is sad for me. I didn't personal know the guy. I wouldn't have expected him to be sad if I died either, as he didn't personal know me.

    71. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      Even Google? Since when? The 30% taken by the Google Market goes to the Carrier, not Google. So in the case of AT&T, AT&T made zilch on each iPhone app sold through the app-store, but it made 30% on the Android apps sold through the Market.

    72. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by YttriumOxide · · Score: 1

      Jobs was driven not by a desire to make things easy for the world or by altruism, but by his own ego and greed.

      Why do you think that? Because he was very successful at getting rich?

      Maybe he really did do it to make things easy for the world or for other altruistic reasons; maybe he didn't. I really don't think you or I could possibly know what was going on in the head of someone neither of us has ever met.

      Even if you think he was generally doing "bad things" (I don't), perhaps it could be attributed to misdirected altruism - like when certain fringe religious groups picket at the funerals of gay men - they honestly believe they're doing good.

      Basically speaking, you shouldn't make assumptions one way or the other about another person's motives for anything.

      --
      My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
      Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
    73. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Dude, your mom and grandma can use computers. You couldn’t have accomplished that feat on your own. You or I wouldn’t be able to make something that works beyond what we need, what we might feel is perfect for what we wish to accomplish. That’s where people like Jobs shined. He got it. And, he made sure that computers were not just for geeks. He ended products that you or I would have wanted, that you or would have I liked and he helped, enabled, allowed for tech to be put in the hands of people who would not have even bothered to own a gadget or use a computer daily, to use the danged internet. On top of that, a lot of good technology is still coming out. You try accomplishing that feat from beyond the grave, mr. houdini. Each could of us should only be fortunate enough to have 10 percent of the feathers in our caps. If we even have freaking caps to begin with.

      To move forward there has got to be more than one step and to say he didn’t facilitate or force those neXt steps is overlooking what the man accomplished and helped accomplish.

    74. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Daniel+Phillips · · Score: 1

      I used to have an idealistic belief that the walled garden was a bad thing too, that user convenience and security should not take precident over a locked-down infrastructure. But as I've gotten older that belief has withered away.

      Sucks to be you.

      --
      Have you got your LWN subscription yet?
    75. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by r3x_mundi · · Score: 1

      That has nothing to do with iOS or Android being a walled garden... iOS just has a better design; its applications are sandboxed from the underlying OS or need explicit permission to do the things that malware on Android easily gets away with.

      I think people exaggerate the walled garden argument for the iPhone. Yes, Apple imposes some draconian conditions sometimes, but its still a pretty open platform. Most of the apps i use, and the content i have brought on my phone, have not been provided by Apple. I believe most of what the people here associate with a walled garden and criticize Apple about, are really decisions Apple made to make its devices more appealing to consumers e.g. iTunes pricing, simple content purchasing, and simplicity...

      Want a more open device...dont buy an iPhone...most likely you will still be using a lot of technology and ideas pioneered by Apple e.g. Webkit, touch interfaces...but most likely, it wont be as great a consumer device.

      Steve was a complex and amazing person....i dont mean to lessen all the contributions of all the people that worked with him, but he was the one that led and drove them into producing the most polished and consumer friendly devices that are with us today. He was a true leader and visionary...

    76. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by gutnor · · Score: 1

      Gardens don't like walls. either you control it to tightly and everything whither and dies

      Actually ... tightly controlling your garden works amazingly well in the real world, there are countless example around the world, and that is a typical post retirement hobby in most of the first world.

    77. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Scowler · · Score: 1
      Apple is not open?

      Their APIs are documented well enough.

      The submission guidelines for iOS Apps are spelled out clearly enough, and seem plenty reasonable (even if they weren't at the start). The lack of adult content is the only thing that even remotely stands out.

      Apple's contributions back to the open source community are quite extensive, and their support of HTML5 is as strong as that of any other company, regardless of the motives behind it.

      I say, if you are going to slam Apple as not open, you should provide some evidence of that, because it is far from accepted wisdom. In fact, I think you are flat out wrong.

    78. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by alexandre_ganso · · Score: 1

      iOS devices will end up like Macs - relegated to a small, single-digit share of market, basically irrelevant to the industry as a whole.

      Have you ever been to an open source, programming or supercomputing conference? I wouldn't say the people there are irrelevant to the industry as a whole AT ALL. And what do you see there the most? Macbook pros.

    79. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by jez9999 · · Score: 1

      This is an important point which is often overlooked in technology discussion forums such as this one.

      Or maybe geeks know full fucking well what 'normal people want', and they simply don't want the same thing?

    80. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Gardens don't like walls. either you control it to tightly and everything whither and dies, or you let it loose and it over grows beyond real control."

      you're all a bunch of disrespectful ghouls, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. jobs didn't invent the walled garden and he wasn't even the first to use that model- take your antagonistic fanboyism somewhere else, it is grossly inappropriate here and now.

    81. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by sonicmerlin · · Score: 1

      He took computers away from the geeks and nerds and gave it to the masses. It's not as simple as a "walled garden" though. The entire approach was one of intense simplicity and ease of use. It's difficult for engineers to imagine things from the casual consumer's perspective. One might ask "why take away such and such port? What's the purpose"? It's extremely difficult to understand the benefits of simplicity and convenience over greater functionality. Nintendo's Wii gamble was almost entirely inspired by Apple's approach. Look at all the ultrabooks Intel showcased- total Macbook Air clones.

    82. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I have a garden with fences and one that goes all the way round. Each section that is fenced or walled makes a lovely, unique ecosystem different from the next. Some birds favour some sections, while some of them like other parts of the garden. The walls actually increase the diversity. Homogeneity sucks. My cat particularly prefers the vegetable garden area for chilling. I also like the privacy this facilitates. Walled gardens are great— unless you want to stare at your neighbours all day, with them eyeing you out as well! Oh, er, whats my point again? Sorry, drifting a bit there

      Rest In Peace, Steve
      and thank you for this particular 'walled garden' that I am typing this out on.

    83. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      f'ing douchebag naysayers have said "we'll see if Apple survives 5 years" for 35 years.
      Get a clue. People PREFER Apple's methods and business model.

      Apple has outlasted IBM, they're more valuable than HP and Dell combined, and I'm betting they'll be there when M$ becomes a bit player.

      What Apple has spearheaded, is wresting computers from the likes of elitist /. types, and it's solely within that tiny minority of "morally superior" folk, of the like I read here daily, where sentiments such as these exist.

      The era of hooded tech priests is ending. We, the people, do not need you, we don't want you, and it's high time we're rid of you. What computers are fast becoming (and should have already been for years), are appliances that EVERYONE, no matter the age, education or social status should be able to simply pick up and use.
      In other words, they should "just work".

      Computers need to be at the point where they're as ubiquitous as the microwave and the refrigerator, and they need to require exactly as much tech savvy as either of those to operate. People no more want to hack their toaster or blender than they want to see the innards of their computer or operating system, but the arrogant bastidges haunting sites like this one just don't get it. I take that back. They REFUSE to get it.

      The day the last call center is dialed, with some poor mom asking "why won't my computer work" will be a heady one indeed, and it's a day Apple has strived to reach for 3 decades.

      Posted from my solid state, 'it'll prolly outlast me" MacBook Air.

    84. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by m50d · · Score: 1

      I could take my data off of my MacBook Pro and use it just as well on a Linux or Win box. In fact, I store a large portion of my data on both Windows partitions and Solaris partitions, and that data is used by other users on both platforms.

      Your data sure, but you can't run your Apple OS and programs on someone else's computer. And once you get into the mobile devices it gets even worse. Thankfully music DRM is now more-or-less dead, but you can't move apple-drm music from your ipod to another music player, or buy music from another store for your ipod (when real tried, apple immediately released a "security update" just to break it). You can't move your iphone/ipad apps that you bought onto another manufacturer's phone/tablet. You can't buy apps from anyone else's app store. I imagine (I don't know, I don't use apple stuff) it's the same DRMed story for getting video from itunes - can you play videos you buy on non-apple tablets/phones/computers (sure, there's itunes for windows, but not for linux/freebsd/et al)? Can you buy videos from other places and play them on your ipad? (answer: yes - but only for some, apple has to approve their apps, and they have some odious restrictions like not selling you stuff without giving them a 30% cut). Same story for ebooks.

      --
      I am trolling
    85. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by SteeldrivingJon · · Score: 1

      The Alto (and the Star) were great, if you had $100,000 to spend on a "document processing" solution for your department in a Fortune 500 company or government agency.

      Personal computing was nothing they were interested in.

      --
      September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA
    86. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by SteeldrivingJon · · Score: 1

      "MS and Apple where working on the GUI at the same time. Apple release a few months earlier."

      Take a look at Windows 1. It's a primitive half-assed emulation of a faulty understanding of the idea of a GUI.

      --
      September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA
    87. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      No, not really. Jailbreaking is possible because of security holes. The first iPhone jailbreak that I remember the details of used a vulnerability in Apple's PDF implementation. Any web site that served you a PDF could execute arbitrary code on the device. Was it exploited in the wild? No idea, but it shows that the platform is far from immune to malware. In the month or so between public disclosure and Apple fixing the flaw, any iDevice could have been exploited just from visiting a web page.

      The locked-down App Store does very little to add security. Apple doesn't do security audits on submitted applications - they don't even ask for the source code - they just check a few things like whether you are calling any private APIs. The security of iOS apps comes from the sandbox subsystem (also present on OS X), not from the distribution model.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    88. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by rapidreload · · Score: 1

      Hardly. I'm having a fun life without needing to judge others. How about you? :)

      --
      To all newcomers - people here are very close-minded and can't handle complaints about Linux. Keep this in mind.
    89. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Stuarticus · · Score: 1

      A bit of a pedantic aside, but surely gardens are meant to be enclosed, see the etymology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hortus_conclusus. And I suppose if you had to choose between living in the forest or the garden you'd probably choose the garden, after all you can still go into the forest if you have to but at least bears won't shit in your house. Or something.

      --
      If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
    90. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Kartu · · Score: 1

      Do you also enjoy your phone note having micro SD slot?
      Having restricted/no access to your own files?

    91. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Kartu · · Score: 1

      Last three times I asked "ordinary people" "do you enjoy having to install itunes to access your device?" and "do you enjoy not having free access on its content" answer was "no".

      Did I ask wrong people, who weren't "ordinary" enough to understand goodness of not having access to your own stuff?

    92. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was with you until you mention bringing the common folk to use the Internet everyday

      So... Steve Jobs finished what AOL started? ;p

      Of course, with his passing, he'll now be deified (as if he wasn't already)

      Welcome to the Eternal Jobstember

    93. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wannabe visionaries trying to fill the gaping hole already.

    94. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      but what he did with locking in his customers, limiting their freedoms and then making enormous profits over these, has caused almost all other companies to follow the same style.

      Steve Jobs and Apple are hardly the founders and developers of the lock-in movement. Lock-in can be traced back hundreds of years. Bell Telephone was a far worse abuser of lock-in as was Edison Electric.

      This is a sad event; let's remember that Jobs was a man that did some incredible things, but was - like all of us - only human. With uptmost respect to his beliefs, I hope he achieves bodhi and can end his cycle.

    95. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A criticism on Apple's model (and promoting that it shouldn't be replicated) isn't the same as saying there's some failing on Apple's part.

      It's highly pretentious of you to spin it that way, which demonizes the critic (GP)

      How do you expect to achieve that wonderful universe with more than one device if those who have different preferences are ignored and ridiculed when they speak up?

    96. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      He took computers away from the geeks and nerds and gave it to the masses.

      Most Geeks and Nerds I know of, own a MacBook Pro, in fact most of them own more than one and have an iPad, too.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    97. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Gardens don't like walls? Like the wall on your microwave oven? In your GPS device? Your BlueRay player? Your car? Your washer/dryer?

      Job's vision was a computer seen as an appliance. Walled is a necessity.

    98. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by The+Conductor · · Score: 1

      I would make a stronger point about the removal of the floppy: Apple has an indifferent attitude toward removable media generally. The iPod, as hardware, would make a perfectly serviceable external hard drive, but software support for this was thin, and we also have the absence of SD slots. The organizing principle seems to be to have iTunes managing data instead of a file manager. iTunes knows more about the (meta-)data and can handle it with more aplomb than a general purpose file manager. That comes at the cost of limiting its scope (taking things out again) to AV media and rinky-dink apps, and keeping removable media at arm's length (copy and import rather than open up and look inside); using iTunes to manage CAD files or source code would be ridiculous.

      On Gnome, I don't have much complaint. With Ubuntu and a fast connection, it is very easy to add in stuff as you need it, "Golly, I need XYZ...sudo apt-get install XYZ". My bigger beef is with KDE, which seems to be built by people who have spent too much time looking at Macs in the Apple store and not enough time trying to use Macs to do actual work. More broadly, I find that everyone in the industry apes Apple too much; Apple has their niche, and serves it well, and profitably, but it can never be more than a minority of the market. Workhorse products serving the bulk of the market will be made by others.

    99. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      So we don't want to replicate an OS that is based on open source with a custom UI on top, that has ties into the open source community, looking for useful projects and adopting them and helping to make them outstanding, and contributing new open source projects to the community?

      An OS with a totally free IDE, that uses open standards and protocols for data and communication.

      No, we don't want to replicate that at all, because they made a phone with a walled garden.

    100. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      Cool story bro.

    101. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by jo_ham · · Score: 2

      Yes, that's fine - geeks and "normal" people want different things. Where it gets iffy is when geeks say "What Apple is doing is evil! Burn them!" because they don't agree with how they're doing it, or they categorise people who use Apple products as clueless sheep with no intelligence or mind of their own because they don;t want the same things out of technology as the geeks do.

      That viewpoint is rife around here, and it's extremely short sighted and arrogant. It also creates the incredulity that Apple can be doing so well making "inferior" products - such that they scramble about for an explanation and blame it entirely on marketing or "cult status".

      Somehow they miss the Occam's Razor explanation that Apple are making products that many people want to buy, not because they've been brainwashed into it, but because their products actually offer an experience and features that they want!

      To swing it away from computers and use the inevitable car analogy, it's the tale of two cars - one that comes as a kit (although you bought it ready assembled, it's designed to be easy to mess with and alter etc), and one that was factory assembled with limited emphasis put on home modification. Some people want the former, some people want the latter. What I don't see is people in the former group questioning the intelligence, sexuality and social standing of those in the latter group. Sometimes you just want a car, you know?

    102. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At the same time, he forced RIAA to open its catalogs. He was a great proponent of openness for everyone but Apple.

    103. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by laird · · Score: 1

      While I'm all for freedom, I think that we have to admit that Apple achieved a balance between control and openness that in part explains why they're succeeding while everyone else isn't. While you may see Apple as being the most controlling company, because you're only comparing it to desktops. But in the mobile and consumer electronics space space the large majority of devices are MUCH more locked down than the iPhone. Apple's app approval process is highly developer friendly when compared with any video game console or "feature" phone, RIM, etc. Certainly Apple is more locked down than Android, but in return they provide a much more consistent user experience. But if you ever went through BREW certification, or shipped a game on Playstation/Nintendo/Xbox, you would never again complain about Apple's app store approval process. For comparison, to ship a video game on any console, you have to pay the Sony/MS/Nintendo $12/unit to manufacture the packaged game, up front, for the entire run. So if a game sells for $40, $16 or so goes to the retailer, $12 goes to the console owner, and you get the rest ($12, which has to pay for development, marketing, etc.). And there are games which, after $millions spent on development, aren't allowed to ship, or which have to be majorly redesigned because Sony/Nintendo/MS have final approval over everything. It sucks from the developer's perspective, but arguably it's smart of the platform owners to exert those controls, because it's in their interest for their platform to have only extremely high quality games - they're all terrified of what happened to the NES when Nintendo lost control over game distribution, and the platform was crushed under a flood of "shovel-ware" that scared off consumers. Keep in mind that the platform company fronts the $billions to develop and launch the platform, and they have to make it all back (and more) on licensing and distribution fees. Failing to do so kills companies (e.g. Sega, Atari). But as much as the closed platform sucks from a technical perspective, it's arguably good for game companies in business terms, in that they know that the investment required forms a barrier to entry, limiting competition and thus maximizing sales for the games that do ship for the platform.

      Very different from the desktop market.

    104. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, that's just pot calling kettle black.

      Think about it: why do we call geeks... "geeks" (or nerd, or dweeb, or dork, etc)? "Geek" in the recent past is a stereotype in itself, its meaning and negative associations were created by short sighted, ignorant "normal" people, assigning the label to a group that is different than them

      So it's not "iffy" when the "geeks" reciprocate and call normal people sheep and cultists, it's actually... normal

      inb4 people calling me on my AC status... yet another stereotype, which further proves my point

    105. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by avandesande · · Score: 1

      Technology will move on... if anything our current tech and business models will appear 'quaint'.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
    106. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      I'm not using "geek" in a negative context here - I self identify as a geek, but either way it misses the point of my post. I could have simply said "technical" and "non-technical" and my argument would still stand exactly the same.

    107. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Adrian+Lopez · · Score: 1

      I don't think people like the walled garden so much as they like the consistency and convenience of purchasing apps through Apple's App Store. Installing products from outside the App Store may not be as convenient, but giving users that option does not make for an inferior product.

      As for security, I'd rather have a platform secure enough to run unapproved software than a platform whose security depends on the judgment of those whose job it is to make sure malicious apps are excluded from the App Store. Apple's walled garden may provide some security, but nowhere near as much security as a properly secured platform.

      --
      "In prison you just have to shut your eyes and take it. Here you have to shut your eyes and give it."
    108. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As long as jailbreaking is possible you will need to worry about malware.

      But only on the jailbroken machines, not on the iOS platform as a whole. And Apple solved the problem neatly when they announced that jailbreaking the phone voids the warranty, thereby freeing Apple from having to provide support for said phones. So the iPhones with malware issues are a microscopic fraction of the total number available, and Apple has no legal burden to clean those particular phones up.

    109. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by PhunkySchtuff · · Score: 1

      You know what, in three years of iPhone ownership, this hasn't bothered me in the slightest. I'd even go so far as to say that the thought never crossed my mine "Gee, I wish this device had a memory card slot" and I can access all my files if I need to. I don't need a memory card slot as my phone's got enough storage for everything I need to do with it.

    110. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That is not something he did. That is whats been done from the dawn of time, for instance thru religion, God, etc... Google was a very greedy company to begin with... so are other companies. Herding and guiding people to the hands of Advertisers by giving away free searches is exactly that; greed, because they are getting huge kickbacks from the beneficiaries of advertising... but you think they are being utterly generous for giving you this free service. Why do you think the so called "free" Android devices still cost about the same as comparable "walled garden, locked, you name it" iDevices? Shouldnt they be cheaper since you dont have to pay for an OS?

      Not even the so called non-profits are that. All you have to do with a Non profit is to show you dont have any profits at year end. Do they give it to you an me? no, it goes to the founders salary/bonus, etc. Next time you see something like http://www.gwinnettcb.org/ think a little about what they really do. Red Oak, our previous garbage company got booted out under the guise of "too many trucks criss-crossing neighborhood" and all the biz was given to a bigger company at a higher cost than what we had to pay. A non profit was used to make the case about how it would lower the costs and polution, but the costs are higher than would have been with the previous company. All I get is a stupid sign on the road saying "Keep Gwinnett Beautiful" as a reminder for how we are getting screwed and how my tax money is wasted for a good for nothing sign.

      Its all about greed, nothing unique to Steve or Bill.

    111. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by fiannaFailMan · · Score: 1

      Sometimes it's important to realize geeks don't understand what normal people want in technology.

      This is an important point which is often overlooked in technology discussion forums such as this one.

      Steve's genius was in predicting the things nobody thought they wanted until he showed it to them. "You can't just ask customers what they want and then try to give that to them," he once said. "By the time you get it built, they'll want something new."

      Spot on. It was the iPod's usability and integration with the Appleverse that made it such a potent game-changer. Slashdot's reaction? Focus on technical details and miss the bigger picture entirely. "No wireless. Less space than a Nomad. Lame."

      --
      Drill baby drill - on Mars
    112. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by dcmeserve · · Score: 1

      Steve's genius was in predicting the things nobody thought they wanted until he showed it to them.

      Star Wars, for example.

      (Darn, can't find a link -- but it was in one of the Star Wars documentaries. Jobs attended a screening of a rough cut of Star Wars, along with other friends of Lucas, many of whom went on to become big-name directors. Most of them were somewhat puzzled by what they saw; Jobs was the only one who went up to Lucas and told him, "You're going to make a TON of money with this!!")

      --
      "Orthodoxy is unconsciousness" - Orwell
    113. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by vakuona · · Score: 1

      If by that you mean iPhone will one day enjoy a 5-10 percent market share, whilst making most of the profits in the industry like they do with their Macs, then Apple will be doing brilliantly. I think HP would bite Apple's hand off if they were offered to swap their PC business for Apple's Mac business.

    114. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      A criticism on Apple's model (and promoting that it shouldn't be replicated) isn't the same as saying there's some failing on Apple's part.

      With some of the criticism - like oh, say, the parent posters - yeah, it is.

      It's highly pretentious of you to spin it that way, which demonizes the critic (GP)

      Nice attempt at deflection, but it's not going to work. The parent poster flatly presented his personal reasons for not wanting an iDevice as flaws with the iDevice platform, same as the people that castigate Apple for not having an easily replaceable battery, when it's only their personal preference.

      If you don't like the "walled garden" or want an SD card slot in your phone, then don't freaking buy Apple's products. Not only are they not holding a gun to your head, it's no skin off their noses if you buy a product from someone else.

    115. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Uberbah · · Score: 1

      Yes, really. Herd immunity means that the chance of an infection is minimal if the vast majority of the herd is immune to the virus. If the vast majority of iPhones are not jailbroken, much less running software that allows infections to spread, then it's not going to be a problem to worry about, any more than you worry about dying in an earthquake tomorrow. Because the chances are below minimal.

      In the month or so between public disclosure and Apple fixing the flaw, any iDevice could have been exploited just from visiting a web page.

      And how many were? First users would have had to visit a malicious web site, then view a malicious PDF specifically created to take advantage of that vulnerability. Each additional hoop to jump through is going to reduce the number of people at risk by an order of magnitude.

      Let's cut to the chase: there are trojans out there for Macs and Linux. Does the fact that they exist mean that users need to run malware scanners and anti-virus programs? No. Just because something exists, doesn't mean you need to spend any time worrying about it. Unless you're afraid you'll die in an earthquake tomorrow, in which case I think your threat assessment needs some perspective...

    116. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thanks Unity, if it wasn't for Steve Jobs, everyone on earth would own an Apple Computer.

    117. Re:What he took away is more precious than given by Keen+Anthony · · Score: 1

      The point is, Steve Jobs brought this technology to the people. Xerox created many great things. And all of those great things would have languished in a dark room were it not for people like Steve Jobs. Engineering is fine, but it's useless if not accessible. Steve Jobs greatness lay in his ability to place human needs before engineering whilst still preserving great engineering. That's not an easy task. He was a brilliant architect. Sure, I can find prior art to probably everything Apple has ever made, but it's about the totality of product from inception to delivery. Look at the notes on a guitar. They are all there for you to play, and every guitarist has played them already, but then someone comes along and finds an order of notes that creates amazing music. That's what Steve Jobs did.

  19. well, by ganjadude · · Score: 1

    i wasnt a fan of his, especially later on in life, however no one can argue his contribution to society and the tech industry specifically, you will be missed steve. RIP

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  20. Even if... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wasn't the biggest fan, Steve did good and brought great things forward. For that Thank You, and Rest in Peace.

  21. Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by milbournosphere · · Score: 5, Insightful

    You may disagree with his ideologies, but you have to admit that he changed the world we live in. Allow me to hold up my glass and tip my hat to a man to made the world just a little bit better.

    1. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by DRAGONWEEZEL · · Score: 1

      Here Here!

      I may be a PC, but him and apple made a huge impact on the way I live my life.

      RIP

      --
      How much is your data worth? Back it up now.
    2. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by mirix · · Score: 1

      You may disagree with his ideologies, but you have to admit that he changed the world we live in.

      You can say that about a lot of people, and not in a good way.

      Anyhow, so long Steve, thanks for all the rounded shiny.

      --
      Sent from my PDP-11
    3. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Commontwist · · Score: 1

      Aye. At a relatively young 56. Died too early. I'm living for the day when all the cancer cures finally become available to doctors.

    4. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      You may disagree with his ideologies, but you have to admit that he changed the world we live in.

      Yes, he created the idea of the walled garden and the locked gate - and then he made it seem 'cool' to be locked in.

    5. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Scowler · · Score: 1
      It's 'cool' to have a useful computing product, especially when it does what I want it to do, when I want it.

      Uncool, is to throw around the "walled garden" meme with abandon, without even understanding the concept or really knowing how poorly it fits the Apple product environment, in reality.

    6. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This is the most ridiculous statement I've ever heard. First, this is not ideologies, this is marketing and business. Second, I don't think that africans, indians, or next to you, south americans have a better life thanks to apple products. Even as an occidental guy, I don't see how it has improved our lives. Your vision of the world is biased.

      However, these products were all greatly designed and marketed.

    7. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Toreo+asesino · · Score: 1

      Couldn't have said it better myself.

      --
      throw new NoSignatureException();
    8. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That was a near-Godwin... ;-)

    9. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So did bush and bin laden.

    10. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      So your argument is.... capitalism is bad?

    11. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Reverand+Dave · · Score: 1

      Mostly they showed me that John Hodgman is more awesome than Justin Long.

      --
      I got here through a series of tubes
    12. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Every one changes the world we live in. Some people change more than others, but all change something or someone, for good or bad.

    13. Re:Bummer, and that's no exaggeration by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > You may disagree with his ideologies, but you have to admit that he changed the world we live in

      We could say the same thing about Hitler.

  22. Rest in Peace by Sailor+Coruscant · · Score: 1

    I didn't know you, and I was never lucky enough to get an email reply from you, but you changed my world and made it a better place. I'll miss you, Steve.

  23. You will be remembered.. by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

    ..fondly by some, but here I can't say for sure.

    --
    There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
  24. Battery? by jmac_the_man · · Score: 2, Interesting
    If only he had a user replacable battery.

    jk...I'm not a big fan of his company, but RIP.

  25. Thank you Steve Jobs by Xaedalus · · Score: 0

    For Toy Story 1, 2, and 3, Finding Nemo, Up, Wall-E, Ratatoille, Cars, The Incredibles. Oh, and for all the shiny toys :-)

    --
    Here's to hot beer, cold women, and Glaswegian kisses for all.
    1. Re:Thank you Steve Jobs by Macgrrl · · Score: 1

      You forgot Luxor Jnr, Knick Knack, For the Birds, bounding, etc...

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
  26. RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    RIP and may you find peace.

  27. Farewell, vision guy... by Millennium · · Score: 1

    I haven't been a Mac zealot in years. I switched to Linux quite some time ago. But the fact remains that large portions of my life, online and off, would be very different if not for this man. Rest in peace.

    1. Re:Farewell, vision guy... by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      Nice to see that you are well. Jafac and you were the early users of /. that I followed the most.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
  28. Some interesting insights by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 4, Informative

    Some inspirational speeches
    "Focus is not about saying Yes, but about saying No"
    http://www.businessinsider.com/steve-jobs-1997-video-2011-6

    Steve Jobs' 2005 Stanford Commencement Address
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc

    âoeThis was a very typical time. I was single. All you needed was a cup of tea, a light, and your stereo, you know, and thatâ(TM)s what I had.â ...Steve Jobs, at home in 1982.
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/pacman3000/4042368287/

    1. Re:Some interesting insights by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 1

      "when you say no to people they get pissed off, go to the San Jose Mercury and they write a shitty article about you."

      That sounds familiar.

      --
      Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
    2. Re:Some interesting insights by El_Muerte_TDS · · Score: 1

      Don't forget this one:

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSiQA6KKyJo&feature=player_detailpage#t=200s

      It is now 1984. It appears IBM wants it all. Apple is perceived to be the only hope to offer IBM a run for its money. Dealers initially welcoming IBM with open arms now fear an IBM dominated and controlled future. They are increasingly turning back to Apple as the only force that can ensure their future freedom. IBM wants it all and is aiming its guns on its last obstacle to industry control: Apple. Will Big Blue dominate the entire computer industry? The entire information age? Was George Orwell right?

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_(advertisement)

    3. Re:Some interesting insights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This photo from your link to Flickr really speaks volumes about him...he was all bout trimming off the fat, reducing products and services to their absolut minimum but still useful state.

      It's a sad day today, my thoughts go out to this family...RIP

    4. Re:Some interesting insights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thoughts on Flash justifies Job's stand on barring flash. The paper personifies Job's motivation and focus with solid arguments. Compromise diminishes the product. Job's passion for unadulterated function won me over. An All American hero. Here is one marketing engineer I really like.

    5. Re:Some interesting insights by SebastianPY · · Score: 1

      Please give the man a rest!

      Now it's not good to remember the Stanford speech where he wrongfully took credit for introducing fonts in graphical interfaces:

      "I decided to take a calligraphy class (at Reed College)... . . . None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's likely that no personal computer would have them. [1]"

      However, Bravo was the 1st WYSIWYG editor that used multiple fonts and it was created in 1974 [2]. It was a Xerox Alto [3] software.

      [1] Transcript of Commencement Speech at Stanford given by Steve Jobs http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts

      [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bravo_(software)

      [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto

  29. As awesome in person, as you might expect by MacTechnic · · Score: 1

    It is regrettable that Steve Jobs has died. He was remarkable person to meet in person as well as experience through the media. I expect that much will be written about him the days ahead. However, there is no doubt he changed the world as we know it. Like him or not, he could not be ignored or underestimated. Take Care and be well!

  30. Gone too soon. by ethoxyethaan · · Score: 3, Funny

    The IPhone 4S announcement must have hit him really hard.

    1. Re:Gone too soon. by Bucky24 · · Score: 0, Troll

      He put his SOUL into that product... Literally

      --
      All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
    2. Re:Gone too soon. by starfire83 · · Score: 1

      Too soon.

    3. Re:Gone too soon. by Macgrrl · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Maybe the "S" stands for "Steve".

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
    4. Re:Gone too soon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are so stupid and stupid are the people that marked your freaky comment as funny... 1,000 times stupid, shame on you.

    5. Re:Gone too soon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The IPhone 4S announcement must have hit him really hard.

      I think it was the let down that the iPhone 5 wasn't announced.

    6. Re:Gone too soon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Not funny, but possibly true. Too much of a coincidence. He took the cyanid pill like classical heroes, like Hitler, used to do, when they were outgunned and outnumbered.

    7. Re:Gone too soon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      iPhone 4 Steve

    8. Re:Gone too soon. by llZENll · · Score: 1

      Even his act of dying happens to be an ideal event for Apple. By dying he has swept the severely negative 4S news under the rug only hours after it was gaining momentum, and garnering positive emotion for him and Apple even from competitors. Amazing, no CEO will ever top his record: the rise of Apple from near bankruptcy to largest cap company in the world and domination of several media at once.

    9. Re:Gone too soon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The comment was hilarious, fanboi. If I had mod points left, +1 FUnny.

  31. Great Man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Great Man

  32. Rest in Peace by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not only a visionary, an inspiring business legend.

    Send from my iPad.

  33. I hate Apple by Severus+Snape · · Score: 1

    but I'm close to tears, very sad day for the technology world.

    1. Re:I hate Apple by geekoid · · Score: 2

      Suck it up Severus.

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  34. Credit where it's due by anlag · · Score: 1

    I'm not a fan of Apple, but there's no denying Jobs was one of the greatest legends of the IT era. RIP Steve, far too young.

    1. Re:Credit where it's due by noc007 · · Score: 1

      Ditto.

      Rest in peace, Mr. Jobs.

  35. RIP Steve by NivenHuH · · Score: 1

    What a bummer... Steve was one of the few people who inspired me to be as crazy as I have been over the years.
    It's weird to have chills after hearing the news. As an ex-Apple employee, I hope that the engineering culture he created continues to live on.

    --
    Just when you make it idiotproof, some idiot builds a better idiot.
    1. Re:RIP Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What a bummer... Steve was one of the few people who inspired me to be as crazy as I have been over the years.

      Posting anonymously since I don't want this comment associated with my user account. Steve Jobs was the insipiration for my first LSD trip. That in itself changed my life so dramatically that after it was over, I was a different person than I was before. A better person.

      Thankyou Steve for your comments on public record about this substance and how it can help someone better themselves.

    2. Re:RIP Steve by YttriumOxide · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs was the insipiration for my first LSD trip. That in itself changed my life so dramatically that after it was over, I was a different person than I was before. A better person.

      While Steve Jobs certainly wasn't the insipiration for my first time trying it, I can strongly agree with the dramatic life changing effects. So, whatever brought you to try it, I'm glad you're glad about it.

      I can't find the exact quote you're referring to though - the best I can find is the reference on Wikipedia to the quote in John Markoff's "What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry". Is there a more direct quote somewhere, or other quotes from Steve on the topic of his time(s) with LSD and other entheogens?

      Not posting anonymously, since I'm happy for this to be associated with my user account.

      --
      My book about LSD and Self-Discovery
      Also on facebook as: DroppingAcidDaleBewan
  36. Here's to the crazy ones. by bheer · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.

    The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them.

    About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They invent. They imagine. They heal. They explore. They create. They inspire. They push the human race forward.

    Maybe they have to be crazy.

    How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art? Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written? Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

    ====

    The reasonable man adapts himself to the world. The unreasonable man persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man. --George Bernard Shaw

    ====

    Goodbye Steve, and thanks for everything. Even the stuff I hated.

    1. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Stormwatch · · Score: 4, Informative

      Here's the complete version:

      - - -

      Here's to the crazy ones.
              The misfits.
                      The rebels.
                              The troublemakers.
                                      The round pegs in the square holes.
      The ones who see things differently.

      They're not fond of rules.
              And they have no respect for the status quo.

      You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
              disbelieve them, glorify them or vilify them.
      About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

      Because they change things.
              They invent. They imagine. They heal.
              They explore. They create. They inspire.
      They push the human race forward.

      Maybe they have to be crazy.
      How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
              Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
      Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

      We make tools for these kinds of people.
      Because while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

      And it's the people who are crazy enough to think they can
      change the world who actually do.

    2. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Third+Position · · Score: 2

      Truly tragic, but not really unexpected. When he stepped down from Apple you had to believe there was something critical going on behind the scenes. He wasn't the kind of guy who would have walked away if he'd had any other choice.

      RIP Steve.

      --
      American Third Position
      Finally, a real choice!
    3. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by CannonballHead · · Score: 0

      The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules.

      ... not fond of rules for themselves.

    4. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by k6mfw · · Score: 1
      >The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo.

      sometimes I wonder if we need more people like this but it's tough becoming one, most likely you will go broke. If not, you will probably be hated by many. Many new concepts looks like crap, many burn in at first contact with reality. If it doesn't violate the laws of physics, it then needs to run the gauntlet of legislative laws. There's other "Steve Jobs" kinds of people still out there (and some that went under).

      --
      mfwright@batnet.com
    5. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.
       
      We're talking about Steve Jobs, not Jay Miner. Just calm yourself a bit.

    6. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by haus · · Score: 1

      Rest in peace Mr. Jobs.

    7. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Kagetsuki · · Score: 1

      "Goodbye Steve, and thanks for everything. Even the stuff I hated."

      Agreed. It's a shame he couldn't have lived in his success more as well. To die at the such a great peak I find very unfortunate.

    8. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Job was unique and did what he thought was best from his perspective. Most of the people who comment badly about him have contributed nothing to this world. He was creative and achieved a tremendous amount of innovation and not even Bill Gates can come near to him. However, because he did not go through rigorous schooling and learning from the best people, he appeared to be arrogant but his achievements speak otherwise. Look at all the happy people with IPhones.
      Job well done and you have left a mark in the human history which most of us cannot imagine, Thanks Job. You made the difference.

    9. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Here's to the crazy ones.
                      The misfits.
                                      The rebels.
                                                      The troublemakers.
                                                                      The round pegs in the square holes.
      The ones who see things differently.

      To you we say, "Hey! Look! Here's something shiny people you know can't afford! Come closer!"

      They're not fond of rules.
                      And they have no respect for the status quo.

      "And we hope you don't learn that we don't either."

      You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
                      disbelieve them, glorify them or vilify them.
      About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.

      "We tried, but learned slapping people with patent suits is much more rewarding."

      Because they change things.
                      They invent. They imagine. They heal.
                      They explore. They create. They inspire.
      They push the human race forward.

      "They jailbreak and do things we find reprehensible - STOP THEM!"

      Maybe they have to be crazy.
      How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
                      Or sit in silence and hear a song that's never been written?
      Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

      We make tools for these kinds of people.

      "And we tell them where, when and how to use them."

      Because while some see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.

      And it's the people who are crazy enough to think they can
      change the world who actually do.

      "And it's for those we have built the Nanny Store, so that flavorful farts can be sold, but anything challenging our reign will be eliminated because we can. They signed the EULA and agree to love us. And more will challenge us, so we must crush them quickly lest they taint the water of love we have bequeathed upon them."

      Why did they finally make a standard micro-usb adapter dongle to attach to their custom port? Because the EU fucking TOLD THEM TO. I don't see that little micro-USB dongle going to the United States or anyplace else that doesn't challenge their walled garden.

      Yeah, okay - Steve was smart - but he was also a fucking tyrant. Bill is still alive, so I guess God is apparently not a fanboi?

    10. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steve Jobs wasn't one of the "crazy ones". He wasn't a Leonardo. He wasn't a Satie. He wasn't a Ginsberg. He was just a fucking suit. Get control of yourselves, people. Since when is "CEO" a creative job title?

    11. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      is it true Apple have asked Peter Gabriel to rewrite the lyrics to 'Biko' just like Elton John did ?

    12. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quite an inappropriate quote. Maybe that was true for the Apple of the '80s but its opposite is true for the Apple of the last 10 years. Apple is all about tight control now, not about misfits, rebels and troublemakers. Think of their famous walled garden and how they rule it. You're a troublemaker? You get kicked out of it. Want to do anything strange with your iThing? (The square peg in the round hole) Sorry, you can do only what Apple designed it to do. Jobs changed his original way somewhere in the '90s when he realized it was not the right way to make money.

    13. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hippocrates. I like how you all deleted my comment that was disparaging against the tyrant instead of just modding it down.

      Bill is still alive so I guess God wasn't a fanboi...

    14. Re:Here's to the crazy ones. by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      Too bad the unreasonable man is typically unemployed.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
  37. RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't take Steve, take Apple insted!

  38. Thank you for inspiring us... by SixDimensionalArray · · Score: 3, Informative

    Thank you for inspiring millions and helping make some really cool dreams into realities.

  39. Crippling Bombshell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So OS X 10.8 will move away from the BSD kernel?

  40. Number of submissions by KiloByte · · Score: 1

    Holy cow... have you looked at the Firehose and counted the submissions?

    Interesting how many submit a blank story with nothing but a few words without checking for pretty obvious dupes.

    --
    The creatures outside looked from Alt-Right to Antifa; but already it was impossible to say which was which.
  41. Fancy dresser! by gatzke · · Score: 1
    1. Re:Fancy dresser! by moozey · · Score: 1

      Too good.

  42. Re:Steve Jobs is dead. by Arivia · · Score: 1

    Yeah, it's poetically awesome that the summary is just the good old Steve is dead troll. RIP Steve, we will miss you. (typed on an Apple keyboard attached to an MBP)

    --
    The role of the writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say. -Anais Nin
  43. I wonder if they'll leave the icon in... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1

    Old versions of Mac OS (back when it was called "System " had a little 16x16x1 icon of Steve Jobs. The story on folklore.org is here.

    I hope they leave in in, or put it back in the ROMs, from now on. Come on, guys, 32 bytes.

    1. Re:I wonder if they'll leave the icon in... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, great /.ed.

    2. Re:I wonder if they'll leave the icon in... by Gordonjcp · · Score: 1

      And now it's not /.ed I see it was, in fact, 32x32. That'll teach me.

  44. What he'd always dreamed... by AnotherAnonymousUser · · Score: 1

    At long last...Jobs is in the Cloud.

    1. Re:What he'd always dreamed... by mswhippingboy · · Score: 1

      At long last...Jobs is in the iCloud.

      FTFY

      --
      Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.
  45. And Thus Spoketh The Lord by cosm · · Score: 1

    And thus spoketh the Lord to Mr. Jobs, "here dost thine golden ipad".

    --
    'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
    1. Re:And Thus Spoketh The Lord by Fned · · Score: 2

      "Holde it juste exactlie thisse waye or yon WiFi will take a shite."

    2. Re:And Thus Spoketh The Lord by geekoid · · Score: 1

      So, you really know very little about the man, I take it?

      --
      The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
    3. Re:And Thus Spoketh The Lord by SecurityGuy · · Score: 1

      That nearly caused hot chocolate to spew forth from my nose upon my keyboard. Well played, sir.

    4. Re:And Thus Spoketh The Lord by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or the English language.

  46. iReturn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He'll be back in 3 days

  47. iPhone4S by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    iPhone for Steve.

  48. WTF, this story on homepage, really? by Garabito · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs' death, a big deal news event, something that will make lots of users coming here, and this old and lame troll meme is on homepage? Really? Come on, Soulskill, do you even care about this site?

    1. Re:WTF, this story on homepage, really? by cfoushee · · Score: 2

      I came to Slashdot specifically to read about it because I wanted to among friends that would pay their respect to Jobs from the point of view of geeks/nerds. So, yea I think this is exactly what Slashdot is here for and I would have felt an emptiness had it not been here. I am all broken up about his passing. No, I didn't know him personally, but I do want pay may respect to his obvious contributions to our lives and our community.

    2. Re:WTF, this story on homepage, really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Exactly. I may post as AC but once I saw the headlines on some other news site I came to /. first, and I knew it would be near the top.

    3. Re:WTF, this story on homepage, really? by Garabito · · Score: 1

      Yes, that's what I meant. You came here to pay respect, so I'd expect a respectful headline, not the old and lame 'found dead at his apartment' troll meme. If it's some kind of nerd humor, then I don't get it.

    4. Re:WTF, this story on homepage, really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Posting AC, as I have just modded other comments. For those of us that don't remember that meme, could you spell it out? I don't get it. Thanks.

    5. Re:WTF, this story on homepage, really? by Garabito · · Score: 1
      this is the cannonical form:

      Sad news ... Stephen King, dead at 54 I just heard some sad news on talk radio - Horror/Sci Fi writer Stephen King was found dead in his Maine home this morning. There weren't any more details. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him - even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.

  49. i wonder? by johnsnails · · Score: 1, Interesting

    cant help but wonder how long ago he died and if they wanted to wait till after the iphone 4s announcement?

    1. Re:i wonder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      No, I'm sure he lived long enough to watch the announcement. People who are within hours of death who desperately want to live long enough to see something happen have an amazing way of hitting death's snooze button a couple of times until it finally happens. Then they die. The deadliest days of the year for people with terminal cancer are the day after Christmas (or some other major family holiday of immense personal significance), their birthday, and the wedding of their child. It's like they manage to hold the cancer at bay up to that last second, then realize it's over, say 'fuck it', and die almost immediately afterwards.

    2. Re:i wonder? by Reservoir+Penguin · · Score: 1

      The disappointment that is the "new" iPhone was the last straw.

      --
      US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
    3. Re:i wonder? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I can't help but wonder if he's going to do a Jeff Goldblum and scream, "but, I'm not dead yet!"

  50. RIP Steve by Pirow · · Score: 1

    Like many I've certainly never been a member of his fan club and I'm not a fan of Apple, but you've got to admit, the guy was good at what he did and it's a real loss. My thoughts are with his friends and family.

  51. Bye Steve by MickyTheIdiot · · Score: 1

    While I feel it was Steve Jobs who really created to home computer revolution and I feel sad at his death, I'm angry that now I have to sit through a bunch of incorrect tributes on TV. CNN already implied he invented the mouse (that was Doug Englebart). Next they will say he invented the gui. *sigh*.

    CNN also just said his "greatest invention" was the ipad. First, he didn't "invent" it, secondly... his GREATEST contribution? Come on.

    We will miss him, though, even if he did go from being one of the best promoters of computer hobbyist culture to one of the most proprietary loving bastards on the planet...

    1. Re:Bye Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hear he also invented turning the fucking TV off and for that matter not watching CNN in the first place.

    2. Re:Bye Steve by xero314 · · Score: 1

      While I feel it was Steve Jobs who really created to home computer revolution...

      I think you are giving Jobs way to much credit for creating the home computer revolution. Not to say he was not important, but even you seem able to give him credit he's not due.

      CNN also just said his "greatest invention" was the ipad. First, he didn't "invent" it, secondly... his GREATEST contribution? Come on.

      His greatest contribution were in his later years. He is responsible for bringing mobile computing to the masses. First through the iBook, then the iPhone and finally the iPad. These far outweigh his contribution to home computing.

    3. Re:Bye Steve by JudgeFurious · · Score: 1

      Yeah but Steve still gets credit for inventing movies (Pixar), music (iTunes), and Television (AppleTV). You can't deny that. Plus he invented the word "Insanely" and even in death he advanced medical science's understanding of "Steve Jobs Disease".

      --
      Appended to the end of comments you post. 120 chars.
  52. Well there goes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Half of Apple's market value.

  53. Re:Poor taste from Slashdot by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    I can't think of a better description of the man. He very much was an American Icon, and he is very much dead now.

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  54. iSad by xjerky · · Score: 4, Informative

    'Nuff Said.

    --
    A sentence you'll never see on an Internet discussion board: "You know what? You're right."
    1. Re:iSad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      brilliant! LOL

    2. Re:iSad by mercurywoodrose · · Score: 1

      a coworker told me about his death, but when i heard it on the radio a half hour later, I cried. I LOVED my mac plus. Nothing will EVER replace it in my heart.

      re your sig: You know what? you're right. Oh, but now you are wrong.

      --
      You hear about the person who didn't rely on anecdotal evidence to support his belief system?
    3. Re:iSad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      i.R.I.P.

  55. God Damn It All by gelfling · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Damn it all

  56. Re:fucking finally by Caerdwyn · · Score: 1
    May the Cupertino shooter feed you a bullet.

    Seriously.

    --
    Everybody gets what the majority deserves.
  57. Having met him in the hallways of Apple with a Hi by recharged95 · · Score: 1

    Truly a visionary. Nice guy, passionate about tech, brutal at business.

    RIP. We will miss you Mr. Jobs. This.... is his ultimate game changer--cause this event will surely change "the game".

  58. Couldn't believe it when i heard the news... by Tasha26 · · Score: 1

    R.I.P :( Steve Jobs, February 24, 1955 to October 5, 2011.

  59. Mod Parent Up by MyLongNickName · · Score: 0

    This guy has a total of six posts on Slashdot... he got hit with a downmod for some reason I can't figure out. An upmod or two would get him out of Slashdot purgatory.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
    1. Re:Mod Parent Up by willie3204 · · Score: 1

      And I've had more than 1 story submission posted as well!!!

    2. Re:Mod Parent Up by mcgrew · · Score: 0

      Hmmm, not a good reason to mod somebody up. How did he get karmaslashed, trolling? Flaming? You need more downmods than upmods to get to slashdot purgatory.

      Oh, and he has more than five posts although the ones I looked at are ok comments. I have points left; if I hadn't commented in this thread I'd mod his +5 as "overrated" or "redundant" because it's both.

      Now, someone please mod me and the parent "offtopic" because we are. This contributes nothing (as does the "me-too" GP). And don't worry about my karma, I'm fine. Hope the parent poster is too.

  60. So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yea yea, "visionary." Yes, he and Bill Gates ripped off Xerox PARC.
    He was just as ruthless, if not more so, than Bill Gates.

    In the end he did copy some products in a way that people liked, but his business practices were as bad as business gets.

    I weep not. If it is a trend, business leaders kicking the bucket, I call it a good start.

    1. Re:So? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Amen sir

  61. Sad by zennyboy · · Score: 1

    Shit. I honestly did not see that coming, despite all we knew... Like Michael Jackson of the software world :-(

  62. RIP Steve. by Deathlizard · · Score: 2

    I'll be honest. I've never been a fan of Apple products, But I have and will always be a fan of Steve Jobs.

    The man was truly one of the last great manager's and CEO's of American Business. Competitive to the end, Dedicated to the end, and capable of pushing people to their absolute limits for better or for worse to the point that something insanely great gets produced.

  63. Final One More Thing.... by Cryophallion · · Score: 1

    Impressive. Only Steve Jobs could pull off the final "One More Thing" after the most recent Apple announcements. It was as timely as could be, and it's sad to see a true visionary go.

    He brought an artistic sense to the usually boxy engineering and computer world, and aethetics can make a big difference.

    Good on you Steve. Thanks for giving as much as you did.

  64. Isstevejobsdead.com is down for the count by mykos · · Score: 0

    I had to go there first to confirm it's true. Thank goodness there's slashdot as a backup!

  65. Re:Poor taste from Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > Are Slashdot editors not even aware of their own culture, and what poor taste that is?

    Are you aware you have no sense of humor? That brought a smile to my face in otherwise sad news. Lighten up.

  66. He was not 'found' dead! by Golgafrinchan · · Score: 1, Informative
    Nowhere in the actual story does it say that Jobs was 'found' dead... yet somehow that's what the summary says.

    It makes it sound like a homicide. Fix it, please.

    --
    My userid is prime!
    1. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      11.09am: Steve Jobs's family has released a statement:

      Mr Jobs "died peacefully today surrounded by his family ... We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief."

    2. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 5, Informative

      Nowhere in the actual story does it say that Jobs was 'found' dead... yet somehow that's what the summary says.

      The wording of the summary is a paraphrase of a long-running Slashdot meme. Just a little gallows humor for us old-timers.

      --
      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
    3. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Obviously someone found him dead.

    4. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And he lived in Woodside, not Cupertino as summery says. Please fix also.

    5. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Suicide, not homicide.

    6. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by sootman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Also, he didn't live in Cupertino.

      Slashdot is sending him away the only way they know how... inaccurately.

      But hey, I was half expecting "No pulse. Less respiration than Ellison. Lame."

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    7. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      It's the phrasing from a 2002 era troll, if not earlier. (the mid-2001 references Google has seem to be replies to deleted posts.)

      Context:
      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kadin2048/Slashdot_Trolling_Phenomena#Stephen_King_is_dead

      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=41759&cid=4414746

    8. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sorry what?
      "Found dead" does not describe the manner of his death. You need extra words for that.

      "Found dead from apparent suicide", or "Found murdered" are two examples where extra information that implies the manner of his death.

      Assuming "Found Dead" means murdered is like.. "I found your phone" implies that it was stolen, and not simply lost under a cushion or something.

    9. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Garabito · · Score: 0, Troll

      I noticed and I don't find it funny at all. And I have been around long enough to recognize the lame and tired meme.

      Many Slashdot users looked up to Steve Jobs and came (and more still coming) here to pay a little respect, and to comment about it with fellow nerds and tech-oriented people. I think it's disrespectful to them to present the story that way.

      And honestrly, I can't even tell if Soulskill posted this submission on purpose, or if he/she was succesfully trolled, which says a lot about this post-CmdrTaco Slashdot.

    10. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by lexsird · · Score: 1

      It goes along with the rumor that a little green robot was seen fleeing the scene.

      --
      Take the Red Pill.
    11. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Many Slashdot users looked up to Steve Jobs and came (and more still coming) here to pay a little respect

      Respect? Here? GMAFB

      First, Jesus Christ doesn't get respect here.

      Second, if you want to pay your respects, I suggest you go to http://www.apple.com/stevejobs

      Lastly, while many worshiped Jobs as a god, he was just a man. While he inspired a cult following, the truth is that he was by all accounts a complete a**hole to work for. He showed no desire for philanthropic endeavors nor any concern for the environment or for the child labor he supported in China. It's never in good taste to speak ill of the dead, but /. is certainly no place to erect as shrine to Steve Jobs.

    12. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Trogre · · Score: 1

      If you cannot cope with lame and tired memes, then perhaps Slashdot is not for you.

      I for one appreciated the gallows humour.

      --
      "Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
    13. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Mr.+Underbridge · · Score: 1

      It makes me a little sad to see a slashdot where so few people got that reference. And props to whoever greenlighted that - not in good taste, but funny as hell.

      I will now go smear some hot grits on Natalie Portman.

    14. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I hear Netcraft was the coroner.

    15. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      One of the headlines I saw said something like "Apple founder Steve Jobs dead". Maybe someone in a hurry to post garbled that up.

    16. Re:He was not 'found' dead! by SteeldrivingJon · · Score: 1

      "It makes it sound like a homicide."

      Or an overdose.

      --
      September 2011: Looking for Cocoa/iOS work in Boston area Cocoa Programmer Quincy, MA
  67. consumers by kirkb · · Score: 1

    Now who's gonna remind the industry that user experience comes first?

    Google? Your personal information comes first.
    Microsoft? Derp derp derp first.

    --
    Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
    1. Re:consumers by blahbooboo · · Score: 1

      My thoughts exactly.

    2. Re:consumers by Stuarticus · · Score: 1

      11% people are only saying "Derp derp first" at microsoft these days, therefore for your convenience we have removed the 3rd Derp. Don't worry, there will be a handy DWORD registry hack to get it back if you need it.

      --
      If you think someone isn't free to have a different definition of "freedom" you may be a tyrant.
  68. Thanks for creating the reality distortion field by agent_vee · · Score: 1

    His greatest invention but doesn't get enough press.

  69. Woz outlives Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is justice in the world.

  70. let by unity100 · · Score: 1

    there be noone to copy from, but let there be noone that seeks to profit from limiting freedom.

  71. iDied by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    -Steve Jobs

    1. Re:iDied by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Now you can't die without paying a fee to Apple

  72. Can we have Woz back now? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Can we have Woz back in charge now?

    --
    Evil people are out to get you.
    1. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      Depends. Do you want Apple to sell stuff that's technically cool and utterly unhip?

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    2. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by unity100 · · Score: 2

      yes.

    3. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      hell yes

    4. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by w_dragon · · Score: 1

      I hear Oracle buys companies when they start doing that...

    5. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by grouchomarxist · · Score: 1

      Please, no. Have you even heard Woz speak lately? He doesn't even sound like a man who should be running his own household.

    6. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      You guys already have that. Maybe it's not Apple selling it, but that stuff is out there. And how well are those companies doing?

      The geek market is not the only market; it's a niche, at best. Apple sells to their customers: people who like simple things that work - most often - and don't require "man sometopic" to understand. If you're not in that market segment, go somewhere else. How hard is that to understand - especially for geeks?

    7. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      That depends - what's the CEO of Pepsi up to?

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    8. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can we have Woz back in charge now?

      Woz never was in charge. Woz was an engineer first, and from all accounts probably had no interest in being in charge.

    9. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 3, Informative

      The guy freely acknowledges he can't run a company nor does he want to, that's why Apple is a story of 2 Steves instead of 1.

      "I designed the computers just to do it and show the world that it could be done and help them happen. Later Steve Jobs suggested starting a company to make money from it. I'd been giving out schematics for free at the Homebrew Computer Club. That's what I believed in. It was hard for me to even start the company when it looked like there might be real money in it." - Woz

      "Steve and I are very different. Mainly, I want to be an engineer and make neat things for my own fun, forever. I told Steve and Mike Markkula that I wouldn't expand Apple into a real company because I had to quit HP (I'd designed all the Apple stuff moonlighting for a year!). I loved HP. But I finally realized that I could do it and not have to run it. From the start, Steve wanted to run a company and learn the ways to. " - Woz

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    10. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Woz is stunningly intelligent...but he was never a good businessman.

      So many of the reasons Steve's detractors disliked him were the same reasons he was able to make Apple into a proud American company that could totally pwn markets, profit, and provide thousands of new jobs, in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Depression. Often, the only way to change the world is to have enough cash to do it.

      Woz's nature is to give stuff away.

      Both are virtues of two good men, but it was Steve Jobs' Apple that was able to change the last 25 years of human history, not Steve Wozniak's.

    11. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That would be interesting, Ill tell you that.

      iRIP, Steve Jobs. Who knows where the Tech world would be without you.

      CAPCHA: dimmed (interesting)

    12. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Yes. Unfortunately, with Woz at the helm, it would be a company that failed to sell stuff that's technically cool and utterly unhip...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    13. Re:Can we have Woz back now? by TeknoHog · · Score: 1

      Depends. Do you want Apple to sell stuff that's technically cool and utterly unhip?

      Why would you have to choose between the two? For example, my Powerbook has a clean _industrial_ design and it's technically impressive for its time. The stickers and stripes you see on a Windows laptop have nothing to do with technical coolness. To me, a design looks good when all the extraneous bits are left out -- this applies to the internals as well (the PB is running Linux with a minimal window manager).

      Another aspect of good design, IMHO, is honesty. A computer looks good when it's allowed to look like a computer. I recall reading that the beige box was invented to make computers look a little more humane, but to me they are just plain ugly. Fortunately, the honestly technical black and metallic designs have returned. Some people take this idea of technical looks even further in the form of steampunk, for example.

      --
      Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
  73. Iphone 4S - The S for Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    too bad he went amid IPhone 5 let down frenzy

  74. Re:Slashdot's Decline by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 1

    Let me guess, you had to wait for all those little voting people to click the plus sign on your stupid firehose before you could, you know, post probably the biggest tech-related story of the week, or the month for that matter.

    Pathetic, Slashdot, absolutely pathetic. I mean, you let a stupid autism story get posted before the Steve Job's story.

    At any rate, whatever you may have thought of his motives, the tech world has lost one of its towering figures. Condolences to his family.

    Slashdot has never been and will never be about breaking news as quickly as possible. The value of Slashdot is the community. Your criticism has absolutely zero bearing on anything meaningful.

    --
    "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
  75. Cause of death? by caywen · · Score: 2

    The immediate cause of death wasn't made clear, but this is immensely sad news for me. I have a friend who has recently been diagnosed with the same type of (rare) pancreatic cancer. Jobs' version of the cancer is supposed to be more treatable, and he wouldn't have lived as long as he did had he the more common, deadly form. I had hoped that he would survive longer.

    1. Re:Cause of death? by pclminion · · Score: 2

      I recently lost a coworker to the same disease. Obviously I didn't know Steve Jobs at all, but it still feels like another body blow. Fuck cancer. Stupid piece of shit buggy firmware is what we have there. Hopefully my friend is now chatting it up with Steve somewhere non-corporeal.

    2. Re:Cause of death? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Rumour has it that his pacemaker needed a new battery, but when they opened him up to change it ...

    3. Re:Cause of death? by b1t+r0t · · Score: 1

      and he wouldn't have lived as long as he did had he the more common, deadly form

      Unlike Satoshi Kon, who did.

      --

      --
      "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
      "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
    4. Re:Cause of death? by hedwards · · Score: 1

      It's likely to be cancer related, I mean he has been fighting cancer for awhile now.

      Ultimately, this will likely either vindicate him as the secret sauce or prove him to be less significant to Apple's comeback than engineers and folks like Johnathon Ive.

    5. Re:Cause of death? by Wovel · · Score: 1

      Well put friend.

    6. Re:Cause of death? by jimicus · · Score: 1

      Not necessarily.

      Steve's departure from Apple first time around wasn't a case of "company with much respected and admired CEO knows what the future holds and puts in place a succession plan that is designed to keep the company going more-or-less as it has been, because that's worked out very well so far". It was a case of boardroom politics.

      It's entirely possible, therefore, that Cook will be able to lead Apple just as efficiently.

    7. Re:Cause of death? by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      A friend's dad died from pancreatic cancer 4 months ago. The most devastating thing for the family was that the disease was long enough to be a painful agony, but not long enough to help them to get used to the idea that he would die. Another friend and coworker had a very strange kind of lynphoma, with documented cases below 200; fortunately, it was in the words of his oncologist "if I were sentenced to have cancer, but I had a chance to choose which one, I would choose this because is almost sure that I will survive". He is fine now and if he comes clean in his next test in 2012 he will be declared completely cured.

      Honestly, my best wishes for your friend.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
  76. In related news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple is rumored to be unveiling a new service, iTombs ... Steve Jobs is rumored to be personally testing out the iCloud.

  77. RIP Steve by cpotoso · · Score: 1

    You will be sorely missed.

  78. R.I.P. by gislifb · · Score: 1

    Come on people! We may not all agree with the man and like "his" closed systems or his company, but if it wouldn't have been for him (and Woz) the (tech)world would be a different place today! He was a man with a vision with which he stuck to until the end. Rest in peace Steve Jobs, you will always be rememberd as an entrepreneur and one of the most important person in the tech industry!

    --
    In a world without fences and walls, who needs gates and windows?
  79. Re:I Completely Called It by MyLongNickName · · Score: 1

    My God.... get over it. It is a Slashdot downmod. If something that small gets to you, I'd hate to see how you manage IRL.

    --
    See my journal for slashdot ID's by year. Mine created in 2005. http://slashdot.org/journal/289875/slashdot-ids-by-year
  80. If not for Steve... by jcr · · Score: 0

    ... and the people who joined him at NeXT and Apple, I would have left this industry twenty years ago. Thanks for all you did, Steve. You will be sorely missed.

    -jcr

    --
    The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
  81. Jeopardy by uvajed_ekil · · Score: 0, Troll

    Sad new about Jobs. But I sure as hell didn't need ABC to break into the middle of the Double Jeopardy round and give me a fucking seven-minute retrospective of his career, hailing him as the god of all modern technology. If they had to interrupt the great Alex Trebek and one of the only TV shows that matters they could have just mentioned Jobs' death, asked us to tune in for more later, and given me my program back. Dear ABC, you can't felate a dead man, though your efforts were impressive.

    ...and now NBC has seen CNN and the ABC report and catches up, 30 minutes later.
    Damn, I knew I should have moved to the West coast, for the TV schedule of course.

    --
    This is a hacked account, for which the owner can not be held responsible.
    1. Re:Jeopardy by BatGnat · · Score: 1

      I know how you feel, when the 1st Iraq war broke out, I was on school holidays, at home watching "Good Times", cut it off half way through. Never saw the end of that episode.... :-(

    2. Re:Jeopardy by rsborg · · Score: 2

      Sad new about Jobs. But I sure as hell didn't need ABC to break into the middle of the Double Jeopardy round and give me a fucking seven-minute retrospective of his career, hailing him as the god of all modern technology.

      ABC is owned by Disney, who's largest single owner of stock was... Steve Jobs. Not that I agree with their decision, but maybe the folks there felt a bit more strongly about Jobs' passing a bit more than the people at NBC / CBS.

      --
      Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    3. Re:Jeopardy by md65536 · · Score: 1

      I know how you feel, when the 1st Iraq war broke out, I was on school holidays, at home watching "Good Times", cut it off half way through. Never saw the end of that episode.... :-(

      But we've had a decade of good times in Iraq! It came back on after a break. We *will* see the end of the episode... one day.

      Hey I just realized that kids are right now growing up believing "We've always been at war with mid-Eastasia."

  82. live fast, die young, leave a good looking corpse by jmshipe · · Score: 1

    Will he be buried in a black turtleneck and jeans?

  83. "Thank U India.." is the song I here now by ttimes · · Score: 1

    Thanks for it all. You will be missed and remembered. Blessings to your family.

  84. RIP Steve by gerbiv · · Score: 1

    I never post on slashdot, but just had to for this article. Wow! Can't believe it. What an amazing person! I guess i'll never get to feel his energy. I always wanted to see him give a live presentation. I'm a Linux guy. Not a big apple fanboy, but I had the utmost respect for Steve Jobs! He revolutionized so many things. I knew he was in bad health, but I am still so shocked! Steve you were awesome! RIP

  85. This morning? by ktappe · · Score: 2

    I'm seeing nothing in any story including the CNN one linked to that says he was "found dead in his home this morning". Seems dubious.

    --
    "We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
    1. Re:This morning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      To be "found dead" only means that he failed to throw an alert at the moment of death. Died in his sleep, and his wife found him in the morning. Died in his sleep, and an assistant found him when he failed to show up for breakfast. There's no implication of foul play.

    2. Re:This morning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a joke (scroll down to "Sad news ... Stephen King, author, dead at 54").

    3. Re:This morning? by ktappe · · Score: 1

      The family has now released a statement that he died Wednesday surrounded by his loved ones. That directly contradicts the "found" portion of "found dead".

      --
      "We can categorically state we have not released man-eating badgers into the area." - UK military spokesman, July 2007
    4. Re:This morning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude. Read the comments to your previous post. It's a /. joke.

    5. Re:This morning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Considering that this is slashdot, this story is probably a couple of months old by now.

    6. Re:This morning? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm seeing nothing in any story including the CNN one linked to that says he was "found dead in his home this morning". Seems dubious.

      Totally agree. I doubt he was "found" dead in his home.

    7. Re:This morning? by kuiperbelt · · Score: 1

      You must be new here. This is standard Slashdot obituary wording. Ask Stephen King and he'll explain.

    8. Re:This morning? by srvivn21 · · Score: 1

      I'm seeing nothing in any story including the CNN one linked to that says he was "found dead in his home this morning". Seems dubious.

      In case you are still curious, it's an old slashdot meme. It was old 4 years ago: http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=227011&cid=18387221

  86. Regardless of Apple by bgibby9 · · Score: 1

    He certainly made innovation something that business strives for these days instead of being just one of the crowd! Thanks for your efforts Steve!

    --
    http://www.gibby.net.au
  87. RIP steve. by RyuuzakiTetsuya · · Score: 2

    âZ"No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don't want to die to get there. And yet, death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it, and that is how it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It's life's change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new."

    I wish I was more in tune with his philosophy earlier on in life. When I was a teenager, I really could've fucking used it.

    --
    Non impediti ratione cogitationus.
  88. Re:I Completely Called It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...because you were being a troll. Who didn't guess that he was sick?

  89. Respect.... by David_Hart · · Score: 1

    Love or hate him, you have to admit that Jobs knew how to make tech cool, and just for that he deserves respect. My parents were visiting last spring and I took my mother shopping. While we were in the mall we stopped at the Apple store and started playing with the iPad. She had a lot of fun with it. The point is that Jobs had the capability to understand what needed to be done to make tech easy to use and accessible. In that way, he was a genius.

    Unfortunately, we are going to see his company, Apple, stagnate and become just another tech company without him at the helm.

  90. In Soviet Russia by Roachie · · Score: 0

    Jobs kill YOU!

    --
    This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.
  91. Has Netcraft confirmed it yet? by unitron · · Score: 1

    Well, somebody had to ask.

    Interesting that none of the comments so far mention Woz.

    --

    I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.

  92. Re:I Completely Called It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And I was absolutely, 100% right.

    And nobody cares.

  93. Mortality by Dan+East · · Score: 1

    A small reminder that no amount of wealth or power can overcome our mortality. RIP Mr. Jobs.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:Mortality by Anarchduke · · Score: 1

      Yet.

      --
      who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
  94. Very sad news. by Gavin+Scott · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I never met him in person, but for a while my company leased space in an Apple-owned building on Valley Green Drive, and Steve would frequently walk past my window on the sidewalk on his way back and forth from HQ to various buildings on VGD (which tended to have all the windows covered up or painted black). He would just be walking alone without any entourage or anything, at a time when Carly was running HP and seemingly couldn't leave her office without press followers, support staff, security detail with automatic weapons, and a helicopter.

    I can't imagine how much different (and for the worse) the history of the last thirty years of computing would have been without him.

    He will be greatly missed by friends and foes alike.

    G.

    1. Re:Very sad news. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When Jobs had his own illegitimate child, also at the age of 23, he too struggled with his responsibilities. For two years, though already wealthy, he denied paternity while Lisa's mother went on welfare. At one point Jobs even swore in a signed court document that he couldn't be Lisa's father because he was "sterile and infertile, and as a result thereof, did not have the physical capacity to procreate a child." He later acknowledged paternity of Lisa - http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/02/news/companies/elkind_jobs.fortune/index2.htm

      What an asshole. No wonder no one wanted to talk to him.

    2. Re:Very sad news. by TheLink · · Score: 1

      Perhaps he wasn't as hated as Carly? ;)

      That said, he was a minimalist: http://www.flickr.com/photos/pacman3000/4042368287/

      Even his car didn't have license plates... ;)

      --
    3. Re:Very sad news. by Kethinov · · Score: 1

      I had a similar experience once.

      In 2007 I visited the Apple HQ for a job interview. While I was there I saw Steve Jobs walking around the Apple campus alone. The hallways were crowded, but he greeted no one, said nothing, and seemed to be alone with his thoughts despite the crowd. I found it to be a remarkably quirky, though charming way for a man in his position to carry himself in public. Most tech executives I've met seem to be surrounded by a constant, yammering crowd.

      Anyway, I found that chance encounter to be far more memorable and interesting than the job I was interviewing for, which I declined the offer for. In recent years I've become an outspoken critic of both Steve and Apple due to their policy of disallowing root and app sideloading in iOS. But even as a vocal critic, I still admire the achievements of both Apple and Steve personally. He was a fascinating character and his company's work is inspiring.

      --
      You're right, I wouldn't steal a car. But if it were possible, I sure as hell would download one!
    4. Re:Very sad news. by avandesande · · Score: 1

      I did a lot of dumb things when I was 23 too.

      --
      love is just extroverted narcissism
  95. he was an idea man (even if taken from PARC) by k6mfw · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Steve saw the future of computers from the mouse/windows concept those guys at Xerox PARC developed. He pushed to bring that kind of IO into the markets beginning with LISA. It bombed but he still had the vision so Steve wouldn't give up and brought out the Mac. Say what you want (many called him a AH) but like other visionaries they don't care what others think (good thing he didn't do a market survey of what computers should be, i.e. if Henry Ford did one, people would ask for a faster horse). If not for Steve (and others working 24/7/365) the IO many of us use on computers will probably still sitting in some building at an unknown address in Palo Alto. Then there's the iphone, etc....

    I could not help but noticed the tagline on bottom of /. "Man's reach must exceed his grasp, for why else the heavens?"

    --
    mfwright@batnet.com
    1. Re:he was an idea man (even if taken from PARC) by mkiwi · · Score: 1

      I commented on this just a moment ago. It's a great insight. Mods, please mod parent up.

    2. Re:he was an idea man (even if taken from PARC) by sootman · · Score: 1

      > he was an idea man (even if taken from PARC)

      Part of being smart is being able to recognize good things when you see them AND be able to figure out what to do with them. PARC was sitting on top of a handful of great technologies and was able to do exactly squat with them.

      Oblig. car analogy: it doesn't matter how big your engine is--if you don't have wheels and tires to transfer the power to the ground, you'll go nowhere.

      People always look at people like him and say "he's nothing special, all he did was take things other people made and change them a little and he was successful." If it's nothing special, then explain why there were no wildly successful MP3 players before the iPod, or wildly successful smartphones before the iPhone, or why MS and friends couldn't make a go of tablet computers for almost a decade before the iPad came along. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it, right? If it was just style and marketing, then a few big checks to some designers and ad agencies would make every product a success, right?

      --
      Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
    3. Re:he was an idea man (even if taken from PARC) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's no need for snide comments. The right to use the advances Apple saw at PARC were BOUGHT from Xerox with 800k shares of Apple stock. Xerox had no idea what to do them, but Job recognized them as a huge paradigm change - and he was right. Xerox took a bet on Jobs and they made a ton of money also.

    4. Re:he was an idea man (even if taken from PARC) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steve saw the future of computers from the mouse/windows concept those guys at Xerox PARC developed. He pushed to bring that kind of IO into the markets beginning with LISA.

      IO means Input Output what means data input and output. It could be anything and technically LISA was not different from PC. The GUI was the thing what made things different.

  96. memorial by torqer · · Score: 1

    RIP Steve. I'll wear a black turtle neck tomorrow for you.

  97. A lesson we must learn by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

    And here is today's lesson, kids: if you find you have cancer, do what your doctor tells you to right away, and don't waste time with alternative medicine bullshit.

    1. Re:A lesson we must learn by RobinEggs · · Score: 1, Interesting

      It was pancreatic cancer. Without any knowledge of Jobs particular case I'd opine that he moved on to alternative medicine "bullshit" after he realized that hospitals had about as much help to offer him as a mountain of *actual* bullshit.

      The disease has a 4% five-year survival rate. You can't fault the guy for concluding that, what the hell, he might as well try something unproven and crazy sounding rather than stake his life on treatment that *was* proven...to be almost hopeless.

      Not to mention that there's some truth to alternative medicine. Not to crystals or vaccines-and-autism theories, but just because a field has a fuckton of loonies doesn't mean there aren't some correct (if anecdotal) notions there and some genius ideas that simply never get the funding to become proven.

    2. Re:A lesson we must learn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And for an even more important lesson kids Cancer is your bodies own cells killing you This means take good care not to pollute your body to much or directly damage your immune system by throwing poorly test vaccines at it.

    3. Re:A lesson we must learn by enoz · · Score: 1

      Jobs didn't have the "regular" adenocarcinoma that has a 5% five-year survival rate, he had a rare form that has an estimated 80%-90% ten-year survival rate when detected and acted upon early.

      Alternative medicines on the whole are snake-oil treatments that sucker the desperate and ill-informed. Anecdotes do not make science. Unsurprisingly some hold the opinion that there is a greater than zero chance that Jobs would be alive today had he not attempted to treat his cancer with alternative therapies.

    4. Re:A lesson we must learn by RobinEggs · · Score: 1

      I think it's a little pedantic to point out that anecdotes do not make science; that's entirely obvious and you must assume that I'm an outright fool to bother stating it. I'm simply pointing out that some alternative treatments have very suggestive anecdotal evidence which haven't been tested scientifically. Anecdotes are, in fact, some of the best starting points for good science, especially in health.

    5. Re:A lesson we must learn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I had 15 years ago same cancer as Steve had. Two my known people have had same and all died because they used what doctors told them.

      I had 25% spread what meant I die under 2 years. I dont have any markings left of that cancer because I did not use what doctors told me to buy and take their treatments.

      Third person who had other kind cancer, my sisters friend. Were given a 6 months time. She toke what I offered to her and she abandoned the "cure" what doctors gave typically. After 6 months, there were no markings left of her cancer, nothing what could tell she had a cancer. Doctors were amazed what she has done for that recovery. But the first doctor who diagnosed the cancer, said that she could not be recovered from the cancer and she believed it. So she stopped using the alternative, biological treatment and died 2 weeks later, cancer spread all over her body.

      Alternative medicines are usually much better than what doctors tell you. There are more doctors in US than any other country in world, and world biggest medicine factories and highest treatments. But still the death rating per doctor is ten times higher than what is with guns in US.

      In US guns dont kill people, Doctors do.

    6. Re:A lesson we must learn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Alternative medicines are usually much better than what doctors tell you.

      Okay, prove it. Funny how no one has been able to yet.

  98. Truly a sad day! by glh · · Score: 1

    Wow, what a sad day for the industry. I guess this shouldn't come as a big surprise since we've been hearing about his health for some time now.

    I also know it's been said many times, but Steve Job was truly visionary. The last decade, and particularly since the iPad has been released, have been tremendous in terms of the amount of influence he has made (though that's been the case most of his career at Apple). Over the past few years, I slowly started picking up Apple technology. As a long term PC guy this was a tough thing to do and in hindsight, I wish I'd started earlier! I hope his legacy lives on. One can only wonder how the face of computing would have changed if he had another 10 years.

    Here I am typing this on my first ever Macbook Pro. I haven't logged in for a few years here on /. but thought this story was worthy of a post. Way to go Steve, Rest in Peace!

    1. Re:Truly a sad day! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      PS - can Apple release Flash for the iPad now??

    2. Re:Truly a sad day! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, like you I have only recently started (a year ago) using Apple computers, Mac Mini and then MacBook Pro. But only because I am learning Cocoa Touch to program iOS devices. But I am not impressed with OSX. Unlike you, Windows 7 works better for me in terms of performance, robustness and flexibility. My Windows machines are older and spec'ed lower than the 2011 MacBook Pro but they just seem to be able to do more with less. (And it's not because I am a Windows only guy: I've been using the many versions of Linux, all the way from Slackware to Ubuntu, since 1995.)

    3. Re:Truly a sad day! by Naso540 · · Score: 1

      I wonder how many of the comments are being posted by an Apple product??

  99. What I mind was not him by Snaller · · Score: 0

    It was all the freaks who worshiped him a like a god.

    --
    If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
    1. Re:What I mind was not him by Anarchduke · · Score: 1

      Its not like he's gone forever. He's just gone to the genius desk in the sky. Now, all of us shall hold up an iCandle app on our iPhone, bow our heads and make the sign of the Sad Mac! Hail Steve of the Turtleneck! For he shall reboot!

      --
      who prays for Satan? Who in 18 centuries has had the humanity to pray for the 1 sinner that needed it most? ~Mark Twain
  100. Love or hate... by Chewbacon · · Score: 1

    ...the tech world we all love wouldn't be the same without him. As a medical professional, I feared his time was near when he stepped down. It was painfully easy to tell his life was Apple and the one thing to separate him from there would be the end of it. Set aside his achievements in the tech industry, he was an amazing business man. People in his company feared, some hated him at one point or another, but despite his tyrannical reputation at Apple, he was right. He had a number of visions that took a company from one mission to another and it was for the better. While I'm a Windows guy, I do have an iPhone and it's changed my day to day life as far as getting stuff done. RIP Steve, condolences to his family.

    --
    Chewbacon
    The Bible is like Wikipedia: written by a bunch of people and verifiable by questionable sources.
  101. Graham Dilley _ RIP {Cricket} by bmsleight · · Score: 1
  102. Activate the hidden firmware feature by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 1

    Tomorrow morning, all iPhones, iPod Touches, and Macbooks will wake up their owners to a video montage tribute to Steve Jobs, built into the firmware for years, activated remotely from Apple HQ in Cupertino.

  103. In a just world... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ..all his patents and copyrights would now expire. Instead, they'll live on forever, property of Mr. Apple, a legal fiction.

  104. there's no denying his contributions to popular by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... culture

    LIke being a deadbeat dad, patent wars, pissing off your customers with planned obsolescence, being an asshole boss, and off-shoring your entire production to sweatshops in shitholes with slave labor

  105. On the bed by Sentax · · Score: 1

    He worked his ass of until the end.. I'm sure he was asking yesterday how the iPhone 4S unveiling went while laid up in bed... RIP Mr. Jobs.

  106. In this economy... by ClioCJS · · Score: 0

    In this economy, nobody is surprised by the loss of Jobs.

    --
    -Clio
    Karma: Bad (mostly from not giving a fuck)
    Blog: http://clintjcl.wordpress.com
  107. Classic headline by goldspider · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well-played Subby!

    Are Stephen King and Alan Thicke still OK?

    --
    "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    1. Re:Classic headline by isorox · · Score: 1

      Well-played Subby!

      Are Stephen King and Alan Thicke still OK?

      I won't believe it until netcraft confirms it

    2. Re:Classic headline by b1t+r0t · · Score: 1

      Well at least I know that Abe Vigoda is still alive.

      --

      --
      "Open source is good." - Steve Jobs
      "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
    3. Re:Classic headline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that.

      When I heard the news of Steve Jobs' death on the radio, I admit that I felt like racing home and flooding Slashdot with Stephen King-like trolling posts (at +2), to see who would mistake the actual news for a troll. The submitter of this story went far beyond my wildest expectations. Truly an American icon.

  108. actually i do by unity100 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    unfortunately, this is an era where our freedoms are attempted to get restricted by many parties. private, or government. and, we have to toe a thin line of vigile if we want to keep them. i wish, it was otherwise. i want it to be otherwise.

    1. Re:actually i do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Boy, listening to you carry on, you'd think the man wasn't single-handedly responsible for pushing HTML5 over Flash and DRM-free music!

      You're right. He never did anything in the best interests of users. WalledGardenSingleButtonMouseHoldItDifferentLOL.

      Jesus christ, you people are tiresome.

    2. Re:actually i do by unity100 · · Score: 1

      html5 was better for corporate aims of apple. being obliged to pay license to flash is much worse for them. and even if we accept it as something altruistic and open minded, its still no good while people are being put into walled gardens.

      and no, YOU people are tiresome.

    3. Re:actually i do by Lunix+Nutcase · · Score: 1

      being obliged to pay license to flash is much worse for them.

      This comment makes no sense. Why would Apple have paid a license for Flash on iOS?

    4. Re:actually i do by JBMcB · · Score: 1

      Why on earth would Apple pay Adobe a licensing fee for a browser plugin? Where else does that happen? How is adopting HTML 5 over Flash pushing people into "walled gardens?"

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    5. Re:actually i do by unity100 · · Score: 1

      future patent/royalty problems ?

    6. Re:actually i do by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Because other handset makers do? The desktop versions of Flash are free, but the mobile versions are not. Handset and tablet makers all pay Adobe for the player. Apple refused, probably because the Mac version sucks and they didn't trust Adobe not to make a crap version for the iPhone - Flash on my TouchPad performs about as well as on my Core 2 Duo MacBook Pro - much better when playing video.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    7. Re:actually i do by JBMcB · · Score: 1
      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    8. Re:actually i do by jo_ham · · Score: 1

      You are talking nonsense.

      A licence fee for Flash?

      You are just desperately looking for a way to paint any of Apple's decisions as Machiavellian. It's just not possible for you to see any of Apple's choices as pro-consumer, is it?

  109. Re:Poor taste from Slashdot by Farmer+Tim · · Score: 1

    He very much was an American Icon, and he is very much dead now.

    Wouldn't "and he has been dragged to the Trash" be a little more appropriate?

    --
    Blank until /. makes another boneheaded UI decision.
  110. Re:I Completely Called It by RobinEggs · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, I didn't realize that a moment of gloating amounted to pathological obsession. I am over it; that doesn't mean I can't ever remember it or be amused that I was right.

  111. So long Steve, thanks for all the chips! by bratwiz · · Score: 1

    ""Apple cofounder Steve Jobs was found dead in his Cupertino home this morning. I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him — even if you didn't enjoy his work, there's no denying his contributions to popular culture. Truly an American icon.""

    Bet he doesn't have an app for *that* !!

    Rest Peacefully Steve! You did good

  112. RIP Steve by jeeves99 · · Score: 1

    A true visionary.

  113. Thank you... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...Steve, for all the beautiful stuff you helped bring into our world. And may the world that embraces you now envelope you in even greater beauty and eternal bliss. Peace.

  114. This is a moment in history. by SpacePunk · · Score: 1

    Call me a romantic if you want. But this, for nerds, the nerdiest of the nerds, the graybeards that remember 'back in the day', guys that's "been there, done that", the guys that still are or have been part of the this is like John F Kennedy dying.

    1. Re:This is a moment in history. by SpacePunk · · Score: 1

      actually, I fucked that up...

      "Call me a romantic if you want. But this, for nerds, the nerdiest of the nerds, the graybeards that remember 'back in the day', guys that's "been there, done that", the guys that still are or have been part of the the in of in crowds, this is like John F Kennedy dying."

    2. Re:This is a moment in history. by RobinEggs · · Score: 1

      Except that Jobs made computers while Kennedy successfully played nuclear chicken with the Russians and started the project that put a human being on the frickin moon. Jobs wasn't half the man Kennedy was, not in anything but charisma. Not to mention that Kennedy was kind in almost all circumstances, while Jobs was only nice in public and an internationally renowned asshole in private.

    3. Re:This is a moment in history. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >the nerdiest of the nerds...like John F Kennedy dying.

      Um no. Not even close. Steve was a sharp businessman and a great visionary, not a techie. That space is reserved for the likes of K&R, Woz and Donald Knuth, long may they live.

    4. Re:This is a moment in history. by vakuona · · Score: 1

      You are comparing a president directing the entire resources of a nation (which he didn't work for), and a man making something out of nothing, 3 times (Apple, Next, Pixar).

      Steve Jobs achieved everything he through his own bloody mindedness, ingenuity and ability. No comparison.

    5. Re:This is a moment in history. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      the guys that still are or have been part of the the in of in crowds

      Looks like, unlike Jobs, you never stopped taking LSD.

  115. Thank you, Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The world is a smaller place without ya.

  116. Thank you sir by dasspunk · · Score: 2

    It was a pleasure to work for you...

  117. Steve Jobs Macintosh Launch Video (1984) by Boawk · · Score: 1
  118. Very sad by rpbird · · Score: 1

    My condolences to his family.

  119. Poor Guy by Tr3vin · · Score: 1

    He died waiting for the iPhone 5.

    1. Re:Poor Guy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Watching the iPhone 4S launch killed him.

  120. dibbs on the lamp by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...

  121. *WE* lost by kirkb · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs championed the notion that WE come first. His approach was karmic: if I build a thing that is good for you, then you will buy it from me. It's that simple. He didn't make billions selling your personal info to advertisers. He didn't make billions engaging in anti-competitive practices. He just made great stuff.

    --
    Slashdot: come for the pedantry, stay for the condescension.
    1. Re:*WE* lost by goldspider · · Score: 1

      I guess his company is suing everyone who makes a round-rectangular shaped product for our benefit.

      --
      "Ask not what your country can do for you." --John F. Kennedy
    2. Re:*WE* lost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Except that his "karmic" approach lost me when after the "if I build a thing that is good for you, then you will buy it from me." bit came the part that said "also, what else is good for you is closed-source hardware that we don't think you have the right to modify or install what you want. Know what else is good for you too? A locked down, overly policed app store." The list goes on...say what you want about the man in his personal life, but from a business stand point his model stood against everything I believe computers and hardware licensing should be.

    3. Re:*WE* lost by BatGnat · · Score: 1

      He didn't make billions engaging in anti-competitive practices.

      What drugs are you on? So suing for rounded rectangles is not anti-competitive? Suing Psystar for installing MAC OS on non apple software? suing MS for copying gui in the 80's when they (apple) didn't even invent it?

    4. Re:*WE* lost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He didn't make billions engaging in anti-competitive practices.

      What drugs are you on?

      My guess... LSD... same as Steve in the mid 70s.

    5. Re:*WE* lost by ThorGod · · Score: 1

      He didn't make billions selling your personal info to advertisers

      I'd say that ^ makes up for any lawsuits against Microsoft.

      --
      PS: I don't reply to ACs.
    6. Re:*WE* lost by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      He engaged in anti-competitive practices, but no one cared because Apple isn't a monopoly.

  122. No matter your OS, it would have been a POS withou by Hyperwolf · · Score: 1

    I'd thank him for the memories. I've owned or used nearly every Apple computer ever made, even the shitty ones in the Dark ages. I hope Apple can continue to be the sort of company it is right now.

  123. iSurprised by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    NOT! Sad he died, but anyone who saw him in the last few months could read the handwriting on the wall. Prayers to the family, but I'm sure there are more than a few current & former workers that might be glad he's gone. They say he wasn't the nicest guy to work for.

  124. yes by unity100 · · Score: 1

    im here not for news, but what people will say about news.

  125. Never met him.. by droopus · · Score: 1

    I did some consulting for Apple, but never met Steve.

    I have to say, that he affected my life more profoundly than any other person I never met.

    RIP Steve.

    --
    "The pie shall be cut in half and each man shall receive.....death. I'll eat the pie."
  126. RIP by Dan+Posluns · · Score: 1

    RIP Steve. From the Apple II that I had as my first computer to the iPhone I carry in my pocket, you transformed the industry more times than most of the big players took part in it, and I don't doubt that you inspired much of what has put me on the career path I'm on today. Thank you, and may flights of iPods sing thee to thy rest.

  127. reaaaaally ? by unity100 · · Score: 1

    While I feel it was Steve Jobs who really created to home computer revolution

    in an alternate earth you mean.

    1. Re:reaaaaally ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dude, how many negative comments are you going to post under this story? You've trolled enough. We get it, you don't like Apple and you didn't like Steve Jobs. Save your anti-Apple shit for a story about one of their products or lawsuits or business deals. There are always plenty of those.

      This guy feels that Jobs created the home computer revolution, but that wasn't the point of his post. And even if one disagrees with that, it's undeniable that Jobs was a major player in the transition from computers as business machines to personal tools.

  128. Re:Slashdot's Decline by Bogtha · · Score: 1

    Slashdot has never been and will never be about breaking news as quickly as possible.

    Untrue. Actually, that was the official excuse why Slashdot refused to warn people that the Slashdot Effect was headed their way or obtain permission for any kind of mirroring, back when Slashdot was powerful enough to knock a website offline and run up huge bandwidth bills. It was because they couldn't possibly delay a story, no matter how trivial.

    --
    Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
  129. This is also by mario_grgic · · Score: 3, Informative

    text on the TextEdit app icon on every Mac OS X installation :D.

    --
    As the island of our knowledge grows, so does the shore of our ignorance.
    1. Re:This is also by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1
      It actually has an abridged version. The full text from the icon (/Applications/TextEdit.app/Resources/Edit.icns has a 512x512 pixel version, which is very easy to read):

      Dear Kate,

      Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels.
      The troublemakers. The round begs in the square
      holes. The ones who see things differently. They're
      not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the
      status quo. You can praise them, disagree with them,
      quote them, disbelieve them, glorify or vilify them.
      About the only thing you can't do is ignore them.
      Because they change things.

      Take Care,
      John Appleseed

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  130. I can't believe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't believe how absolutely bummed I am to hear about this. RIP; I'm going to miss your "one more thing" saying.

  131. lol by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I guess macs do get viruses.

  132. End of an era by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Bye Steve.
    Reminds me John Lennon's death. He's the first one of the "beginners" that goes.

  133. Think of how many copies by notDarkrhaveN · · Score: 1

    of Pirates of Silicon Valley that will be pirated tonight.

    1. Re:Think of how many copies by Macgrrl · · Score: 1

      And another copy. ;(

      --
      Sara
      Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
    2. Re:Think of how many copies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dont need, I have it in my shelf and I have copied it to my friends (totally legal where I live). I have reminded them now over 2 years to watch it, but no one has because they dont like Apple because it is cult (They love Nokia and MIcrosoft and they really worship those companies as they would belong to some cult, ironic). Today one of them texted he will watch it.

      For some people, it is needed that you die until people stop hating you.

  134. Re:Slashdot's Decline by Bucky24 · · Score: 1

    Heh, I figured it was true when I went into the firehose and saw it duped 10 times. The "news feed" on slashdot has never ever been a place for up to date news. Actually this article has been posted in record time.

    --
    All the world's a CPU, and all the men and women merely AI agents
  135. iDead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The product Steve Jobs didn't ever want to release. He rejected the prototypes a couple of times too.

    RIP Steve, you made computers that you can love.

  136. Re:Poor taste from Slashdot by Cito · · Score: 1

    Ding Dong the Witch is dead! in other news, Bill Gates just got a haircut according to twitter! Which is definitely more important

  137. Thanks, Jobs by JBMcB · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was ten years old. After wearing out a Timex Sinclair 1000 and a VIC-20, my dad took me to the computer shop to pick out a new one. They all looked cool and incredibly complex - the TI/99 with it's bizarre cartridge slot, the Apple II with it's strange ribbon cables coming out of the back (sorry Woz) the Atari 400 with it's horrid keyboard, the clunky PC with it's austere green display.

    Then there was the Macintosh. It made the other machines look like junk. It had real fonts. It had *graphics*. It could make sounds other than a harsh piezoelectric bleep. You looked at it and could figure out how to get something done. My dad saved up and pulled a deal from a friend, and my early Christmas (and birthday and second Christmas) present that year was a shiny new beige Macintosh 512K with a wide-carriage Imagewriter and external floppy drive. Using it felt like you were using something from Star Trek. I learned how to touch type doing papers on that thing. I learned how to program using Microsoft Basic, then Metrowerks Pascal. I took it to Heathkit and had it upgraded to a 512KE with an enormous 800k drive. While there I drooled over the completely maxed-out Mac II with color ImageWriter II, LaserWriter II, dual 1.44MB floppies, a stack of SCSI drives (40MB HD, tape backup, and CD-ROM) and every desk accessory known to man loaded and ready to go. I finally retired it when I got a job out of high school and saved up enough to buy a PowerMac 6100/60, which I still have, and still works. Since then I've gotten into DIY, building my own PC compatables to experiment with Windows, Linux, Inferno, BeOS, and OS/2. Then I needed a PC at home to run all the development environments I had to learn for work. But I still have a soft spot for the elegance and simplicity of Mac hardware and software.

    Thanks, Jobs, for pushing computer design forward on all fronts - from UI design to standardizing iconography used for ports, and forcing everyone else to at least attempt to be as innovative. I think, for my next computer, I'm retiring the water cooled behemoth running Windows 7 under my desk, and buying a Macbook Air.

    --
    My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    1. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Then there was the Macintosh. It made the other machines look like junk. It could make sounds other than a harsh piezoelectric bleep. You looked at it and could figure out how to get something done.

      Actually you were talking about the Amiga 1000, and it was in 4096 colors (out of a pallete of 16 million colors). And it had the main processor and three co-processors (even Apple didn't have a dedicated video processor then).
      Good try though. Its just that you picked the wrong machine.

    2. Re:Thanks, Jobs by JBMcB · · Score: 2

      You mean this?

      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b3/Amiga_Workbench_1_0.png

      The Amiga was a technically superior machine in many respects. Too bad the UI looked like arse.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    3. Re:Thanks, Jobs by pipedwho · · Score: 1

      ...a shiny new beige Macintosh 512K with a wide-carriage Imagewriter and external floppy drive. Using it felt like you were using something from Star Trek. I learned how to touch type doing papers on that thing.

      On the keyboard? How quaint.

    4. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really... your choice was between an Atari 400 and a Macintosh? Were they sold out of IBM 360's? That was one fscked up computer shop.

    5. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "A crummy commercial? Son of a ...."

    6. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It looks to me that the one you should actually be thanking is your father, not Jobs.

    7. Re:Thanks, Jobs by JBMcB · · Score: 1

      I invented transparent aluminum using MultiPlan.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    8. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Using it felt like you were using something from Star Trek.

      Hello Computer?

    9. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ok, so your dad takes you to a computer store to look at a new computer, and you compare computers that were no longer being sold with the mac? (the Atari's were on the XL's at that time, and Texas Instruments left the computer business, (not sure about the Apple II but even that should have been on the IIe model).

      If you are going to come up with fantasy, at least come up with believable fantasy.

    10. Re:Thanks, Jobs by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The Amiga was a technically superior machine in many respects. Too bad the UI looked like arse.

      To be fair, MacOS and Windows both looked like a can of smashed assholes at the time, too.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    11. Re:Thanks, Jobs by JBMcB · · Score: 1

      Windows 1.0:
      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/4e/Windows1.0.png

      Better than AmigaOS, but still eye-bleeding. Windows 2 was cleaner, but the layout was still awkward.

      System 1.0:
      http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/50/Apple_Macintosh_Desktop.png

      There you go. Clean and uncluttered. I think going for the black and white look made all the difference. Unless you were doing a bar chart or something, EGA graphics looked just awful.

      --
      My Other Computer Is A Data General Nova III.
    12. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, because the only way you can run Windows 7 is on a water cooled behemoth...
      Typical Apple fanboyism.

    13. Re:Thanks, Jobs by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The mac had a 72 dpi screen when everyone else was messing around with pixels the size of your head. Of course, it also had a microscopic screen when most PCs had 13 or 14 inch monitors...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    14. Re:Thanks, Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They all looked cool and incredibly complex - the TI/99 with it's bizarre cartridge slot, the Apple II with it's strange ribbon cables coming out of the back (sorry Woz) the Atari 400 with it's horrid keyboard, the clunky PC with it's austere green display.

      And you without an English teacher in sight :-P

      captcha: obituary

  138. Re:fucking finally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Don't worry, if my suffering is what you're after, it looks like the RDF has a good few years left in it yet.

    The RDF has always worked to turn thinking people into blind sheep (just look at the rest of the comments on this page) but never mind, you go on believing that Steve Jobs was in fact a tech visionary, and not an advertising visionary.

  139. Re:Thanks for creating the reality distortion fiel by dr2chase · · Score: 1

    Cool thing about it is, after a while, it sticks.

  140. Steve Jobs is not dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He simply allowed his body to expire after a safe redundancy period, having completed the upload of his mind to the cloud.

    You know Siri? That alleged leap forward in voice-recognition AI on the new iPhone? You didn't really think that was just software, did you?

    There's even a clue in the name: Siri == SIRI == Steve Is Really Inside.

    You will know that the New Order is upon us, when every single iPhone in the world simultaneously rings.

  141. RIP by rax313 · · Score: 0

    I thought it was some sort of prank at first but then I remembered it wasn't April 1st.... RIP Steve Jobs: February 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011

  142. RIP Steve Jobs by Daneurysm · · Score: 1

    I may be diametrically opposed to your model but your contributions to technology and even culture (yeah, I said it) cannot be denied. Geek culture and culture*.*

    Love him or hate him...love or hate his company...love or hate their products, but, his truly visionary status cannot be disputed.

    Enjoy your rest in the big /dev/null in the sky.

  143. One Last Thing by medcalf · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Jobs made life better for millions of people. The world was inarguably a better place for his having lived. What higher praise could there be than that?

    --
    -- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
    1. Re:One Last Thing by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

      Uhhh. Technically if you buy something to make your life better, you are making your own life better.

      --
      That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
  144. I turned to /. first by GatorMan · · Score: 1

    Let it become permanent record that I turned to this website as soon as I found out by word-of-mouth. Looking forward to people's thoughtful comments here. Very sad day.

  145. Taking a step back... by Daetrin · · Score: 1, Interesting

    "I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him"

    No, not really. I haven't used an Apple computer in... about 20 years now. The first time my family got an IBM clone to replace the old Apple 2c(?) i was amazed by how much more i could do with it and never looked back. Yeah, he did some "great" things, but nothing he's done has had a direct impact me in a long time and most of the indirect impact over the last few years has been to aggravate me (misleading commercials, bogus patent lawsuits, etc.)

    I never wished the man ill (well, not seriously anyways) and it's always a tragedy when any human being dies, but about 150,000 people die every day and almost every one of those deaths is a tragedy for someone. Jobs had a lot of fans who are upset by this, the same way that i'd be upset if one of my personal cultural heroes died, but Steve Jobs didn't mean a great deal to me one way or the other.

    It's quite possible i'll get modded as a troll for saying so, but i just thought i'd point out that not everyone has been directly affected by Steve Jobs or feels a personal connection to him, so not everyone in the community will miss him.

    RIP to all 150,000 or so people who died today, Steve Jobs no more or less than any of the others, even if i don't know those others by name.

    --
    This Space Intentionally Left Blank
    1. Re:Taking a step back... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What kind of phone do you currently use?

    2. Re:Taking a step back... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are my new best friend. Cudos

    3. Re:Taking a step back... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must be new here, kid.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Kadin2048/Slashdot_Trolling_Phenomena#Stephen_King_is_dead

    4. Re:Taking a step back... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Congratulations on posting the first dickhead comment on this article.

    5. Re:Taking a step back... by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Have you ever written code in an object-oriented language? Ever used a graphical UI designer? Even used a web app? If so, you've used things that Steve Jobs pushed from research into the mainstream while at NeXT.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  146. mod parent up by unity100 · · Score: 1

    disturbing, annoying, but unfortunately. true. i wish, it wasnt true.

  147. About PARC by mkiwi · · Score: 1

    I've noticed several posts mention Xerox PARC as the creators of the GUI.

    That is absolutely true, but it took a visionary like Steve Jobs to figure out that such a technology could revolutionize computing. PARC and Jobs were BOTH essential vessels. After seeing the technology, Apple bought the rights to the mouse interface from Xerox, and introduced the Mac.

    Xerox never saw the vast impact their technology could have. Where would we be now if Xerox had just sat on or canceled that project?

  148. Let Us Remember the Chinese Workers instead by martrootamm · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs is dead, but let us remember all the Chinese workers who commited suicide for not earning a living wage, having overall bad working conditions while making Apple products, and getting killed in a factory explosion. See the Students & Scholars Against Corporate Misbehaviour website for more information.

    1. Re:Let Us Remember the Chinese Workers instead by Snocone · · Score: 1

      > let us remember all the Chinese workers who commited suicide

      Let us remember that the suicide rate of the 1 million+ workers at Foxconn is less than a third of Chinese as a whole.

      Reducing suicide rate by two-thirds is a pretty decent accomplishment.

    2. Re:Let Us Remember the Chinese Workers instead by martrootamm · · Score: 1

      > Reducing suicide rate by two-thirds is a pretty decent accomplishment.

      The rate is reduced with suicide nets, while getting poisoned with n-hexane at work, working at $1.18/hour (which is the highest pay bracket). These people are still attempting suicides. Care to read more?

  149. RIP Steve Jobs, you will be missed. by SillyKing · · Score: 1

    You brought is the Apple and Macintosh line of computers. You gave us digital downloads and iPods. Then you showed us iPhones and iPods to stay connected. We owe much of your day to day lives to visionaries such as yourself. I started programming on a C-64 and Apple IIe. My first professional computer was a Mac IIfx. I am raising my glass to you.

    SillyKing

  150. Insanely Great by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    Saddened to hear this.

    I see kids playing with iPads and iPhones and it's easy for them, they just know how to use the stuff immediately, just the way Steve Paul Jandali Simpson Jobs imagined people would interact with these tools.

    RIP

  151. Leonardo by Gugliandalf · · Score: 1

    "More than one pundit [...] called him a modern-day Leonardo Da Vinci." Quite agree.

  152. Oh come on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like to think this is relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1tKm8rnLnQ The guy was a narcissistic dickhead. He carried on as if he was the be-all and end-all. The air of smugness, creating zealot after zealot, and having no concept of credit where it's due is just sickening. Good riddance, you will not be missed.

    1. Re:Oh come on by evil_aaronm · · Score: 1

      In other news, in a spectacular ceremony at the Vatican, the Pope granted immediate sainthood to Ballmer, Gates, Ellison and Fiorina...

    2. Re:Oh come on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Agreed.

    3. Re:Oh come on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In other news, in a spectacular ceremony at the Vatican, the Pope granted immediate sainthood to Ballmer, Gates, Ellison and Fiorina...

      Where exactly did I say that they were the pinnacle of perfection and all that is holy? If you have nothing useful to contribute, keep your trap shut.

  153. He'll be back again... by SomeoneGotMyNick · · Score: 1

    ...he's a Buddhist.

    1. Re:He'll be back again... by caitsith01 · · Score: 2, Funny

      ...he's a Buddhist.

      In unrelated news, a squirrel in Central Park was this morning observed to be installing small devices on acorns which prevented other squirrels from eating those acorns without permission. The squirrel was quoted as saying that it wished to "streamline the acorn experience" for other squirrels in order to remove the "distraction" of being able to eat acorns however they wanted to.

      --
      Read Pynchon.
  154. The delicious strawberry by wrencherd · · Score: 1

    I don't know what Jobs actually knew about engineering or software design, but I could certainly see that Apple was good when he was involved with the company and pretty awful when he wasn't.

    Maybe he was all flash (pun intended), or maybe he knew more than he had diplomas for, or maybe he just had the right managerial stuff. Whatever it was, genius or flourish, it's obviously not given out as readily as are MBA's.

    The living can talk about loving or hating or even respecting those no longer with us, but, at the end, one would hope (and it seems very likely) that a life well-lived is its own reward.

  155. Terrible Tragedy by SplicerNYC · · Score: 1

    RIP -- truly a visionary of the finest kind.

  156. Re:fucking finally by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, which side of the field are you on?

    --

    "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

  157. Re:Steve Jobs is dead. by slippyblade · · Score: 1

    The grassroots community will miss him? How so? Jobs and Apple have been crapping on the grassroots community for years.

  158. Here is to Steve.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."
    — Apple Computer Inc.

    Here is to Steve Jobs, a crazy one that changed the computer, music and movie industry for the better.

  159. Summary disrespectful? by Tragek · · Score: 1

    Anyone else find the summary wording "found dead", a little disrespectful, or is it just me being over sensitive?

    1. Re:Summary disrespectful? by isorox · · Score: 1

      Anyone else find the summary wording "found dead", a little disrespectful, or is it just me being over sensitive?

      Have Netcraft confirmed it yet?
      You're obviously new here, or never read below +2.

      It's a perfect send off for anyone that's been a part of the slashdot world since . No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame.

    2. Re:Summary disrespectful? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you are right. it could have said something like "the dull lifeless corpse of what had once been Steve Jobs was lying in a puddle of excrement, as is common with dead bodies. rigor mortis was setting in, so the coroner had to use a hammer to fit the decaying body into a bag.

      much more respectful.

    3. Re:Summary disrespectful? by Tragek · · Score: 1

      Yep: as evidenced by my UID, too 'young', and definitely don't browse beneath +2 unless moderating.

    4. Re:Summary disrespectful? by moozey · · Score: 1

      I wouldn't say disrespectful so much, but I know what you mean. Whenever I read about someone being "found dead" it usually relates to a drug overdose or foul play...

    5. Re:Summary disrespectful? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Maybe they should have said "found without life"? That's how you word it when someone dies and nobody is around, or is this your first time reading about someone who has died?

  160. Farewell by jd.schmidt · · Score: 1

    You will are already missed.

    1. Re:Farewell by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      A cure for cancer ? Sure !

      Let's reduce the amount of electromagnetic radiation around, reduce the amount of harmful chemicals we dump into the environement and that come to bite us back, years or decades later, and also let's reduce our stress level.

      Or we can listen to a song on our iThing to forget all about this, and not hear our screaming bosses.

  161. Hats off to you, Mr. Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A visionary, a perfectionist and an artist.
    Unfortunately, all his billions couldn't buy him another day on this world.

  162. RIP by rax313 · · Score: 0

    I thought this was some sort of Joke at first but then I remembered it wasn't April 1st.... RIP Steve Jobs: February 24, 1955 - October 5, 2011

  163. Apples new product line by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs died just in time for their new product, the iCoffin.

  164. Re:I Completely Called It by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1
    You seem to be under the impression that you had some sort of special insight. I think it was quite clear to anyone with half a brain that he was very ill when he resigned stating:

    I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come.

    I am not sure what there is to be "angry" about, perhaps that is why people told you to "calm down".

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  165. Apple IIe by poormanjoe · · Score: 1

    A great American put that in my home. Remember that, and do your best to avoid buying from China.

    --
    I want to be retired when I grow up.
    1. Re:Apple IIe by Osgeld · · Score: 1

      why? it never stopped him

  166. Jobs is gone, Sarah Palin won't run for President by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs died today. Sarah Palin announced she would not run for President.

    The end of the world has been averted. And all I had to do was sacrifice a 1st gen. iPod Nano last night. Damn those things are hard to open up.

  167. Sad news.. R.I.P. Steve Jobs by mbuffington · · Score: 1

    Wow. Sad news. I hope there's a young visionary like Jobs that will impact the world my kids inherit.

  168. Re:Slashdot's Decline by blackest_k · · Score: 1

    Sadly I heard about it first on facebook, rather than here. Steve Jobs has shaped our world without his vision there would have been no apple and ...

    Condolences to his family he is irreplaceable, now there is just faceless corporations designing hardware to make a profit and no real leadership to make it great.

    Steve jobs was a catalyst and without him the future just got further away.

  169. Requasiat en pace by TheGoodNamesWereGone · · Score: 1

    Rest in Peace Steve.

  170. iPhone 4S by forceman130 · · Score: 1

    If I was a worse person, I'd make a snarky comment along the lines of "apparently the iPhone 4S disappointed him to death" - luckily I'm a better person than that. RIP

    --
    Wow, a 7 digit ID - let that be a lesson in the perils of procrastination.
  171. Gizmodo are in sackcloth and ashes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you ever needed proof that Gizmodo were nothing but a useless bunch of fanboys, check the site. It's wall to wall Jobs in an orgy of worship that even Jobs would have found nauseating.

  172. RIP by bth · · Score: 1

    He truly made the world a better place.

  173. I never met the man... by binary_slim · · Score: 1

    but like most of the folks posting tonight, I mourn his passing. I'll remember the good things he fostered in Apple products throughout the years and the true creative drive he shared with the world. I'm not huge on Apple products themselves, but the impact he had on computers, phones, IT, and geekdom in general has been profound and cannot be dismissed. RIP, Steve.

  174. I've red Peter Pan enough to know... by unreadepitaph · · Score: 1

    That after a disappointing iPhone 4S release many people didn't believe in Apple.
    "I do believe in Apple, I do believe in Apple, I do believe in Apple"

    --
    My internetting is no good.
  175. Re:I Completely Called It by geekoid · · Score: 1

    Yo can be a troll AND be correct. they are not mutual exclusive. Troll is also the "-1 Being an ass" moderation.

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  176. I'm seriously crying!!!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I*m quiet the most extreme Apple Fan Girl you're ever gonna meet!!! I am sooooo sad!! I really don't know how I can continue to be an Apple fan without him!!! HE WAS APPLE!! Apple isn't the same without him!! I'm sure the iPhone 4S isn't the same as it would have been if he continued to be the CEO and was in good health and able to make decisions!

    R.I.P. Steve Jobs

    Carrie

    1. Re:I'm seriously crying!!!! by mercurywoodrose · · Score: 1

      Remember all the visionary engineers, software authors, designers, etc who put all those years into creating stuff that steve either asked for, or discovered and went crazy for. If apple continues to treat them like precious gold (overworked gold), then apple can still be loved without steve at the helm.

      --
      You hear about the person who didn't rely on anecdotal evidence to support his belief system?
  177. So.... by roc97007 · · Score: 1

    Flash on the iphone?

    Ok, was uncalled for, but someone had to say it.

    --
    Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
  178. Farewell by santax · · Score: 1

    Not an apple fan, but Steve Jobs was, is and will be an icon in the techworld. A great businessman and probably a great father, husband. Can we now please put all the money we spend on wars into something useful? Like finding a cure for cancer....

  179. In other news by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple releases their new product line. Itombstone!

  180. I submitted a story about this 4 weeks ago! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    TMZ caught a few photos as well as a story and he was about 50 pounds. I feel bad for the guy and all, I enjoy Apply products, but that just goes to show how much our new editors give a shit about worthy news.

    1. Re:I submitted a story about this 4 weeks ago! by BigSes · · Score: 1

      It was mine, sorry, I didn't notice I wasn't logged in. I was irritated then, and still am.

  181. Too soon? by Guerilla+Antix · · Score: 1

    Is this a + or - 1 to the Jobless rate?

  182. Twitter is in complete mourning. by amanicdroid · · Score: 1

    'I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out.. I feel something terrible has happened.'

  183. Very sad by origin2k · · Score: 1

    It is really weird (for someone I really don't even know), but the news of his death hit me pretty hard. I think part of it was that he really wasn't very old, in fact he is wasn't much much older than one of my brothers.

    A reminder that all of us have a finite amount of time here and we really should try and make the best of it.

    RIP Steve.

  184. Re:Steve Jobs is dead. by Macgrrl · · Score: 1

    But is it an Apple Extended Keyboard - those things rocked.

    --
    Sara
    Designer, Gamer, Macgrrl in an XP World
  185. a pioneer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Too bad.... He was a pioneer in technology and marketing...

  186. Oh come on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I like to think this is relevant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1tKm8rnLnQ The guy was a narcissistic dickhead. He carried on as if he was the be-all and end-all. The air of smugness, creating zealot after zealot, and having no concept of credit where it's due is just sickening. Good riddance, you will not be missed.

  187. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs was truly a remarkable leader. His attention to detail, ability to motivate, vision for personal technology, and ability to bring new products to market was incredible. Many business leaders possess a couple of those traits, but it is rare for one to have them all.

    Will be missed.

  188. RIP by rinoid · · Score: 1

    Probably the only company to fly a pirate flag.

    Probably the only company to dedicate their home page to eulogize someone (not Steve Jobs himself).
    http://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/Apple_Honors_Rosa_Parks_on_Home_Page/

    RIP Steve Jobs. You were a hero, an artist, innovator, and visionary of the likes we will not know. More people, businesses, and campuses should fly pirate flags.

  189. Outside, it is raining. by Black+Dragon · · Score: 1

    My first computer was a Mac. A tiny l'il Macintosh SE with something like 4MB of RAM. I made my first (attempts) at creating computer art on it. I can't even remember what program I used. Photoshop 1? Can't recall.

    In time, each of us will pass beyond the great veil, one by one. Cherish this life of yours, and make the most of it.

    Hmm. This seems to be hitting me harder than it should...

    --

  190. On the other hand... by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

    I don't think that having recently died should preclude criticism of what a person did while alive

    --
    I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
    1. Re:On the other hand... by Attila+Dimedici · · Score: 2

      I don't think that having recently died should preclude criticism of what a person did while alive

      However, the comments on the story announcing his death is not the place for it.

      --
      The truth is that all men having power ought to be mistrusted. James Madison
    2. Re:On the other hand... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh grow up son, you are on internet now.

  191. What will change at apple with Steve gone? by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    In the past jobs seemed to be a bit of a design nut.
    http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_39/b4002414.htm
    Apple everyone knows their employment depends on living up to Jobs's high standards. According to one story, possibly apocryphal, Jobs once demanded that a designer of a new Mac not allow a single visible screw. When the designer built a prototype that had one screw, tucked out of sight under a handle, Jobs fired him.

    Also he seemed a bit of a thin nut as well with the mini, imacs and laptops.

    Will there be any change in being more open for enterprise use?

    Not saying that you need to go all the way with os x on any hardware.

    But have

    Boxed software or some kind of easy way to work the app store.

    http://forums.appleinsider.com/showthread.php?t=133132&highlight=education+end

    I'm fine downloading software, but the issue isn't the download it's the fact that a purchase has to be tied to an iTunes account. If the APP has DRM then you need to also be logged in with that account. This causes serious issues in an Enterprise, much like the iPad does. The institution wants to always retain it's own purchases forever and so we end up managing hundreds of email aliases we use to generate iTunes accounts. It wouldn't be so bad, but there is also no model like the Volume Purchasing Program for the App Store for the Mac App Store and so tax exempt schools get taxed on purchases and then have to go through a process to get their tax back.

    It's a boat load of overhead in a managed environment to say the least. Cart before the horse in regards to the Mac App Store. But I get it...Enterprise is the second class citizen to the bread and butter personal consumers.
    ernstcs is offline Report Post Reply With Quote

    Laptops with battery you can change like just about ALL OTHER laptops.

    some kind of hardware / software road map.

    Mate displays

    imacs with easy to get to HDD's other AIO don't make you use suction cups to take the screen off just to change a HDD.

    specs bumbs or lower pricing on systems like the mac pro that stays the same for 6mo-1year + at times.

    a bigger mac mini that has more for better cooling, desktop cpus (lower cost and more power then the laptop cpus in the mini), room for desktop HDD's, quad core + low to mid rage video chips.

    A mac mini tower or lower price mac pro will also be good for enterprise use the mini is ok but same specs with more room for cooling may be needed.

    1. Re:What will change at apple with Steve gone? by uglyduckling · · Score: 1

      All apple laptop batteries can be changed.

  192. Apple's tribute? by Boawk · · Score: 1
  193. Re:I Completely Called It by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    You didn't have to call it that way. Here was my version, I think with a bit more compassion:

    Bill McGonigle says:
    January 18, 2011 at 2:09 pm

    Steve Jobs is gone for good.

    Based on previous mis-representations, itâ(TM)s clear that Apple canâ(TM)t be trusted to be straight with Jobsâ(TM) story. Do they risk a shareholder suit this way? Sure, but the damages are going to be lower than announcing, âoeSteve Jobs has resigned as CEO.â Instead, theyâ(TM)ll show four strong quarters under Cook before having to come clean. This is the strongest argument for Cook as CEO â" switching horses is going to kill shareholder value.

    Based on his previous medical history and the timing relative to the Verizon iPhone deal, heâ(TM)s done. Heâ(TM)s succeeded in integrating easy-to-use computers into daily life, with the user as the penultimate beneficiary. I suspect weâ(TM)ll see the real fruits of this with the Verizon LTE iPhone (i.e. data-only, portable plans).

    Mission accomplished. Now heâ(TM)ll spend his remaining time with those he loves, and where he wants to be. He deserves it. Namaste, Jobs.
    Reply

    I admit, I thought he'd last a quarter longer. But, neither then or now was/is the time for vitriol. I'll save the Jobs-had-Michael-Jackson-killed stuff for later. ;)

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  194. A great man by romainp · · Score: 1

    For sure, he was one of the prioneer in computers. We will miss you for sure. RIP

  195. Re:Poor taste from Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    actually, he'll be held underground for a few days then he should come back on again.

  196. Sad indeed... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    May you rest in peace Steve...revolutionary mind, innovator, thinker...
    You'll be missed...

  197. Re:I Completely Called It by RobinEggs · · Score: 1

    That's only your opinion, and I don't agree with it. I believe that trolling is supposed to be reserved for people saying things exclusively to piss other people off and/or divert the discussion into a pointless, heated tanget; "being an ass" is not an acceptable reason to mod something troll. Something can be vitriolic, wrong, provocative, or just downright crazy without being trolling. The fact that slashdot has forgotten that explains a lot about the groupthink mentality that pervades this place sometimes.

  198. Let's not forget he wasn't exactly perfect... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Has anyone forgotten the patent on devices that shut off cell phone cameras, and the plan to commercialize such devices for use in public places?
    Are people suddenly not concerned that Jobs felt he should get to decide what you do with the electronic devices he sold you?
    Do people now ignore the fact that his iPhones were tracking people's GPS location without their knowledge or consent?

    Seriously, you people worry me. Yes, death is sad and Jobs had lots of qualities. Doesn't change the fact that he was dangerous and a threat to freedom. In fact I go as far as believing that Apple had a plot to put an iPhone, iPad and/or Macbook in every person's hands so that they could control people. I don't think his products were so great because he wanted to generously provide us good technology, I think he wanted all of us to use his products to control us.

    I worry what he would have tried to do to society had he lived another decade or two. From what I know about him, he's the kind of person who ends up doing more harm than good. I think it's likely that had he lived, in 20 years we'd be wishing he died this day.

    And I'm offended that anyone would assume I feel bad about his death. I don't. He was one of the few people I'd never feel bad for.

    1. Re:Let's not forget he wasn't exactly perfect... by geekmux · · Score: 0

      Has anyone forgotten the patent on devices that shut off cell phone cameras, and the plan to commercialize such devices for use in public places? Are people suddenly not concerned that Jobs felt he should get to decide what you do with the electronic devices he sold you? Do people now ignore the fact that his iPhones were tracking people's GPS location without their knowledge or consent?

      Seriously, you people worry me. Yes, death is sad and Jobs had lots of qualities. Doesn't change the fact that he was dangerous and a threat to freedom. In fact I go as far as believing that Apple had a plot to put an iPhone, iPad and/or Macbook in every person's hands so that they could control people. I don't think his products were so great because he wanted to generously provide us good technology, I think he wanted all of us to use his products to control us.

      I worry what he would have tried to do to society had he lived another decade or two. From what I know about him, he's the kind of person who ends up doing more harm than good. I think it's likely that had he lived, in 20 years we'd be wishing he died this day.

      And I'm offended that anyone would assume I feel bad about his death. I don't. He was one of the few people I'd never feel bad for.

      Yes, you're right. He MUST have been an insidious demon to want to see his company succeed by selling more product. What an asshole, what other company would do such a thing other than Apple. I'm CERTAIN that iPhones have been and always will be the ONLY phones ever made with suspect GPS tracking. Certainly no one else would dare. And yes, of course I consider my Freedoms at risk every time I open my Macbook...because everyone knows using Windows is SO much more secure and non-threatening...Windows is practically invulnerable to botnets too, yes I'm certain that only Apple would ever participate in such activity due to this demon bastard of a man you portray as the heartless leader, standing alone on his mountain of Capitalistic Greed that no other business in the world could have possibly contributed towards.

      Remember to chew a few more times before you swallow that tinfoil...you might choke on it.

  199. Fox News reports... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Turns out the Affordable Health Care Act really was a Jobs killer.

  200. 123,456 + 123.456 hours... by Hazel+Bergeron · · Score: 1

    ...between the deaths of Diana and Steve, expressed in a notation equally meaningful to American and European conspiracy imagineers.

  201. Re:I Completely Called It by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1

    I'm sorry, I didn't realize that a moment of gloating amounted to pathological obsession.

    When someone dies? It would probably help you score a few points in a psychopathy test!

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  202. RIP Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    RIP Steve

  203. RIP Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    [steve autorelease]; // RIP

  204. Re:I Completely Called It by RobinEggs · · Score: 1

    As a customer or stockholder wouldn't you be angry if the driving force behind your favorite company, one who had serious health concerns, ducked out of his job while giving literally not one word of concrete explanation? For many people that kind of job change was bigger than if President Obama suddenly said "Biden's in charge now, peace out!", and yet Apple and Jobs thought nothing of refusing to explain anything about it. It was ridiculous and insulting, and to me just another example of their controlling corporate culture saying "We know what you need and when you need it, now shut up and wait for us to tell you when we're damn well good and ready!".

  205. RIP Mr Jobs. by Beelzebud · · Score: 1

    I'm not even going to make any lame jokes.

  206. R.I.P Steve Jobs by cslewis2007 · · Score: 0

    You will be missed amongst the technocrati. You leave an indelible mark upon the technical and cultural landscape, one that the rest of us no doubt will take for granted.

  207. Most interestingly... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 1

    Abe Vigoda is still alive...

    --
    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  208. RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I would have liked to see that man live for 56 years more.

  209. Wow.... by NetNed · · Score: 1

    My very first computer was a apple IIe and it opened my world to computing like never before. That was my last apple computer, but I do have a ipod touch and felt the same way about it when I got it 3 years ago as I did about my IIe. Thanks for the excitement and amazement of using break through devices over the year.

    RIP Steve Jobs. Though your business model wasn't always like, you brought cool stuff in to my formative year.

  210. Too soon. Just way too soon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My first experiences with computers were with Apple II's, IIe's, IIc's, and IIgs's. Unbelievable. Anything I say just sounds inadequate.

    RIP Steve Jobs

  211. So long ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    and thanks for all of the dreams!

  212. Now he knows what's NeXT by gatkinso · · Score: 1

    An amazing technologist, RIP Steve!

    --
    I am very small, utmostly microscopic.
  213. Truly sad by Golden_Rider · · Score: 1

    good bye Steve, you will be missed.

    While I was never a huge Apple fan (well, I do own an iPhone, but I never owned any Mac), I do admire the work Steve did, and I guess it would be a slight understatement to say that Apple products had quite some influence on how we use our computers today.

    My condolences go out to his family. Cancer is a horrible disease, I lost my father last month to it, so I can guess how hard the last few weeks must have been for all of them.

  214. Subtle but Important Impact on my Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    First computer I had was an Apple IIe
    First programming I did was in BASIC on that Apple IIe
    First school paper I ever wrote in a word processor was on that Apple IIe
    First software I pirated was on that Apple IIe

    I recall being amazed at how different the Mac Classic was compared to it

    Man, how I love this MacBook Air!

    RIP Steve Jobs.

  215. The Battle of /. is Over. The Trolls Won. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Summary is beyond lame.

  216. And massive stock shorting in 5 .. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    4
    3
    ?
    profit

  217. Was he a god? Often he was an asshole by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sorry, but just like after Richard Nixon died, I think all we are going to hear now is what a wonderful guy Steve Jobs was...

  218. obligatory Weird Al moment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I do a ps and see PIDs that are sleeping
    while my MacBook gently weeps
    I look at my mounts & see /dev(s) that need fsck(ing)
    while my MacBook gently weeps

  219. A considerable loss for Slashdot... by frito_x · · Score: 1

    There's gonna be a lot less passionate debates around here...

    R.I.P., Steve.

  220. Apple's homage isn't enough by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am touched by Apple's homage to Steve on their home page - but honestly, it is to be expected from Apple. What would be really something is if other companies would do the same. Seriously, this is a man that had an incredible impact on the entire industry. I want to see his face on the home page of Microsoft, Oracle, Adobe, IBM, etc. for the next few days. Can the guy at least get a Google Doodle? Geez!

    1. Re:Apple's homage isn't enough by mj1856 · · Score: 1

      This is a great idea. But how would we get Microsoft or the like to do this? Google, maybe.

    2. Re:Apple's homage isn't enough by Golden_Rider · · Score: 1

      Google actually DOES show a "Steve Jobs, 1955-2011" message now.

    3. Re:Apple's homage isn't enough by Golden_Rider · · Score: 1

      and Microsoft at least mentions it on the homepage (under "news") and has a statement by Steve Ballmer.

    4. Re:Apple's homage isn't enough by mj1856 · · Score: 1

      Looks like google put a link up already. Way to go google.

  221. america is dead by decora · · Score: 1, Insightful

    all we are now is hedge fund managers and checkout clerks.

    no more steve jobs.

    no more big ideas.

    1. Re:america is dead by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no more caps.

    2. Re:america is dead by ThorGod · · Score: 1

      Yep, might as well burn all of our forests and sell our children to who ever will buy them.

      What's the use in having the third largest nation in the world (by area) with some of the richest natural resources and most fertile lands, and most of the best universities humanity has ever seen? There's just no way we can compete.

      --
      PS: I don't reply to ACs.
  222. A great Inventor by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not an Apple fan due mainly to the fact that for a part of my life those product where
    out of reach for me, but we can't deny he was a true Inventor

    Apple, Newton, Next, ipod, iphone, ipad are all invention, he had a way to take what
    was already on the market and create something better than the other, too bad he
    didn't had the time to make the electrical Icar...

  223. He will be missed. by mosb1000 · · Score: 1

    What is there to say that hasn't already been said. Whether you liked his products or not, you have to admit that they wiere a driving force in the industry. When he resigned as CEO we knew this day couldn't be far away. Rest in peace, Steve.

  224. nobody gives a shit by decora · · Score: 1

    apple is dead. steve jobs is dead. the personal computer is dead. 1984 is coming back.

    all we have left now is linux.

  225. Talking from my own experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I had the Apple I, Apple II and Apple III, then Lisa and the Macs.

    Before that I had played with CPM machines, the TRaSh-80, the commodores.

    After that I used PC (DOS) and after that, Linux.

    Oh yes, there was a big difference with what Apple offered us and the rest.

  226. RIP Steve... by iCEBaLM · · Score: 1

    Thanks for all the cool stuff. You were a visionary and inspiration. The world is lesser without you.

  227. you just do not fucking get it by decora · · Score: 2

    steve wozniak: "hey check out this l33t floppy drive controller i made! sweet eh?"

    steve jobs: "we can sell this"

    ordinary people: "i did this on my mac. no, i didnt need an $8,000 workstation"

    school children: "fd 40; rt 80; fd 40; lt 80;"

    1. Re:you just do not fucking get it by Assmasher · · Score: 1

      i didnt need an $8,000 workstation

      Hehe, ironically the most expensive computer in my house is a $6,000 BigMac ;)... The significantly more powerful PC cost less than $3000 and crashes much less.

      Still, I both loved and hated Steve - nothing but love for The Woz though! Apple IIgs changed my life.

      --
      Loading...
  228. Good Guys Die Young by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1

    What can I say?

    Most of the visionaries - and I mean, the REAL visionaries, do not stay with us for a long, long time.

    Those stick with us for ages, like Bill Gates, just ain't cut from the same cloth like Mr. Jobs.

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
    1. Re:Good Guys Die Young by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or, altneratively, if they stick with us, they get labeled differently. It's easy to die young.

    2. Re:Good Guys Die Young by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      The flame that burns double as bright, burns only halv as long ... (a transmorgified citate from Blade Runner)
      R.I.P.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
  229. Steve Jobs. RIP. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All over the net today I see RIP Steve, you will be missed!

    I do have to give him some credit. He usually invested well, invested boldly, and was first to market.

    However: I can't think of a single product he brought to market that wasn't really somebody else's idea.

    Secondly, he almost always was trying to control the entire software chain from top to bottom in a maniacal and monopolistic way that backfired every time.

    He lost to Windows in 80s because of it.

    And Apple is losing now to Android because of it.

    He was a person, and an extraordinarily clever one, but most of what he seemed to do with that cleverness was make money. Most of his "Innovation" was really just capitalization, and usually on other's work, ideas, and engineering.

    He went from being the hip under dog to being the evil emperor. It's kind of an Anakin Vader story, and I think it's sad.

    RIP Steve.

  230. As the pallbearers by Snufu · · Score: 1

    carry the casket from the stage, a figure pops out.

    "And one more thing..."

  231. Death was merely physical... by geekmux · · Score: 1

    ...for your legacy and influence will live on forever. RIP Steve.

  232. Wouldn't it be creepy if by William-Ely · · Score: 1

    Fake Steve Jobs also died?

    --
    Mod me down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards the dark side will be complete!
  233. He'll be back by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I give it three days tops.

  234. Burial plans. by billsayswow · · Score: 1

    They've got a lovely burial plot picked out for Steve Jobs, it's a walled garden at a premium price that only the groundskeeper is allowed to enter. You may only leave specific kinds of flowers that you purchase from the groundskeeper, and upkeep only continues until the first rain, heatwave, or below-freezing day, then he has to be reburied in a marginally nicer walled garden at a steeper price.

  235. Gates' Response by sonicmerlin · · Score: 1

    I'm truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs' 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." I'm glad the last sentence sounded sincere. It started off so politically correct and yawn-inducing. Screw your wife, talk about how you feel. And he does at the end. It's good to see.

  236. Re:Having met him in the hallways of Apple with a by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Curse you! I just lost the game!

    And even though I dont like apple, I will say the he definitely changed consumer electronics for the better.

  237. Crap. by dr2chase · · Score: 1

    Been a fanboi since the 128k Mac. Met him once when he was at NeXT in the early days and we were peddling Modula-3, didn't close the deal. Don't recall if he was wearing a black turtleneck, but he was wearing jeans, I am sure of that.

    This leaves such a hole.

  238. Re:Thanks for creating the reality distortion fiel by intheshelter · · Score: 0

    Sounds like his biggest unintended invention was irrational haters.

  239. Thanks Steve by craw · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs was an technology icon who raised the bar for what a person should expect from their computer, phone, music player, etc... This is not just in regard to the inside the case technology, but also the user interface, and the industrial design.

    I extend my deepest sympathies to his family.

    And to the various trolls posting here, there will be a later time to vent. Now is a time to speak kindly, or do not speak at all.

  240. Another great taken down by the pancreas by hsthompson69 · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of another bright star that burnt out recently:

    http://www.cmu.edu/randyslecture/

    Condolences to Jobs' family, and to all of those that will miss him.

  241. Flash by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can I have it on my iPad now?

  242. every other company has been doing that by decora · · Score: 1

    since the beginning of time. Aristotle talked about monopolies in The Politics

    Steve Jobs didn't invent monopoly or branding or lock-in or planned obsolescence. That is how modern corporations work, every modern corporation. Most business people, though, do not understand that those things are simply means to an end, they are a way to support the important stuff... like font systems and tablets and smartphones and laser printers for everybody.... and the real important stuff.... the people who use these things.

  243. MacOS X's quite a testament by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's a pretty good testament to what a guy with an idea can do (even if he didn't do the low-level tech/code work) in making that idea, happen. He played his part in good end product to go out on & quite a testament in the end to this person. He also gave character to this field in a way, & especially for management imo. There's no arguing with successes after all.

    * Now, I wonder how "the other Steve" is taking it? Mr. Wozniak, that is, you know??

    APK

    P.S.=> Anyhow/anyways - Not to be "morbid/speak-ill-of-the-dead" but... well, I also JUST wondered on the business front, as to what this will do to Apple stock @ this point also - Honestly? My feelings are, it shouldn't affect it, & that should stand on its own merits based on technological merits imo, strictly - which afaik on the iPhone front, is doing quite well as is on that note... apk

  244. A short history of Steven Paul Jobs. by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Interesting: Steven Paul Jobs.

    Quote: "I have 3 kids (Lisa is not my daughter, enough of those rumors)."

    Wikipedia: Steve Jobs.

    Quote: "The couple have three children. Jobs also has a daughter, Lisa Brennan-Jobs (born 1978), from his relationship with Bay Area painter Chrisann Brennan.[43] She briefly raised their daughter on welfare when Jobs denied paternity, claiming that he was sterile; he later acknowledged paternity.[43]"

    Wikipedia's reference 43 is page 2 of Fortune Magazine's March 5, 2008 article, The trouble with Steve Jobs.

    Quote: "When Jobs had his own illegitimate child, also at the age of 23, he too struggled with his responsibilities. For two years, though already wealthy, he denied paternity while Lisa's mother went on welfare. At one point Jobs even swore in a signed court document that he couldn't be Lisa's father because he was "sterile and infertile, and as a result thereof, did not have the physical capacity to procreate a child." He later acknowledged paternity of Lisa, married Laurene Powell, a Stanford MBA, and fathered three more children. Lisa Brennan-Jobs, now 29, graduated from Harvard and is a writer."

    From page 1 of that article: 'Pondering this issue, Stanford management science professor Robert Sutton discussed Jobs in his bestselling 2007 book, "The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't." "As soon as people heard I was writing a book on assholes, they would come up to me and start telling a Steve Jobs story," says Sutton. "The degree to which people in Silicon Valley are afraid of Jobs is unbelievable. He made people feel terrible; he made people cry'

    Another quote from page 1: "... his deployment of stock options at Apple and Pixar, which exposed both companies to backdating scandals."

    From page 2: 'Jobs' break-the-rules attitude extends to refusing to put a license plate on his Mercedes. "It's a little game I play," he explained to Fortune in 2001.'

    'One former board member described Anderson's role as "tantrum controller." '

    'The company discovered "irregularities" with 6,428 grants between 1997 and 2001 - roughly one in six that Apple issued during that period. (New disclosure requirements after that time caused backdating to dry up.) The company also found no instances of backdating before Jobs took over as CEO. Apple was forced to restate its earnings, taking a pretax charge for unreported compensation expenses of $105 million.'

    "Disney, which bought Pixar in 2006, also investigated and found a backdating problem there during Jobs' time as CEO."

    Page 3: "Anderson, in an extraordinary public statement he issued after settling his case with the SEC, disputed Apple's exoneration of Jobs. Through his lawyer, he said he alerted Jobs to the accounting implications even as the CEO was in the process of picking a retroactive date for the grant to his top lieutenants. He also said Jobs assured him that the award had been properly approved by Apple's board."

    Page 4: "It was a great speech, simple and moving - though it clearly left the false impression that Jobs had learned of his illness in mid-2004 and immediately proceeded to surgery, when in fact he had learned of it in October 2003."

    I've studied the issues for many years, and have formed the theory that Job's abusiveness is possibly the cause of his illness.

    1. Re:A short history of Steven Paul Jobs. by epyT-R · · Score: 1

      can you explain the cause effect here? how can this behavior cause an illness like his? ..and how are you sure it is true in his case?

    2. Re:A short history of Steven Paul Jobs. by CharlyFoxtrot · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs was the vey definition of a magnificent bastard. The guy made some poor choices in his life, as have we all (a life without regrets is a very sheltered one indeed.) He obviously had issues, with his naming a computer after his daughter Lisa while at the same time denying her and all. It's worth mentioning though that he and Lisa were eventually reconciled :

      "Steve Jobs did eventually claim paternity for his out-of-wedlock daughter and opened his home to her during her teenage years. He sent her to Harvard where she realized a flair for writing and earned her chops at the Harvard Crimson and The Harvard Advocate."

      --
      If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error.
    3. Re:A short history of Steven Paul Jobs. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      can you explain the cause effect here? how can this behavior cause an illness like his?

      karma?

    4. Re:A short history of Steven Paul Jobs. by Toonol · · Score: 1

      I've studied the issues for many years, and have formed the theory that Job's abusiveness is possibly the cause of his illness.

      Bob the Chiropractor? Is this your new trolling account?

  245. 42 Days After Resigning by Jason+Levine · · Score: 1

    RIP Steve. I might not own any Apple products, but the paths he blazed have definitely impacted how I use my computer.

    (And, yes, the geek in me noticed the "42" reference.)

    --
    My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
  246. Sure don't agree with Apple on many things. by Pandur77 · · Score: 1

    But thanks for the iphone and R.I.P. Steve.

  247. BSD by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Dude made a crap-load of money off a free OS. Smart MF'er.

  248. They're not fond of rules by caitsith01 · · Score: 1, Insightful

    They're not fond of rules

    Apart from:

    - you must use itunes to sync your ipod and iphone
    - you must register and activate your hardware via our central database
    - you must use apps approved by Apple
    - you must use proprietary cable formats we approve
    - you may not run whatever software you want on your own device
    - you may not replace your own battery
    - you may not make products vaguely similar to our products
    - you may not purchase media which does not have localised price-gouging ...etc.

    Seriously, this is sad, but the guy was primarily part of a private company which exists to make money for its shareholders. He didn't cure disease or invent the internal combustion engine or walk on the moon. He took good ideas (generally thought up by other people) and refined them to maximise their commercial capabilities.

    So sad: yes. Was Jobs a significant figure in his field?: yes. Is it over the top to act like Einstein or Leonardo Da Vinci or JFK just died?: yes.

    --
    Read Pynchon.
    1. Re:They're not fond of rules by Wovel · · Score: 1

      Some grieve with anger. We still love you.

    2. Re:They're not fond of rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ..unless you are a rebel and just hack the stuff.

    3. Re:They're not fond of rules by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      he tried to kill internet freedom and failed

      he died unloved by those that understand that there is more to technology than marketing

      i bet you'll miss those tender nights being teabagged by the old creep you rotten fanboy wovel!

  249. Mountainous Tribute by hovelander · · Score: 1

    You know that there is going to be someplace where people vigil tonight and start leaving some kind of token. I wonder what it will be a "mountain of" by the end of the week outside Apple HQ?

    Thanks for making an impact Steve. I only wish you had taken the Gates path and brought some of your vision and tenacity to philanthropy. Imagine what the rivalry on that front could have wrought.

    Empathy to all of his loved ones, Blood & Otherwise...

    1. Re:Mountainous Tribute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > I wonder what it will be a "mountain of" by the end of the week outside Apple HQ?

      Ice Cream Sandwiches? ;-D

  250. This felt like a sucker punch. by oDDmON+oUT · · Score: 1

    I imagined Jobs post-retirement full of behind the scenes manipulations, a book deal, maybe even a Nicholsonesque "indiscretion" or two, and what does the universe give me? /sigh

    God bless you Mr. Jobs, and thanks for all you gave in the time you were here.

    --
    Some days it's just not worth
    chewing through my restraints.
  251. Re:here's to a man by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Then we can only hope that Ballmer reads the news and copies Apple yet again.

  252. Will be missed by end15 · · Score: 1

    A true titan. One of us. You did well Steve. Rest easy.

    --
    All glory to the Hypnotoad!
  253. R.I.P. Steve by Digz · · Score: 1

    Your time came too soon.

    --
    SYS 64738
  254. I guess it really is worse than we thought by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    America has no Jobs.

  255. Re:An open letter to Bill Gates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That is a disgusting thing to say. I don't like Apple, but I would never wish death upon Steve Jobs and I'm sad to see him gone.

    Please grow up.

  256. Someone who influenced my life by catchblue22 · · Score: 1

    From the windowing systems we use on modern computers to the fonts we take for granted seeing on our screens, Steve Jobs may not have been the first inventor of these things, but he saw their potential and used his influence to bring them to the mainstream. His iPod changed he way I listen to music, and made listening to audiobooks a practical and easy thing; imagine scrolling through a 22 hour single audio file without something like a click wheel. Before the iPod, audiobooks were simply impractical, usually spanning dozens of CD's. Or the interface on other mp3 players was only practical while listening to 5 minute files. Now I can carry around a library of 10 to 15 books, along with podcasts of my favorite radio shows.

    Again, I am not sure that Steve Jobs actually "invented" these things. Instead, I suspect that Steve's role was to say to his team "design me a good interface for a music player", and then to look at their ideas, and discard those he thought didn't live up to his ideals. He knew what he wanted, and knew how to say no. He was a leader, and he lead entire sectors into the modern age; the computer industry, the computer animation industry, and the music industry, all dragged, sometimes kicking and screaming into the form that we see them in today.

    RIP Steve Jobs. You died far too young. You are an example to us all.

    --
    This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when first he appears as a protector - Plato (423 to 327 BC)
    1. Re:Someone who influenced my life by jthill · · Score: 1

      I was hooked on computers from the age of 12. In 1985 I was a systems programmer at a bank, doing mainframe networking. The only thing I knew about the Mac was the contempt it was getting from my coworkers and the trade press, and it sure didn't sound like anything I needed, maybe a dazzling toy but a toy nonetheless.

      So my girlfriend and I were out that weekend bopping down Lake St and stopped into a store that had them on sale. She knew precisely nothing about computers. I watched the salesman give her maybe half a minute intro to the mouse and menus, size her up and walk away. Five minutes later, she could use MacWrite. It was all there, anybody could learn it. I was watching "discoverability" in operation before I knew the word, but I sure as hell knew what I was looking at.

      Steve Jobs knew it when he saw it, too, only he knew what it was for without being told. It wasn't for the people who populate research labs. He knew it was how you get computers into everybody's life. Mac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, lots of people in the business sneered at just about everything Steve came up with, because he had the unutterable gall to actually know a good thing when he saw it. His faith in his own aesthetic sense was proved over and over again and the diehards never caught up. He did things that had the, erm, unfaithful, laughing at him even after seeing him operate all these years. He didn't do it once or twice, it got so he was doing it every time. Even after decades of watching him identify and hone the best, people were saying the iPad would fail, it was a gadget with no market. He was right and he knew he was right. He didn't have to give a damn what you think, and he didn't.

      "Here's to the crazy ones."

      --
      As always, all IMO. Insert "I think" everywhere grammatically possible.
  257. Vision vs. Engineering by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

    I think you're not giving Woz enough credit.

    This is a man, whether you liked him or not or approved of everything he did or not, who was in fact instrumental in a number of steps in the post-1960s computer revolution.

    Although Jobs had his part, it was Woz that designed the first two generations of apple computers himself.

    I'm not trying to make light of this death, but the engineers behind all the devices are still alive.

    So? He was an engineer. And he did a damn awesome job of it, too. Without Woz, early PCs might have taken longer to bring to market; they would have had more chips and would have cost more because of it. It probably would have taken an army of engineers to build what Woz did.

    But the world has armies and armies of engineers.

    On the other hand Steve Jobs, more than anyone, realized that computers could be made into consumer appliances that every housewife, artist, author, schoolchild and, yes, hipster would want to own. The design and marketing of computers and smartphones to ordinary people, not just businesspeople or techies.

    Woz without Jobs would have been happy to stay in his garage and solder. Linus Torvalds would probably still have been inspired to create an open-source OS for geeks to play with and build upon. Bill Gates would have gone ahead and put business machines on the desks of every cubicle drone in the corporate world. But without Steve Jobs, personal computers would never have become personal.

    Much of Slashdot hates him for this, of course. They hate the lack of choice, the warm and fuzzy design, the drool-proof UI and the high prices. But what they really hate is that he took this wonderful world of powerful technology, a world where they are kings, and turned the keys over to the unwashed masses of housewives, schoolkids, artists, and, yes, hipsters.

    1. Re:Vision vs. Engineering by epyT-R · · Score: 0

      On the other hand Steve Jobs, more than anyone, realized that computers could be made into consumer appliances that every housewife, artist, author, schoolchild and, yes, hipster would want to own. The design and marketing of computers and smartphones to ordinary people, not just businesspeople or techies.

      I fail to see how this simple realization requires intellectual abilities above the norm.. it's not 'that' amazing a concept.

      On the other hand Steve Jobs, more than anyone, realized that computers could be made into consumer appliances that every housewife, artist, author, schoolchild and, yes, hipster would want to own. The design and marketing of computers and smartphones to ordinary people, not just businesspeople or techies.

      you know who else was good at this? L Ron Hubbard. It also speaks volumes about the intellectual abilities (reason, self awareness, critical thinking) for these groups of people.

      Woz without Jobs would have been happy to stay in his garage and solder. Linus Torvalds would probably still have been inspired to create an open-source OS for geeks to play with and build upon. Bill Gates would have gone ahead and put business machines on the desks of every cubicle drone in the corporate world. But without Steve Jobs, personal computers would never have become personal.

      personal computer means a computer a single person uses for whatever he needs it for. windows machines are no more or less personal than apple machines. why should we bow to jobs but then think negatively of these others? woz and the other engineers were the ones designing apple's stuff. they deserve at least as much praise.

      Much of Slashdot hates him for this, of course. They hate the lack of choice, the warm and fuzzy design, the drool-proof UI and the high prices. But what they really hate is that he took this wonderful world of powerful technology, a world where they are kings, and turned the keys over to the unwashed masses of housewives, schoolkids, artists, and, yes, hipsters.

      ..causing a dumbing down of the potential of these devices so that said open-mouth droolers can have some music to flap their harelips to..meanwhile they choose to miss out on the potential capability they could tap if the device would allow them to.. try selling a car with a single gear transmission equivalent to first gear in most cars.. it'd be peppy and easy to drive but you can't get much over 30 with it.

    2. Re:Vision vs. Engineering by euroq · · Score: 1

      personal computer means a computer a single person uses for whatever he needs it for. windows machines are no more or less personal than apple machines. why should we bow to jobs but then think negatively of these others? woz and the other engineers were the ones designing apple's stuff. they deserve at least as much praise.

      The "GUI" of Windows and Linux and all modern personal computers were mimicing what Macintoshes did. The engineers certainly deserve praise, as did the research department from Palo Alto which Macinotshes were based off of. What everyone is respecting at the moment is Steve Jobs ability and business sense to bring it to the mainstream. Command lines are what happened from the awesome geeks, but Windows 95 and iPads are what happened from Steve Jobs. And I don't think that mourning over Steve Jobs means anyone has to think negatively of others, such as myself who is typing this on a Windows XP box who has never owned a Macintosh. Steve Jobs was a mother fucking badass and such badassedness does not result from a bunch of open-mouth droolers, it results from how modern society's use of computers resulted in Steve Jobs ability to bring the technology to be understood and usable by the common man.

      --
      Just because the U.S. is a republic does not mean it is not a democracy. Democracy/republic are not mutually exclusive.
    3. Re:Vision vs. Engineering by ElusiveJoe · · Score: 1

      But without Steve Jobs, personal computers would never have become personal.

      That's like saying that for example without Atari there would be no video games. Quite wrong.

    4. Re:Vision vs. Engineering by Yvanhoe · · Score: 0

      Stop thinking Steve Jobs had ideas. He recognized good ideas when he saw one and he spent a lot of time hunting for good ideas, but he did not come up with them first :

      https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/The_Mother_of_All_Demos

      You can find similar stuff behind most "genius idea" of Apple.

      --
      The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.
    5. Re:Vision vs. Engineering by euroq · · Score: 1

      Stop thinking Steve Jobs had ideas. He recognized good ideas when he saw one and he spent a lot of time hunting for good ideas, but he did not come up with them first :

      There is absolutely nothing in my post that says what you're implying I said. I clearly stated it was his business ability which deserves to be recognized.

      --
      Just because the U.S. is a republic does not mean it is not a democracy. Democracy/republic are not mutually exclusive.
  258. Meh by wisnoskij · · Score: 0

    I have never owned any of his products and probably never will, they are all stupidly closed.
    Also if any of the documentaries I have watched about him are right he just stole ideas from his betters and used the actually talented people he knew (Steve Wozniak) to accomplish the rest.

    --
    Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
  259. You got to respect his achievements by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He was not perfect but who his? I disagreed with many of his views, sometime strongly.

    He did however create the proverbial 'carrot' after which every tech company would eventually run. Not once but time after time. That my friends is something that very few individuals and/or companies can brag about.

    You have to respect that.

    You have to respect the man.

    Rest In Peace Steve.

  260. Why is this tagged 'microsoft'? by mgiuca · · Score: 1

    I don't really understand how the Slashdot tag system works. How many people need to uniquely name a tag before it goes up on the article's page?

  261. I was going to be a Chemist... by Natales · · Score: 1

    ...until I touch the Apple IIe, at age 16, back in my home country of Chile. I never looked back. I became a Software Engineer and I now live in Silicon Valley doing what I love to do.

    What Steve did thorough all these years have so many touch points in my life. Virtually every device that Steve envisioned and Apple created have changed the way I interact with technology, and more importantly, with people.And I'm talking about NeXT, the Apple Newton and all the rest. Few human beings can have such an influence on so many other people's lives all over the world.

    I see Steve as the role model for all of us Gen X and Y. Focus, passion, determination, cutting red tape, taking risks, create, hire the best, innovate. Above all, give it all to the game, acknowledge your life is not forever, lay out your plan and vision for the future, and leave when you are confident you did your part, at the very end.

    That's how life is to be lived for people like us. Thank you.

    1. Re:I was going to be a Chemist... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Similar age, similar distance from the Valley, same computer, same story.

      RIP, Steve. So long, and thanks for all the bits.

  262. Loss of a visionary and a leader by kelsey.grammer · · Score: 1

    RIP Steve Jobs. Insanely great. Indeed.

    --
    I reflect your pompous signature back upon you.
  263. Reality distortion field -- gone by seven+of+five · · Score: 1

    damn.

    back to reality.

    Real sad.

  264. Slashdot...I'm sitting here waiting... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Slashdot is sending him away the only way they know how... inaccurately. ...sitting here waiting for the first "Insensitive Clod" remark.

  265. Sad. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not because he was powerful.
    Not because of the money he made.
    Not even because of success or results.

    It's sad because he loved making beautiful things. Sure, he would go for the money and that was part of him.

    But he couldn't accept with mediocrity -- no, he was after the best that can be done, not cutting corners, never compromising... he did it just like a toy maker, doing it impressive because he wanted to go where nobody ever went.

    I feel somewhat emotional, because that's the way I think, too, not doing things out of pride or self-image, but a little like Santa, giving birth to things to see the light on the children eyes. Except we were the children.

    It's funny, somewhat already noticed, my tagline at the bottom states something beautiful, too. I guess Slash somehow captures the general tone of the posts... I think he did things out of love, even if love for perfection, but that's not something we all manage to do in this busy life, is it?

    There will be others, and Woz is not entirely different from him, because Homo Sapiens is so great -- but Steve had his share in making us that great.

    PS: I'm not an Apple or Mac fanatic; I don't own an iPhone, nor an iPad etc. I really appreciate the products, but I think Jobs himself was even more impressive than his creations.

      Steve, I hope you're ok.

  266. Git off my lawn! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When I first heard the news, I came to Slashdot expecting to find that summary, and I was not disappointed.

  267. Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve was a visionary and leader that most probably none of us will ever be... He created; he changed; he reached for perfection. Let us all take a moment to remember him.

  268. He got a little over two years out of that liver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about those that were below him on the wait list he bought himself into?

  269. Thanks Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.

  270. Keeping MS honest, mainstreaming UNIX by acomj · · Score: 1

    Apple is the only company that survived the MS pc consolidation years. They lost the PC battle, but they were the only ones to really survive. CPM, TI, Atari, Commodore all failed.

    With OSX apple took UNIX and made it a mainstream OS. Showed how to make it easier for consumers which is finally happening to linux. Even MS started to invest in there OS too. Competition helps us consumers.

    I started with the Mac Clones, which Steve killed. I got a form letter from apple, I was mad, but got over it.

    I have to admit really like the Apple Products. The less is more and focus on user experience really appeals to me.

  271. RIP by buggerybox · · Score: 0

    Here passes a great man of vision.

  272. Brings sadness but also inspiration by Gri3v3r · · Score: 1

    He fought till the last moment and left as a winner. He took a zombie company and shot it to the stars making it #1 and set a direction for computing. Some of the practices were questionable but still, he influenced and pushed significant development on an area created by him. His dedication and determination is a big inspiration for me, not only about the products made under his direction but mostly about the conditions he was under ,from his early steps till the last day, which were not enough to drag him down. He is a man who worked hard for what he accomplished. I indefinitely respect that as a hard-working person myself. He left his (overall positive) mark on the world (looks like a valid meaning of life for me). P.S. Not an Apple fanboy and I do not own any device from that company. On the contrary, I am opposed to the (over)pricing and development policies that are pushed. However my first interaction with computers was from a cousin's macintosh. I was so little that I can barely remember it. He was one of those involved on that machine's creation. Thank you Steve.

  273. Sad by Zamphatta · · Score: 1

    Always wanted to meet him. I loved his drive and his ideas about what would make computers easier for people to use and integrate into their lives.

  274. Will he be cremated? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  275. RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This guy achieved everything in life and now he is dead. Man this guy was an inspiration! Is he in heaven or hell now?

  276. Re:Slashdot's Decline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    > no real leadership to make it great.

    We'll know Woz is firmly in charge when the iPhone 5 ships pre-jailbroken, has a real two-stage dedicated camera button & Zigbee radio (handy for home mesh networks), and can repurpose pins on the connector to do I2C, SPI, and Dallas 1-wire. :-)

  277. RIP Steve Jobs by Dutchmaan · · Score: 1

    I'll bet his last words were.. "...and one more thing."

  278. Re:I Completely Called It by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1

    As a customer or stockholder wouldn't you be angry if the driving force behind your favorite company, one who had serious health concerns, ducked out of his job while giving literally not one word of concrete explanation?

    Angry? No. People quit for personal reasons all the time. If someone no longer feels, for whatever reason, that they can give the necessary attention to a company then surely resigning is the right thing to do. I don't see how a precise explanation of the reason for a resignation helps anybody.

    If the resignation related to the company itself (ie an irreconcilable difference of opinion among management about the companies direction) then sure, that would be relevant. If it's purely for personal reasons then I don't see how anybody else benefits from disclosure, Steve Jobs and his family are entitled to be as private as they wish with personal details.

    What I do find astonishing is your sense of entitlement.

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  279. Heads up, Apple... by seven+of+five · · Score: 1

    You got a great thing going.
    Don't blow it.

  280. Re:I Completely Called It by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As a customer or stockholder wouldn't you be angry if the driving force behind your favorite company, one who had serious health concerns, ducked out of his job while giving literally not one word of concrete explanation?

    You're an idiot. Jobs gave every bit of concrete explanation that anyone could desire: he said he could no longer do his job, so he was resigning.

    What more could you possibly need to know? When a man known to have been fighting a very serious illness for years (pancreatic cancer almost always kills in less than 1 year after diagnosis) says something like that, what else is left to say? Do you want him to hand out blood samples to institutional investors to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he's sick? Fuck off.

    For many people that kind of job change was bigger than if President Obama suddenly said "Biden's in charge now, peace out!", and yet Apple and Jobs thought nothing of refusing to explain anything about it. It was ridiculous and insulting, and to me just another example of their controlling corporate culture saying "We know what you need and when you need it, now shut up and wait for us to tell you when we're damn well good and ready!".

    No, it was an example of having respect for a sick man and not plastering the gory details of his illness all over the world.

    I'm guessing you weren't even a stockholder. If you were, you'd know how insanely dumb it is to make this argument: Apple's stock went up on the news of Jobs' resignation and the promotion of Tim Cook. Apparently investors were perfectly happy with the way it was handled. You're just some dumbshit loser yelling "LOOK AT ME LOOK AT ME I EXPOSED THIS CRITICAL ISSUE WHY WON'T ANYONE AGREE WITH MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!". You weren't 100% right, you were 100% stupid and inconsequential. Go away.

  281. One last message from Steve. by Dutchmaan · · Score: 2, Funny

    Thanks for all the heart felt sympathies.

    Sent from my iPhone 5

  282. LOLolol by CagedApe · · Score: 1

    What did one cancer cell say to the other? "Lets get Jobs"

  283. holy sh*t! by tmp31416 · · Score: 1

    just turned on the telly for some background noise as i do the nightly chores and whatnot, saw this newscast talks about apple, etc. (did they announce something else today? is it "one more thing" taken up to the next level?) then noticed the "steve jobs / 1955 - 2011" in the background.
    O_O
    ran upstairs to the box that is turned on... crap, it's true!

    whoa, was tmz right after all?

    too bad sjobs died so early, most of personal computing is in a critical phase right now, apple still needs his touch at this time... very well managed, yes, but that "vision" thing, i'm not so sure...

    1. Re:holy sh*t! by tmp31416 · · Score: 1

      and btw, who are we going to e-mail at apple, now that steve is gone?
      i don't think that tim cook would personally answer / act upon e-mails like sjobs did...

    2. Re:holy sh*t! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Steve Jobs didn't read those emails either. I tried emailing sjobs@apple.com and got a reply from a junior manager. Very occasionally, a mail would be forwarded all the way up the hierarchy and would get personal attention, but it was rare.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  284. Feeding the troll? by znerk · · Score: 1

    I think you're not giving Jobs enough credit even for the first wave of personal computers.

    Not to say Jobs doesn't deserve every ounce of credit he gets for what he accomplished in the last decade. Mainstreamed personal media players, dragged the music industry kicking and screaming into the 21st century with his online music store (and now with the cloud service that's set to go live in a week), mainstreamed smartphones, conjured a market for tablets out of thin air. Dude has absolutely accomplished way more in ten years than many of us will in six or seven lifetimes.

    But for the first wave of personal computers? All Apple ever made in that era were computers that cost a shitload of money and did fuck-all. Especially the Lisa.

    As much as I credit the TI 99/4a with being my first personal computer, the Apple II was my first introduction to them. The computer lab at the middle school I went to once a week for my "gifted" class (CATS, or PATS, I don't recall the exact acronym) when I was still in elementary school was just a classroom with a dozen of them, not even networked (not sure networks even existed at that point, at least outside of labs).

    Yeah, I'm old. Whatever.

    I'm not an Apple fanboi; far from it. I'm a Microsoft-certified, Android-phone using, Linux-loving geek, and I have won many debates over Apple products vs others. I hated the walled garden concept as much as anyone else.

    That being said, this is still a sad day for the industry... and you're just an AC being a jackass.

    --
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
  285. The man - the myth - the legend by HW_Hack · · Score: 1

    No matter your technology religion Steve Jobs had an impact - a huge impact. The word iPod is a part of our lexicon. The iPhone has spawned the whole sector called smart phones, The iPad is doing the same. And as another poster noted he took UNIX to the mainstream with OS X. That may have been one of his most gutsy moves. The man had vision. The first computer I ever touched - ever used was an Apple II in college in 1981. Can't believe he is dead at 56 --- hell I'm only 55.

    RIP Steve Jobs

    --
    Its not the years, its the mileage .....
    1. Re:The man - the myth - the legend by Reservoir+Penguin · · Score: 1

      He's been dead for less than a day and the revisionist are already out in full force. Sorry dude but I had a smart phone years before iPhone, jhe did not event the mouse, gui, smart phone, tablet whatever.

      --
      US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
    2. Re:The man - the myth - the legend by HW_Hack · · Score: 1

      The haters will find no peace .....

      --
      Its not the years, its the mileage .....
    3. Re:The man - the myth - the legend by Reservoir+Penguin · · Score: 1

      I fully agree that he was a genius, a marketing visionary. Very few people have his ability to quickly react to the trends while simultaneously shaping them.

      --
      US-UK-Israel: The real Axis of Evil
    4. Re:The man - the myth - the legend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your right, he didnt invent the MP3 player either BUT.. he bought it all to the mainstream market and made those devices streamlined and popular.

      I used to have a HP iPaq & a HTC smart phone with Windows on it, but these were business devices and of no real use to general consumers. I had a Creative Zen MP3 player, with a 2GB memory.
      They were OK devices, but nowhere near as popular and mainstream as Apple versions of the MP3 player (iPod) and smartphone (iPhone).

      He took the ideas of these devices and improved them for the general users.

  286. He had pancreatic cancer, you a$$hole by sirwired · · Score: 1

    He had pancreatic cancer, a disease that makes AIDS look like the freaking common cold. It's an amazing testament to medicine that he lived as long as he did; most people don't last a year after diagnosis.

    Technically, since he lived more than five years, he counts as a cancer "survivor."

  287. Thanks for Pixar. by poly_pusher · · Score: 1

    Not many people know that Steve Jobs owned Pixar. He funded the company for 10 years after George Lucas had backed out. Being a 3d artist, I feel like I owe my entire career to his foresight.

  288. THANKS STEVE. GRACIAS STEVE. by kwanbis · · Score: 1

    RIP. QEPD.

  289. moron. by unity100 · · Score: 1

    look at what you replied to. do you see ANYthing regarding 'now' ? it talks about THEN.

  290. Elitist garbage by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    unfortunately, due to what he did, this is the direction the movers and shakers of the information technology are taking.

    talk about the openness, freedom of apple at the starting stages, and talk about after jobs. i wonder if the other steve can turn things around and make apple more in line with the spirit of information technology freedom and progress again ...

    And they say that Mac users are elitist.

    There comes a time in the life of every technology when it ceases to be an obscure domain of experts toiling in the background and becomes a simple and disposable fact of everyday life.

    Written words.
    Electricity.
    Medicine and sanitation.
    Automobiles.

    Steve Jobs has done this to information technology.

    The tehno-elitists hate this, because they have lost their "freedom." They have lost their control over the technology. They can't design it, can't program it, can't upgrade it, can't show people how to use it, can't tell people what they should do with it, can't make it theirs.

    What geeks have lost, the ordinary folks of the world have gained. Today, any clueless idiot can walk into a wireless store, plop down $100 for a generic smartphone, and walk out with access to all the world's information in a form he can understand and digest. The device itself may be closed, proprietary, locked-down, but the device doesn't matter. Who cares about the technology? Its irrelevant. It's disposable. It's just a goddamn plastic box with a screen.

    And yes, that's Steve Jobs' victory. Every simple, cheap, commoditized, plastic-cased, point-and-tap information appliance is a symbol of Steve Jobs' vision and achievement.

  291. Re:I Completely Called It by Chuck+Chunder · · Score: 1

    The fact that slashdot has forgotten that explains a lot about the groupthink mentality that pervades this place sometimes.

    Moderators aren't mind readers, they can only judge you on the words you write. Perhaps the fact what you wrote (then and now) is indistinguishable from a troll could give you pause for thought. Perhaps it isn't Slashdot, perhaps it's you.

    --
    Boffoonery - downloadable Comedy Benefit for Bletchley Park
  292. Love or hate, nothing in between by Easy2RememberNick · · Score: 1

    Most times it seemed as if people either loved or hated him nothing in between, whatever you thought he was without a doubt a marketing genius and did what he did very well.

  293. I will miss him by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs - RIP - geeks around the world are saddened by your death. RAGE ON MAN!!

  294. Re:Steve Jobs is dead. by Stormwatch · · Score: 1

    Apple's old keyboards were great. Then came the iMac... cute as it was, the keyboard and mouse were absolute crap. Then again, the whole industry is like that nowadays, if you want a good old mechanical keyboard you have to buy one separately.

  295. C64 still kicks ass by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but even back in the 80s, we still thought of AIIs as overpriced crap schools paid for, but we got the elite cool hacker machines called C-64!!

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  296. NOT found dead at home by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apparently, Slashdot is engaging is gossip. According to TMZ.com, he was surrounded by his family. The Slashdot headline sounds like someone found him and he died a lonely death. http://www.tmz.com/2011/10/05/steve-jobs-died-peacefully-says-family-apple-statement/

  297. No point on your comment by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    SoCalChris: The phrase you wrote "even if you didn't enjoy his work" is totally out of any contest here. I regret to have read one of the saddest news ever in the IT world coming from an obscure and small mind like yours.

    Steve Jobs: I'll miss you. Rest in peace my friend!

  298. Steve . . . . Jobs . . . . Died by eyenot · · Score: 1
    --
    "Stratigraphically the origin of agriculture and thermonuclear destruction will appear essentially simultaneous" -- Lee
  299. Life - Life by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is it a coincidence that Jobs passes right as the iPhone takes on artificial life?

    Was there a price?

  300. I think I'm going to be sick by ancient_kings · · Score: 1

    Why is everyone praising him? Steve Jobs was not a nice guy. Most of us call him a lucky parasite with teeth. He was not an engineer. Steve believed in Karma, and this time it caught up to him.

  301. Steve Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Life will go on without Steve Jobs but innovation will not.

  302. In case anyone was thinking of it by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    While Apple"s legal department is uhdeniably sympathetic, please take note that they are oblilgated to take vigorous legal action against any unauthorized cloning of Steve Jobs, including 'look and feel'. I'm looking at you, Psystar...

  303. and outside USA timetables? by cheekyboy · · Score: 1

    Common, just like now, apple's releases took months to get to countries outside USA.

    VIC20 Release date 1980 (VIC-1001) / 1981

    What about the Commodore PET , it was released in 1977. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET

    --
    Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
  304. Bill G.'s eulogy: by l00sr · · Score: 1

    From the NYTimes article:

    “For those of us lucky enough to get to work with Steve, it’s been an insanely great honor,” said Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder. “I will miss Steve immensely.”

    Copying S. J. to the bitter end... how appropriate.

  305. Let's make a Slashdot comment number record. by Arakageeta · · Score: 1

    Let's make this a record level of comments for a Slashdot story.

    Goodbye, Steve. It was with a Mac that I came to love computers.

  306. One of Steve's "Gifts" by matthaak · · Score: 1

    We live in a world of mediocrity. We get by on billions of mediocre people churning out mediocre work.

    Even really great people, really brilliant people, churn out mediocre work from time to time. I know I have churned out more than my share of mediocre work.

    At the same time, most of us actually have the discriminating ability to look at a piece of work and say, "that is really mediocre." Probably 10 or 20 times a day, I come accross some piece of work - mine or others' - that is mediocre. It's clear that the person who made it was in a rush or didn't care or simply wasn't smart or talented enough to deliver something truly great.

    Though we may be able to spot mediocre work, most of us just are not in a position of credibility to do anything about it.

    Steve Jobs saw mediocrity the way we do, the difference is he had earned his credibility and could send things back to the drawing board any time he wanted. How did he earn his credibility? He was smart, hard-working, and happened to partner with a rare person who consistenlty churned out great work: Steve Wozniak. Those early ingredients set Jobs down a path where he could tell someone what they were making was not good and that they could do better and those people listened to him and ofen were inspired by that "encouragement."

    I believe that was one of Steve's many great gifts.

  307. Turn off iDevice at Noon Thurs for 1 minute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sad, like geniunely. I never met him, but I certainly was influenced by his products. My first real computer was a Mac. It was upgraded to the 512, and the plus. I had the little apple printer that went with it. I used it in school and even started a little weekend business were I was printing mailing lables for a Dr's office. He was a great visionary and his presense and influence will be missed greatly. Tomorrow at noon I will turn off my idevices for 1 minute. Join me if you like.

  308. Wow by WiiVault · · Score: 1

    Say what you will, but Steve always seemed to know what was coming up next. Inventor or not, that is a skill few posses. RIP Steven.

  309. *sigh* by blahblahwoofwoof · · Score: 1

    "I feel somewhat like I did when John Lennon was murdered. Great sadness, and the sensation that part of your life is no longer there."

    -- "Dan" from Binghamton, NY, comments section of the New York Times

  310. RIP by MSG · · Score: 1

    there's no denying his contributions to popular culture

    I wish the man a peaceful rest, but let us not speak falsely. Apple, under Jobs, has not contributed to culture so much as they have shackled it.

    Culture is not a product.

    Culture is what is shared by society. Culture is our values and our knowledge.

    Apple created phones that forbid the distribution of Free Software, and that prohibited users from installing software of their own choosing. Users who wanted Freedom had to "jailbreak" their phone. Apple resists using open standards in their software, and have contributed back to the community far less than they have taken, despite profiting tremendously from the work of volunteers. They have worked toward distribution channels that funnel a portion of all purchases to the corporation.

    Apple is a profoundly anti-social organization that sells very pretty baubles that lock culture away to wither and die. They do not contribute to culture.

  311. RIP and thanks by RedHat+Rocky · · Score: 1

    Though I can't stand Apple and its customers, I have to acknowledge that I would not be in the industry I'm in today if it weren't for the Apple ][. A son of lower income parents, I was given the opportunity via a elementary school program to have an Apple ][ to use and explore over a couple of weeks. Today I'm considered a guru by those around me, though I know exactly how little I really know.

    Thanks for that Steve.

    And to my mom and dad, who sacrificed quite a bit to get me my first computer, thanks as well.

    --
    Anything is possible given time and money.
  312. My condolences to his family... by WeeBit · · Score: 1

    He kept a few on their toes, and inspired others to follow their dreams. You have to admire a man that was a part of so many lives. RIP Steve.

  313. Ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's amazing the amount of people who'll line up to kiss someone's ass who was a complete prick in life, and and magically becomes a saint in death. Meanwhile the people who did the actual work he gets credit for as the figurehead of Apple and those he crushed on his way to the top will die in obscurity.

    And what's with the "he made life better for everyone" shit? He made already well off people's lives marginally better with idiot usable computers and a crippled phone tied to a draconian AT&T plan with a touchscreen and fancy GUI.

  314. Sad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I am sure he will be remembered as one of the biggest IT visionary for decades, previous and coming ones. If you think in how many important IT developments he was involved - amazing.

  315. My first internet access was via a PowerPC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I first used a PowerPC to access the internet, through Netscape Communicator & Netscape Navigator, and I remember playing hours upon endless hours the wonderful game called Escape Velocity, it still holds a dear fond memory in my mind.

  316. fuck that coon by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    fuck that nigger. rot in hell. jewboy money grubber.

  317. Killed by death. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Ask Lemmy, he knows.

  318. Apple + Option + Esc by hyades1 · · Score: 1

    I, for one, will put a rose on his diPod. Steve was core.

    --
    I've calculated my velocity with such exquisite precision that I have no idea where I am.
  319. Wow Slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not to piss on the man while he's not even in his grave yet, but most of the hard work and innovation that is known to apple is thanks to the engineers that you never hear of, particularly Steve Wozniak. Hell, Wozniak is probably the reason for any technological push that Apple has brought forward. Jobs was a great businessman, and knew what he was doing, but he doesn't deserve all the credit he gets.

    I swear if Wozniak's funeral doesn't get at least twice this attention I'll march down to every single iPhone owner in America and punch them in the teeth.

  320. iSad! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonyjcase/6212648075/

    How sad that my photo from 3 months ago (with a caption about uploading to the cloud) has abruptly turned into my "Someone who had an impact on me" obituary photo.

    Steve's influence on me wasn't so much via the iBrand, and it wasn't so much on the Apple II (despite learning to program on it), but it was for the huge gravitational pull he had on the early days of Atari. Him, Steve Wozniak and the game Breakout - without that, Atari wouldn't have been as huge as it was, and I wouldn't be the nerd that I am today.

    See you, man! Thanks for robbing my childhood of all those quarters!

    1. Re:iSad! by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      Atari didn't actually use the elegant solution for reducing transistors that Woz came up with. They didn't design the game.

      Jobs' main contribution was brokering the deal and then ripping off Woz.

  321. Went home by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He didn't die.
    He just went home.

    1. Re:Went home by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If by "home" you mean "fiery pit where the worst dregs of humanity go to their final reward", then I agree with you 100%.

      Steve Jobs was a psychopath who used others to gain his success. He deserves nothing but derision and hate. There is no invective strong enough to describe the horror that was this man.

      Good bye and good riddance, you maggot ridden piece of shit!

  322. Too young by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    RIP Steve - you will be missed.

  323. Missed more than anyone will know by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks Jobs, The work you put the apple where is should have been years ago. You will be truly missed in the apple community and on this earth.

    Rest in peace.

  324. A great man by symbolset · · Score: 1

    Not much nonsense in this man. He found work he loved and lived it. Supreme innovator, market disruptor. CEO of the century already. And always, with class and style. He will be sorely missed.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
  325. Like the Joker "needs" Batman... by RandomStr · · Score: 1

    Steve was a man that was unafraid of big ideas, could see outside of the box in a way that few are able, and was capable of changing the world, and he did...
    He was instrumental in redefining the stigma related to technology, and raised the bar for his competitors and contemporaries.

    While he polarised the 'community', and ruffled more than a few feathers, he dragged many industries, sometimes "kicking and screaming", into a new future; we are all better off for his contribution.
    The seeds that he planted will grow for years to come; the legacy of Steve Jobs will live on.

    I will remember Steve as the man that made technology ubiquitous and am sorry that he was not given that chance to watch his creations flourish.

    Like the Joker "needs" Batman; the I.T. world needed Steve Jobs, we are all diminished without his presence...

  326. Thanks for the laugh! by Falconhell · · Score: 0

    Fanboy rage award!

  327. Goodbye, Steve. by sootman · · Score: 1

    I hope he enjoyed his work--he didn't have much of a retirement.

    --
    Dear Slashdot: next time you want to mess with the site, add a rich-text editor for comments.
  328. That explains everything by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No wonder the latest iphone sucked, no more innovation now that he's dead. ... wait, iHate Apple, good thing he died else I might have started to like it.

  329. Re:Slashdot's Decline by otuz · · Score: 1

    Slashdot wasn't about the breaking news even back then. The Slashdot effect was mostly about underpowered servers, bandwidth limitations and slow http daemons running even slower html generator scripts. Slashdot was and is mostly about the flame wars in comments.

  330. allow me some black humor... by postmortem · · Score: 1

    America .. always less jobs

    1. Re:allow me some black humor... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      .. to go with your black turtleneck?

  331. He wasn't just Apple! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After leaving Apple in the mid-80s, Steve Jobs:
    1. Bought the Graphics Group from Lucasfilm, incorporated it with a new name and put a then little known animator in charge, John Lasseter. The company I'm referring to is Pixar.
    2. Started NeXT. It was a NeXT computer that was used at CERN as the world's first web server. Mac OS X is derived from work at NeXT.

    In 1997, Jobs returned to Apple. Do you recall how the industry saw Apple at the time? A wounded animal bleeding to death. Michael Dell was asked what he would do with Apple and was quoted as saying, "What would I do? I'd shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."

    Yeah, engineers, technicians, designers, etc. can come up with a lot of really cool ideas and technology, but it takes someone like Jobs to filter that and know what is worth it, or who is worth keeping. It takes someone like Jobs to get such folks who almost all believe they know what the users want, to really see what the users want. Apple's turn around wasn't just the iMac, OS X, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, App Store, etc. It was also all those things Apple didn't try - any one of which could have killed Apple in the late 90s.

    Look, you say he was visionary, but everything you said after appeared to be an argument against that statement and on the day of his death, when most of us do believe he was a visionary, it may not be the best time to present any argument to a contrary. Please.

    1. Re:He wasn't just Apple! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      The NeXT computer wasn't just the first web server, it was the first web browser too! WorldWideWeb was a NeXT application, and Tim Berners-Lee credited the ease of development on NeXT machines for making it possible. It also had the first graphical UI builder[1], and possibly the first web applications framework (there's some debate over whether WebObjects was the first, but it was within a month or so of being the first if it wasn't).

      [1] And still about the only one to get it right. Interface Builder on NeXT (and later OS X and GNUstep) let you create objects and connect them together, not just draw interfaces. In a document-driven application, for example, you'd put all of your views and controllers and a stub model in a single IB file and then just instantiate it in a single line of code to create a new document.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  332. Hero by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In any country on Earth Steven P. Jobs is a Hero.
    ++

  333. The End of an Era by jorgevillalobos · · Score: 1

    Rest in Peace, Steve. You were a visionary and a true inspiration to many of us. You accomplished more in life than most of us could do in 10. Your legacy and story will live forever. For me, there's no greater honor than that.

    Thank you for everything.

  334. RIP Mr. Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Another chapter in the story of employee zero.

    When Apple went public, it was curious that the co-founder of Apple and the designer of the Apple I and Apple II computers Steve Wozniak had a smaller net worth than his co-founder and Apple promoter Steve Jobs. Years later it came out that Woz had a much smaller share because it was the only way that the non-management early employess of Apple could get any options. Jobs had been against allocating them any options so Woz gave them a share of his.

    Steve Jobs abandoned his child and her mother and they had to seek welfare while he was becoming a billionaire. When his best friend and Mac designer tried to intervene and help them, Jobs cut him off professionally and personally. Jobs did eventually reconcile with his daughter Lisa Brennan Jobs and sent her to Harvard.

    Before Jobs took the CEO title, they had a fake contest to get attention called something like “Apply to be our CEO.” When an innocent fellow who was a long-time Mac technician and Apple devotee applied to be CEO, Jobs and his “best friend” Larry Ellison, called and emailed the guy to humiliate him.

    The stories go on-and-on. Anyone I have ever known who has worked anywhere near Jobs has horrible things to say. He is particularly cruel to low-level underlings and people serving him. He gets a kick out of it.

    Nothing the guy could do would surprise me.

    1. Re:RIP Mr. Jobs by Lemmy+Caution · · Score: 1

      I do not say this lightly or often: I wish I had mod points

  335. Don't make assumptions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who ever wrote this submission sounds like an idiot. Despite your icon worship, not everyone does the same. I actually smiled when I read this title. I'm happy this has come to pass.

  336. RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    RIP Mr. Jobs.

    Sent from my Samsung Epic 4G

  337. An Apple in his memory by shuz · · Score: 1

    I generally don't like Apples, but for Steve I'm having a bowlful.

    --
    There is or can be built a machine that can simulate any physical object. -Church-Turing principle
  338. Insanely Different by kraksmoka · · Score: 1

    RIP Steve Jobs. The world is a far richer place having had you here. Difference made.

    --
    "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste." - Rahm Emanuel
  339. iTouched... by sattu94 · · Score: 1

    iTouched...

  340. Death by rust627 · · Score: 1

    Surely by now there is an app for that ?

    Buy seriously. I am sad to see him go. Whether you liked him or not, no one can deny that he changed the world as we knew it.

    --
    da da da dum indeed.
  341. Innovative Capitalist... not much more by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How about a thought for all of the workers that have died and committed suicide in hellish chinese sweatshops which allowed this man to accumulate such wealth.

    1. Re:Innovative Capitalist... not much more by o'reor · · Score: 1

      Capitalism has won when an impoverished, debt-ridden mass of Western consumers mourns the death of a billionnaire who made his fortune by the sweat of dirt-cheap workers provided by a Communist dictatorship. /sarcasm

      --
      In Soviet Russia, our new overlords are belong to all your base.
  342. What I remember by datavirtue · · Score: 1

    I'll always remember a young Steve Jobs who told the story of how he contacted the founder of HP on the phone when he was a young boy and asked him for spare parts--the dawn of the computer age in silicon valley when things were a bit different. At one point things weren't so commercial, although business has always been there spurring progress; the founders did what they did for reasons other than money--no matter what anyone says. Steve Jobs was one of those founders. With his death we see the last of the founders of that wondrous age fading away, the pioneers are no more. Though it now seems the industry is now mired in intellectual turmoil reflecting our overall decline of values in the country which spawned the once great silicon valley--we still have hope. I remember as a young man working on Apple computers, on Commodores, on Tandy's, on whatever I could get my hands on. I was heartbroken when Windows took hold, so much so that I quit for a while--years. I loved the craft so much that I couldn't stand to see it all consumerized. Often I would sit and read old Byte magazines and OS manuals longing to control, and hack. I taught myself to program on TRS-80s, and old hand-me-down 286s coding into the wee hours of the morning and trouncing any BBS I could find. From the beginning I would release my programs for free--giving back to the community helping to replenish that which I had consumed from others. I hope that everyone can someday experience what I have, they joy of a technological renaissance. As you can probably tell by now, I'm not an iPhone lover, mush less an owner, but now when I remember Steve, I remember those times.

    --
    I object to power without constructive purpose. --Spock
  343. I wonder... by Joshua+Fan · · Score: 1

    If Bill Gates did a fist pump today.

  344. Just when you thought... by pr0nd3xtr · · Score: 0

    Obama couldnt kill any more jobs

  345. Brief Retirement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I pondered the extreme brevity of his retirement on hearing this news... and it occurred to me he almost certainly knew the approximate time it was going to happen... based on this and observations of the life and times of Jobs, I can say this: if he had lived to be a thousand years old, he'd have spent better than 950 of it helming Apple.

  346. Very sad news indeed. by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    What an asshole. No wonder no one wanted to talk to him.

    How DARE you besmirch the memory of such a powerful deity, so meaningful to millions (perhaps BILLIONS) of faithful worshipers.

    Your unkind comments have certainly unleashed the Brahman, and you will pay dearly for it.

    Expect to die a slow and painful death in a most embarrassing fashion, and in all probability be reincarnated as a common house fly in a spotless bathroom devoid of even a speck of fecal matter or dried skin detritus.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  347. I heard the news today, oh boy by Pesticidal · · Score: 1

    Goodbye Steve. Gone to join the great iCloud in the sky. (I know, mixing Beatles and Pink Floyd references but these seem apt given the recent iTunes releases).

  348. Truly an american Icon: SteveJobs.ico, clic clic by youn · · Score: 1

    SteveJobs.ico in color available in iHeaven in the iCloud (the one above), on the new iPhone heavenly network... With iHalo (not the one you play, the one you wear on your head), with iWings (not the ones you eat, the one you fly with)

    definitely not jailbreaking out of this one :)

    I did not agree with all he did but definitely deserves respect, RIP indeed

    --
    Never antropomorphize computers, they do not like that :p
  349. iMourn by deburg · · Score: 1

    So long and thanks for all the Apples. RiP

  350. Love him or hate him, he died too soon by iamhassi · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs is pretty much solely responsible for Pixar. He was the first real investor, before Steve came along Pixar was just a bunch of very talented but under appreciated animators at Lucasfilm with a huge dream but no money. He bought what was later to be known as Pixar for $10 million dollars in 1986, and bankrolled it until their first big budget movie Toy Story.

    He also made smartphones what they are today. Before the 2007 iPhone very few smartphones used a finger-sensitive (capacitive) touchscreen. Now it's very difficult to find a phone that doesn't use a capacitive touchscreen. This allowed removing buttons so the entire face of the device can now act as a screen which improved usability immensely.

    Few other people could claim to have such a huge impact on modern society as Steve Jobs.

    --
    my karma will be here long after I'm gone
  351. A remembrance... by poemtree · · Score: 1

    I came to Macintosh post-Steve in 1990, though my Mac Plus still had his signature inside, I only knew him as the founder that had left. Mine was a world of Scully and Spindler and Amelio. I became a Mac tech support professional during this period, and it has remained my career to this day. When Steve came back in 1997, it was a pivotal time early in that career. My second employer had decided to abandon Macs, but wanted me to stay on as a PC tech, and Apple wasn't doing so hot.. I was intrigued though by the plans to use NeXTstep as the basis of the next Mac OS, so I actually bought a used NeXT Color Turbo Slab with the 21" NeXT Color Monitor and NeXTstep 3.3. The first time I turned on that 5 year old machine, it felt like I had jumped 10 years into the future. I knew then, I would remain a Mac tech. I left that job for one supporting Macs again and never looked back. Over the remaining years, I read everything I could find about Steve and came to appreciate his unique genius. Thank you Steve for making my career and passion possible.

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from Macintosh...
  352. Steve Jobs predicts iCloud in 1997 by aristotle-dude · · Score: 1

    Here is a clip of Steve Jobs in 1997 looking forward into the future where we have cloud computing.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or7zaUaP-J8&feature=related

    That should shut up everyone who claim that Steve Jobs was not a visionary and was just a good salesman.

    --
    Jesus was a compassionate social conservative who called individuals to sin no more.
  353. A Eulogy from a different perspective: by slackerfilm · · Score: 1

    Today we lost a multi-billionaire. He did not concern himself with the well being of his fellow man. He was a sworn "non-philanthropist". There was no concern for affordability of the products he created, nor did he worry about the lives of those who manufactured his products. Several of those employees took their lives because of the schedule he demanded. He was cruel and heartless to most of those around him, often berating them for not understanding what he wanted. However, he kept his focus on technology and design. His vision took lowly objects that though useful, were flawed, and pushed his company to produce the best possible version of that object. These objects are beautifully designed and supremely functional, surpassing the work of almost any other company. He demanded products that were interelated, ensuring that when we used one product, we were not only tied to that specific platform, but also that only other products made by his company would work well with it. For the loss of a life, and the loss of this determination we mourn today.

    All of that said, Steve Jobs had amazing vision and without that vision, we would not have the amazing technology interface we have today. The world of technology has suffered a great loss this day.

    --

    throw the baby out. The bathwater is cold

  354. Memorial edition? by dutchwhizzman · · Score: 1

    When will the grey memorial edition devices be available in the store? Will they have extra RAM?

    --
    I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
  355. Uh, no he wasn't. by afabbro · · Score: 1

    He was not "found dead." All the news say he died surrounded by family.

    Please, Slashdot - hire some editors.

    --
    Advice: on VPS providers
  356. Apple stores will be commemorating him... by Joshua+Fan · · Score: 1

    By increasing the price of Apple products.

  357. Disgusted with some people here dancing on the cof by melted · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Disgusted with some people here dancing on the coffin.

    WTF is wrong with you? "Walled garden" my ass. It was his garden. Don't like it — buy something else, he never forced anyone to buy Apple products. The guy was a visionary. If it wasn't for him, the tech industry would be where it was 10 years ago, if that. Had Apple not released iPhone, your Android would look like ass today, which is what it looked like shortly before iPhone was released. That's assuming there'd even _be_ Android. Your PC laptops would be 1.5 inches thick and would have a battery life of 1 hour. Had NeXT not existed, Tim Berners Lee might not have invented the web. Had Steve not taken those typography classes way back when, chances are we'd have shitty monospaced fonts everywhere. Linux would be a lot more CDE like, and Windows would not look the same either, assuming there'd even be Windows. There would be no Toy Story, no Cars, no Up, no Finding Nemo, all computers would be made of shitty beige plastic, USB, CD/DVDs and WiFi would be set back years, there'd be no Chrome, no usable Clang and LLVM, no mainstream UNIX OSs, no DRM-free downloadable music, no ideas for other people to rip off.

    Steve's reach extended far beyond Apple and iPhone. The guy simply gave a lot to this world, while not really taking much for himself. He has put a dent in the universe. You may glorify him or vilify him, but you can't ignore him. And if you're a decent human being, you can't cheer his death either.

  358. He'll not be missed by justthinkit · · Score: 0
    I never liked Steve Jobs the person, despised how he abused others, was and am disgusted with Apple's limit-the-user's-choice approach and have never owned or wanted an Apple product (in 30+ years of computing).

    Please feel free to mod me down.

    --
    I come here for the love
    1. Re:He'll not be missed by diego.viola · · Score: 1

      I pretty much feel the same way as you.

    2. Re:He'll not be missed by EdIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The reason you should be modded down, and not up, is that it is not appropriate to bring it up on the day the man dies.

      Neither you or I have a great appreciation for how Apple does things, but make no mistake about it.... that man was partly responsible along with some other great men in ushering in a new age of technology.

      All great men stand on the shoulders of other great men, and through the ability to benefit on their achievements make their own.

      You sit here on Slashdot today, on a computer, with the Internet, and talk badly about the man on the day he dies without even realizing (or at least acknowledging) that the very same man contributed to your ability to do so in the first place.

      Give respect where respect is due. You have 30+ years in computing... you should know better.

    3. Re:He'll not be missed by ThorGod · · Score: 1

      You must have known him personally to know you didn't like him. I assume you can, at the very least, divorce your judgement of a person's personal well being from his/her professional affairs.

      I've heard the rumors about how he was, as a person. But you should never judge a person by what others say of him or her (good and bad).

      "Forgive his crimes, forgive his virtues, too. Those smaller faults, half converts to the right." - Emerson

      --
      PS: I don't reply to ACs.
    4. Re:He'll not be missed by Scowler · · Score: 1

      Please feel free to mod me down.

      Your implication here, a wrong one, is that anyone who mods you down is doing so out of emotional or irrational reasons.

      But the reality is, your view on this matter is much narrower than you believe it is, and you have a distorted view of Apple's history and product philosophy, which merits, objectively, why your post should be modded down.

    5. Re:He'll not be missed by Pecisk · · Score: 2

      He'll *will* be missed - just not by you. And probably no one will care about that.

      --
      user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
    6. Re:He'll not be missed by icebraining · · Score: 1

      I agree that we shouldn't criticize the man today - mostly out of respect for the people who loved him, since he isn't affected now - but how exactly is Jobs responsible for us using computers connected to the Internet?

    7. Re:He'll not be missed by icebraining · · Score: 1

      I think parent should shut up today, but regardless of Jobs, what a person does - including professionally - can and should be included when one judges another. How can it not? A (wo)man is defined by his actions.

      Simply today is not the day to judge him.

    8. Re:He'll not be missed by Rysc · · Score: 1

      When one brings it up has no bearing - it's opinion, it's truth, it should be said. There is no such thing as a bad time to have an opinion. There's no reason to be nice to someone just because he's recently dead.

      Being nice just for the sake of propriety is a terrible drain on society. Be real, always.

      As for me, and to stay on topic, I never much liked Jobs or any of his company's products in the last 15 years. I have a great deal of admiration for him, however, for the things he figured out and for having the drive to make what he wanted happen. When combined with a limited ability to have his way and a team of strongly competent people amazing things frequently resulted. Apple won't be the same without him and nothing and no one else will be replace him. A unique individual, his force of personality was awesome to behold whether you agreed with anything he said or not.

      He was still an asshole.

      --
      I want my Cowboyneal
    9. Re:He'll not be missed by ThorGod · · Score: 1

      personal well being

      I hear you. But damning a man is magnitudes away from damning a life.

      --
      PS: I don't reply to ACs.
    10. Re:He'll not be missed by EdIII · · Score: 1

      Jobs is not wholly responsible for computers being connected to the Internet.

      What I am saying is more like Henry Ford was partly responsible for the car stereo and low riders.

      Jobs, along with Gates and Woz, helped bring personal computers from a strange concept (that most men at the time did not believe in) only embraced by hobbyists, to an actual "thing".

      Without such large numbers of people having a personal computer the Internet never would have made it outside of Universities in the first place and most likely we would still have modems and phone lines for small groups of people that need to connect up to private networks and maybe there would be something like the Internet for a few of us, but nothing like we have today.

      They were major players who lead groups of people to develop and push the technology we have today. Jobs did not do it all by himself, but he was a leader of many that helped make it possible.

    11. Re:He'll not be missed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well aren't you a special little boy?

  359. Marcel Duchamp keeps popping into my mind. by niktemadur · · Score: 2

    Duchamp took a urinal and stuck it in a gallery wall, stating "this is art".

    Jobs took a powerful yet arid piece of digital machinery, eliminated the aridness (command line interface), and as the object grew more powerful, turned it smaller and sleeker, time and time again.

    All in all, a brilliant, earnest response to Duchamp's rhetorical provocation.

    --
    Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
  360. He has over 300 patents to his name. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come on.

  361. Name doesn't ring a bell. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Who's Steve Jobs?

    1. Re:Name doesn't ring a bell. by niktemadur · · Score: 1

      Who's Steve Jobs?

      Some guy.

      --
      Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
  362. Has his DNA been stored? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Maybe we can clone him, no?

    1. Re:Has his DNA been stored? by elrous0 · · Score: 1

      You had better think about the consequences. If you clone a whole army of Jobs, not only will this plunge the world into a period of blackest night from which no soul will ever escape, but it will also mean that all the handicapped of the world won't have anywhere to park.

      --
      SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
  363. RIP Steve by devnil · · Score: 1

    "Life is too short and then you die... So it'd better be damn good" -Steve Jobs.
    Yours was perfect. RIP Steve.

  364. RIP Steve by yoshi_mon · · Score: 1

    For what it is worth I personally DID have an Apple //e. I tricked it out too: Cider II 10M HD, High speed CPU upgrade (the Apple //e's original clock was 1.6mhz IIRC, the card that I had had high speed RAM and a 3.6 mhz 6502c), big RAM 80col card (the Apple //e's normal screen was 40 column wide, a normal upgrade was to get a card that let you run your word processor/spreadsheet apps wider), a number of modems from my original Hayes Micromodem 300 to my Hayes 1200. I could go on but I think you all get the idea.

    I learned to program 6502, good ol' Applesoft BASIC, and even fun stuff like Pascal and Forth. I learned how to manage space on what was at the time a hard drive that not a lot of people had. I learned a bit about networking from running a BBS. I also met a lot of people who also used the computers of the time like the C64, the Atari's of the day (the ST line was really a nice computer) and even those early PC guys. And then while I stepped away from computers for a few years when I came back and turned into the modern PC guy I am today I think a lot about how my early days with my Apple, and TI99 4a, shaped what I know about computers.

    I remember reading about Waz and how he had basically designed the computers and how when I would run into something frustrating in having to do with programming the machine that it was likely because Waz had to take a few shortcuts to make the thing, which owning a computer like that was still silly expensive at the time, was because he had to keep costs down.

    And then I remember reading about the guy Jobs who helped Waz make Apple into an actual business. And I was like oh, ok cool. I'm glad Waz has someone like Jobs to help him out. Little did we know at the time that Jobs was more than just some accountant (which is what I view mostly as the people with titles like CEO, glorified accountants) and could build stuff too.

    Being a computer guy I of course have been working with Apple stuff for a while now; even before the iPods. And so even with the modern rise of Apple into what most people know about it now my personal history has me with a lot more to say about it than just the iStuff that they do now. And with all that I wish Steve well into that good night. We will not see the likes of him yet again for some time.

    --

    Really, I know what I'm doing...Ohhhh, look at the shiny buttons!
  365. Ummm by Lando · · Score: 1

    I'm a nerd. Not a geek. What the heck do I know of popular culture? Furthermore, using words like all or every is certain to bring about people that point out your error. Don't tell me how to think, there is nothing wrong with the way I think. I'll miss him far less than Gary Gygax, Benjamin Franklin, etc, etc, etc. Frankly I don't care. People die life goes on, Apple is a cult culture and has little to do with most of the nerds here imho.

    --
    /* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
    1. Re:Ummm by juggle88 · · Score: 1

      I was a nerd and thinking like you only some years back. But when I touched a MacBook and typed 'ps -l', 'vi' etc into it, my opinion of Apple changed. Now I do ssh on a MB to my Linux servers, get my news from my iPhone 5 times a day. Nerdiness can have a shiny skin too.

    2. Re:Ummm by Lando · · Score: 1

      I don't really care about how and item looks as long as it does the job I need it to do. As far as the i(x), the equipment is too expensive for what it does. My netbook was cheaper, has far more memory. My phone can make phone calls, I really don't care beyond that. My electronic recorder has a 2GiB ssd drive in it, sure it's ancient, but it records and plays mp3's which is my primary purpose and cost $50 when the i(whatever) came out at $200+

      Sure Apple may be at the forefront of designer designs, but really what new technical designs have they produced that would actually make me want to overpay for their products? I just don't see any advantage. I guess to me, I more closely associate myself with Woz than I ever did to Jobs or Gates. I'm an engineer Jim, not a marketing shrill.

      --
      /* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
  366. Re:Good riddance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like one bitter, bitter boy too cowardly to strap a bomb to his chest, while urging others to do so from the "comfort" of his stepfather's basement.

  367. Goodbye... by LyannaStark · · Score: 1

    Goodbye Steve... and thanks for all the wonderful product you help to create. And also thank you to bring back the Pixar studios. Without you now we couldn't have any of their beautiful films. A true visionary. RIP.

  368. New Era by codgur · · Score: 1

    We are in a new era. Largely ushered in by Mr. Jobs' company. No it's not the internet, no it's definitely not music, video, apps, games. You're probably thinking mobile devices and your wrong. It's communication. Apple has redefined how we humans communicate to each other, to ourselves and to our computers. Are you ready for Siri?

  369. A Turtleneck too far? by Dr+Black+Adder · · Score: 1

    A Turtleneck too far?

  370. You're a goddamned moron by Scareduck · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Steve Jobs isn't terribly unique.

    Like hell.

    --

    Dog is my co-pilot.

  371. In an Industry filled with Know it All Programmers by tyrione · · Score: 1

    Less than 0.000001% of them has an actual unique idea to make a penny but a large and jaded majority of them profess to know Mr. Steven P. Job's worth to Computing. In ten years those same programmers will not be remembered. Centuries later, History students will learn about Mr. Steven P. Jobs.

    To a personal hero and the greatest boss I ever knew and worked for, R.I.P. The world would be truly dull if it were not for your Vision.

  372. Cancer; There's No App For That by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Cancer; the one app they missed.

  373. RIP by wirehead_rick · · Score: 1

    RIP

    --
    -- Mean People Suck
  374. Sorry to see you go by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for everything

  375. RIP by ArrogantLemming · · Score: 1

    Some of your decisions we loved. Some of your decisions we hated. Some of your visions didn't pan out, others changed the world. Regardless of our personal beliefs, few can disagree that you had a profound effect on the technological world.

    I only wish you had more time to spend with your friends and family. Our hearts go out to them in their time of loss. And our minds will continue to build upon the foundation you helped lay.

    RIP

  376. Re:I Completely Called It by monoqlith · · Score: 1

    Absolutely not. There are things beyond business and money and whether Steve Jobs is sick or not is not my business as an investor in Apple. I knew the unknowns when I signed up to be an investor.

    Everything can be looked upon as relevant to my investment, but some things ought to be off limits. Illness is sacrosanct. Family is sacrosanct. Whether Jobs wanted to disclose either of those things to me was his decision, and one that I trusted him to make when I voted for the board that kept him as CEO.

  377. Streamlined Sentiment by magusxxx · · Score: 1

    [ : ) ] --- One more smiley Mac for the Road

    --
    Care killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back.
  378. RIP Mr. Jobs by Maximus633 · · Score: 1

    I think we all as computer geeks, and various other geeks can all relate to the products and innovation that he helped (either personally or via collective of RnD) put a spin on for the general public. I wish I could have had the pleasure of meeting him one day. He will be extremely missed. It is because of Apple that I even learned to pursue computers to being with. It all started with a Macintosh at a school and ended up spending a life time learning.

    To his family, friends, and the rest of the tech community I am sorry for our loss but I am glad for the accomplishments that were forever changed many of our lives.

    RIP Mr. Jobs.

  379. God in trouble by Claudix · · Score: 1

    It seems God has no more ideas to fix this world so he decided to take Jobs with him to take advantage of his creative mind.

  380. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sorry but pretty much everything you listed would have eventually happened anyway. You place far too much importance in a single man.
    You really think nobody else wanted and was working towards thinner laptops with longer battery life? Really? Come on get off it.

    I don't delight in the mans death, but what you are claiming is absurd.

  381. bye steve by pbjones · · Score: 1

    and thanks, But I liked the Newton!

    --
    There was an unknown error in the submission.
  382. About 1985 by texchanchan · · Score: 2

    In about 1985, at TI somebody brought in one of the first Macs and we got to play with it. It was different from everything on the market, not counting the old Xerox Star which was probably not still around at that point. The Mac was the first computer that was actually a personal computer and not a minimalist mainframe. Circumstances left me on the PC side of things, but it was clear they were following what was going on over there. There was more to it than that, but - good job, Steve. I wish you'd had 30 more years.

  383. Few people you can say this of: by vorlich · · Score: 1

    "Now he belongs to the ages"

    --
    Posts, MyBio or Sig, may contain satire, sarcasm, bolded nouns be sardonic or even witty & be Church of SD
  384. Thanks Steve. by rbosworth · · Score: 1

    I have to comment that I don't like the title, nor the story text. The title reads like a cheap CNN headline, and the story like some murder victim. With all the beauty of the English language at his finger tips, the OP decided to make it sound like a cheap US news bite. Other sites, thankfully, have been more kind.

    All respect and best wishes to the family of Mr. Jobs.

  385. Move in HTC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well no pointless sympathies ect ect now is the time for HTC and the Android market to push to gain their rightful place at the head of the field .

    I will not say i am sorry to hear he is no longer for the simple reason i have never liked the bloke never liked his methods his ideals nothing .

    So come on Android devs and Android based phone makers thats the PFK moments out of the way Android to numbuer one spot please

    PFK == Pink Frilly Knickers ..

    See ya

  386. Another point of view by tsa · · Score: 1

    It is very sad for the people he left behind that Steve passed away, but look at it from his point of view. No more pain, no more anxiety of 'how long do I still have, will I be able to finish this before I die' etc, no more hospital visits... I think being dead must be a blessing for him.

    --

    -- Cheers!

  387. Haiku by Reed+Solomon · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs dead
    Pancreatic Cancer just as stubborn
    As he was

  388. Ashes to ashes. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://simson.net/hacks/cubefire.html

  389. Sorely missed... by ejamie · · Score: 1

    Like many here, I grew up using Apple's/Jobs' innovations and growing inspired to make a difference through my skills with technology. Even if you are not a Apple user today (like me), for the early Apple ][ and Mac GUI innovations, we owe him much.

    100 years from now, the time we are living now will be remembered for it's thriving creativity and the computer/semiconductor industry grew up and that innovation possible. And, Steve Jobs one of the key visionaries driving technology forward. Rest in Peace.

    --
    Hey! Stop copying my sig!!! Stop copying my sig!!! Stop copying my sig!!! Stop copying my sig!!!
  390. R.I.P by geefau · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs, a very sad day. It will be interesting to see if Apple's great success and innovation continues now that he's really gone. Written on my MBP

  391. Jobs had just pointed out prior art by G3ckoG33k · · Score: 1

    Jobs had just pointed out prior art, without getting sued.

    He was indeed a man of many a coat.

    RIP

  392. Steve, by ThorGod · · Score: 1

    The one chance I'll have to say, so I'll say this:

    Thanks for bringing UNIX 'back'.

    I hope you taught the company you left everything you knew. I also hope they were listening, this time ;)

    --
    PS: I don't reply to ACs.
  393. RIP jobs by PC_THE_GREAT · · Score: 1

    He did invest in and took the risk to bring in quite some nice innovations to the common people of the world.

  394. I'll rip on him differently in a week, but for now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    RIP, Steve.

  395. Who said he was found dead in his home in the AM? by rahuljain · · Score: 1

    I can find no information in that article or other reference on the web that indicates he was found dead in his house in the morning. Have some respect, and don't spread falsities. It would be prudent to wait some time before releasing the circumstances surrounding his death, and I believe his family is doing that. On another note, I really hope there is a Michael Jackson style funeral, with swarms of people and disruption.

  396. One of his greatest accomplishments? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thanks for making nerds cool.

  397. It depends on WHEN you define success by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    Sun once did well, and then it didn't. Apple once did well and then it didn't... and people waited and then it did well again. What it will be in the future is anyone's guess.

    Success is fleeting, you can be the greatest bokser and still be remembered by most as a dimwitted black guy. You can play the most beloved Sci-Fi character that a LOT of female geeks dreamed about and still be remembered as a fat balding man. You can make PC's more affordable then they ever were before and still be remembered as the guy that makes expensive PC's people can't afford.

    Mind you, I wouldn't put Torvalds in that list. Gates and Jobs are business men. They went for the big bucks. In doing so, they changed society and some of it was decent but a lot of it wasn't. They are not heroes, they are icons. Heroes sacrifice for the greater good, are noble, achieve for the sake of it, not the money of it.

    Jobs only sold PC's that were cheaper then what had been available before but more expensive then what came later. He provided a useful torn in MS side to at least slightly hobble MS complete and total dominance of computing but he did it for no other reason then a big payout. And when Apple gained more dominance we saw exactly what MS total control had saved us from far worse. Can you imagine what PC computing would have been like without Gates and just Jobs? Forget Linux, forget dual-booting, forget GPL. One OS to serve them all and in darkness bind them. The lord of iOS.

    The man is now dead and the world has lost little, greater people die every day with barely a pause in anyone's mind. A smart businessmen is gone but there will be others. Maybe his replacement won't feel that he needs to get 30% of every transaction.

    It is harsh but ultimately Jobs did more good for the world by failing and barely hanging on then by succeeding. It was good WinTel defeated Apple but that Apple was always there as an alternative to keep that evil alliance in check.

    But if Jobs had been a true success and he would have filled Bill Gates shoes, the world of computing would off far far worse.

    His true epitaph: ruthless megalomaniac businessman whose greatest contribution is that he kept another ruthless megalomaniac from achieving total power. Yes, you read it here first! Jobs is Darth Vader. The emo dark look says it all.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:It depends on WHEN you define success by somersault · · Score: 1

      It's kind of bizarre to praise MS just because there is a worse alternative. For one thing, OSX itself is still pretty open, and Windows 8 is going to have an MS controlled store for Metro apps.

      I don't own an iPhone/iPad, or have any interest in one, but I think that Jobs spurned far more innovation than Gates. It always felt like MS were stifling things, but Apple has actually driven some much needed (IMO) innovation in interfaces. There are positives and negatives for everything, but I certainly think there were other companies who would have done a much better job of driving OS innovation through the 90s than MS - for example Novell or HP.

      I honestly don't think we'd be worse off if Apple took the lead in the 90s, at least from a technological point of view. I think we still would have ended up with a Linux-like competitor as well. So even if Apple did implement a walled garden in their desktop OS, it wouldn't be the only option.

      Anyway - while Steve Jobs could be a douche at times, you have to give him credit for the change he brought to the industry. The state of technology in the late 90s and early 2000s was kind of boring, but Apple shook things up and forced companies to care about the end user experience rather than just ticking feature boxes.

      --
      which is totally what she said
  398. Goodbye from a non-believer by megla · · Score: 1

    I've never owned an Apple product and chances are I never will, but I can't deny the changes Jobs and Apple brought to many people's lives. Apple and the consumer technology industry will sorely miss him for his insights and leadership.

  399. Yesssss.... by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    That roughly says it all. That urinal is considered to be worth a couple of million. Nobody has payed it but it gotta be worth it right? Because it is ART! And nobody can quite figure out why nobody else is pointing out the emperor is not wearing any clothes.

    You are aware it was not Steve Jobs who invented the gui or window interface or the mouse? He sold it.

    It is like attributing that urinal and attributing it to the gallery owner who sold it (or rather tried to sell it since it wasn't sold). What next, attributing the plane to Boeing because they sell them?

    There are inventors and innovators and there are business men who sell the resulting products. Don't confuse the two or you will end up being a MBA trying to sell something that doesn't exist.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Yesssss.... by niktemadur · · Score: 1

      That urinal is considered to be worth a couple of million.

      The whereabouts of the original urinal are unknown, only a Man Ray photo of it survives, what you see nowadays are replicas authorized by Duchamp, about 40 years after the original piece.

      Apple may not have invented the GUI nor the mouse, they just refined the combo for commercial use. There's a great anonymous quote (modified and attributed to a bunch of people over the years), which applies nicely, just substitute the term poet for artist, engineer or just about anything:

      "One of the surest tests [of the superiority or inferiority of a poet] is the way in which a poet borrows.
      Immature poets imitate; mature poets steal; bad poets deface what they take,
      and good poets make it into something better, or at least something different."

      There are inventors and innovators and there are business men who sell the resulting products.

      The point has been made elsewhere in this thread, many times over - If it wasn't for Jobs, it's quite likely computing would still be confined to boxy, unwieldy bastards in the workplace.
      With Jobs at the helm, Apple has had quite a few eccentric experiments that have cut deeply into the profit margins, just one example is a prolonged insistence on not installing fans into the hardware, because of their "lack of elegance", to the point where Jobs was kicked out of his own company, enter the Sculley/Spindler/Amelio era, and they would be your business men who sell the resulting products. How did that turn out?

      Jobs had long-term vision that required TONS of money, it's easy to forget how skeptical the industry and its' pundits were about all of it for years on end, perennially near-sighted bastards.
      Then there's the strictly business-side aspect, such as the Apple Stores. It's said that Jobs even personally approved the screws and wires that fasten the shelves to the walls, and it's that "devil in the details" focus at the helm that took a nearly bankrupt company 13-14 years ago and last month surged it ahead of Exxon (!!!).

      --
      Lil' Thindime, lilting a lacrimose lament, krashes the kwaint konfines of Kokonino Kounty
    2. Re:Yesssss.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Apple was so profitable in the Sculley era that Jobs left a ton of money behind when he sold out his shares. Under the others Apple was found out to be selling inferior products that turned off computer users through having a useless OS which was never addressed and they lost the entire amount of profit that Apple made in its existence causing people to forget that Apple had almost foundered with him as CEO.

      History should be written by historians and not by fanbois.

  400. Work is the best antidote to sorrow by QuatermassX · · Score: 1

    "Work is the best antidote to sorrow" suggested Sherlock Holmes to a shocked Watson upon his reappearance in London in the story "The Adventure of the Empty House". This morning I feel creative and it's time to make something insanely great. How about you?

  401. Rest in peace by Iftekhar25 · · Score: 1

    A relatively short life, in modern terms, but one full of activity. Rest in peace, Steve.

  402. I "Like" It by Kevin+Fishburne · · Score: 1
    --
    Buy your next Linux PC at eightvirtues.com
  403. Iconoclast by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When you think about the impact he had on computers, which was to establish an elegance of design that can only be wished for in other OS environments. Or when you think about the creation of Pixar, the introduction of Toy Story and the revolution of cinema embracing the digital era. And then you realize the revolution he created post-Napster to steal the music distribution from the record companies you realize what a true visionary he was. And to die at 56!

  404. Sad by WinstonWolfIT · · Score: 1

    I'm a bit sad that it's reported he was found dead in his home. Dying alone, even with a terminal illness, sounds... lonely.

  405. Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Typing in "jobs" in bash will never be the same

  406. Thank-You by syngularyx · · Score: 1

    I thank you Steve. R.I.P.

  407. Real Unix to the cattle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    BSD
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8789.html.

  408. heWoz. by Landak · · Score: 1

    I spent my childhood admiring Steve, and actually had him and Woz as something of an idol. He has died far too young, but left a legacy that many can only dream of. Rest in peace.

    --
    My UID is prime. Is yours?
  409. Goodbye by avm · · Score: 1

    Goodbye Steve, and thanks. I'm gonna go pick up a NeXTcube in your memory.

  410. All that is left are IDIOTS & CORRUPTION by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Although I am not an APPLE fanboi I respect Steve Jobs.

    To me all we have left now in this country are Corporate idiots who only care about the next quarter, A President who is dumb as hell and only cares about being reelected and a financial system whose only purpose is to help the rich. We could have had national health insurance that works but all we have is a scheme to increase profits for pharma and other Corps. All we do now is seem to start a new war every other month sometimes surreptitiously. It surely looks like we will never leave Iraq or Afghanistan,

    I think the death of Steven Jobs is sign post for the downsizing of the US to a 3rd World Country. Oh well we get what we deserve after all.

    Steve will truly be missed, truly a genius, the end of an era. I feel truly sad.

  411. Obligatuary by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    Nothing on Netcraft...

    P.S. How do you dress for mourning when all your clothes are black anyway?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  412. Re:He got a little over two years out of that live by abbamouse · · Score: 1

    THIS.
    1. By putting himself on ALL the lists, he gained an advantage over others.
    2. There were almost certainly people below him whose lives could have been extended by many more years by that liver.

    Most people would do the same, but it's still wrong. It's like shoving someone out of the way to get on the remaining lifeboat. Except that in the analogy, your odds of living given the boat are much less than theirs -- and you know this.

    --
    Make cheese not war 8:)
  413. Come on Slashdot by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    Using the old Stephen King troll? There are times when repeating tired old memes are inappropriate, however ironic and clever you think you're being.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  414. Dear USA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This time India didn't take away your Jobs, someone else did.

  415. Newton by Jimpqfly · · Score: 1

    Hopefully I already have a Newton, price is gonna increase, now !

  416. RIP Bill Gates (1955-2011) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some of us find humor lessens the sadness somehow.

  417. Died because he tried to cure cancer with dieting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I found the cause of death in this article by Brian Dunning:
    Steve jobs had a form of pancreatic cancer that can usually be treated quite well.
    But instead of getting the necessary operation, he decided to try to cure it with dieting and that's why he's dead.

  418. Thanks Steve... by the+hareball · · Score: 1

    You made a difference...

  419. Find what you like by BreezeC · · Score: 1

    Do you find what you like to do? He find and had done it.That's him.

  420. Merci by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Mon métier d'informaticien est venu par la découverte de l'incroyable Apple II+ en 1980.

  421. I would be *REALLY* impressed.... by netglen · · Score: 1

    If at the moment of Steve passing on, every generation of iPod, iPhone, and iPad would have started playing Stairway to Heaven followed by the ghostly voice of Steve saying 'Thank you'....

  422. C= not influential or groundbreaking? by DG · · Score: 1

    The C64 was the most successful "personal computer" ever built, and more or less created the whole concept of "home computer".

    Plus it trained an entire generation of future hackers - the guys who went on to build the modern Internet ecosystem.

    And don't get me started on the influence of the Amiga, because I'll be a while stopping.

    Atari was nowhere near as influential in the personal computer space as C=. Not by a country mile. (Games are another story)

    DG

    --
    Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
    1. Re:C= not influential or groundbreaking? by uniquename72 · · Score: 1

      The C64 was the most successful "personal computer" ever built

      Are you making this assertion (which I don't disagree with), or is this a widely accepted conclusion?

      Atari was nowhere near as influential in the personal computer space as C=. Not by a country mile. (Games are another story)

      I don't think you can separate or downplay the impact game playing had on early hackers. Pong led me to Atari, which led me to a TRS-80 (I couldn't afford a C-64). I don't think it's useful to try to pit all these systems against each other as far as "influence" -- except as a thought experiment.

    2. Re:C= not influential or groundbreaking? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The C64 was the most successful "personal computer" ever built

      Sure, if you go by number of units sold. If you're talking about aftermarket products (i.e. growing the industry) then not so much.

      and more or less created the whole concept of "home computer".

      Dead wrong. Atari and TI beat Commodore to the punch on that one.

    3. Re:C= not influential or groundbreaking? by DG · · Score: 1

      Widely accepted conclusion, based on overall sales numbers. No computer has ever shipped as many units as the C64*.

      Games undoubtedly led would-be hackers to computing, and Atari had enormous influence on gaming - but far less so on computing. The Atari 400/800/ST family never achieved a fraction of the sales that the VIC-20/C64/C128/Amiga did.

      DG

      *The IBM PC being viewed here as a succession of compatible models, not as an aggregate of all PC-compatibles ever built. And even then, the C64 outsold the PC and PC-XT by a considerable margin.

      --
      Want to learn about race cars? Read my Book
  423. Re:Having met him in the hallways of Apple with a by moozey · · Score: 1

    Thanks, I just lost The Game.

  424. RIP by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Thank you for your genius.

  425. Will he blend? by Rogerborg · · Score: 0

    He was a sociopath and a parasite who got rich and famous off of other people's ideas and hard work. The man didn't make one invention of his own - his only function was to pick winners and losers from his stable of actual inventors.

    --
    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  426. Steve - His eyes, closed. by AMMalena · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs, at peace. :-/

    iRIP, man.

    --
    AMMalena (www.Malena.net) "The avalanche has already begun. It is too late for the pebbles to vote." (Kosh, B5)
  427. Miss him, really? by jker · · Score: 1

    I'm sure everyone in the Slashdot community will miss him

    You're kidding right? Why would I miss someone authoritarian why employees, with no worries to humans being (at least not the Chinese people from Foxconn), that denied people the right to use devices that belongs to them as they with (You can't install an application unless Apple approves it, you can't use it as a mass storage device, you can't manage your playlist without crappy iThunes, etc.)? But maybe I'm not part of "the Slasdot community".

  428. Obligatory ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I told you I was ill.

    Sent from my iCoffin.

  429. Farewell by Virtually+Sane · · Score: 1

    At least he got to say goodbye to his family.

  430. Thank You by simm_s · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs, RIP

  431. you sure he's dead? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i heard the nurses were just holding him the wrong way :P

  432. Obligatory xkcd by stepdown · · Score: 1
  433. and bill gates says.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    \ (from thegatesnotes.com/Personal/Steve-Jobs)

    I’m truly saddened to learn of Steve Jobs’ 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.

  434. Breaking News by wazzzup · · Score: 1

    I just heard Bill Gates tried to kill himself but botched it and is recovering in a Seattle hospital.

  435. Yes, as much as I despised you as a person... by Assmasher · · Score: 1

    ...you and The Woz created the Apple IIgs, and changed my life forever.

    --
    Loading...
  436. HE'S NOT DEAD! by Pax681 · · Score: 1

    the nurses were just holding him the wrong way!

  437. Siri is 9 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's 9 all over again. Siri came at a cost, but Jobs will live on in the machines.

  438. Why would I miss him? by kyrio · · Score: 1

    Why would I miss anyone I've never met? Why would I care if he's died?

  439. What a guy... by frostilicus2 · · Score: 1

    Steve, you've been a true inspiration.

    --
    Nothing sucks like a Vax, nothing blows like a PowerMac G4
  440. With apologies to Bob Dylan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come you masters of Apple
    You that build the nice screens
    You that build the iTunes
    You that build all the hype
    You that hide behind walls
    You that hide behind jails
    I just want you to know
    I can see through your masks.

    You that never done nothin'
    But build to control
    You play with my world
    Like it's your shiny toy
    You put an App in my hand
    And you hide from my code
    And you reject other's things
    When there's profit to be made.

    Like Judas of old
    You lie and deceive
    A user must not program
    You want me to believe
    But I see through your eyes
    And I see through your brain
    Like I see through the water
    That runs down my drain.

    You fasten all the software
    For the lusers to use
    Then you set back and watch
    When the cash count gets higher
    You hide in your garden
    As young people's ideas
    Flow out of their minds
    And are buried in AppStores.

    You've thrown the worst fear
    That can ever be hurled
    Fear to build things
    Into the world
    For threatening my projects
    with patents and 'suits
    You ain't worth the blood
    That runs in your veins.

    How much do I know
    To talk out of turn
    You might say that I'm young
    You might say I'm nerdy
    But there's one thing I know
    Though I'm younger than you
    That even Adam Smith would never
    Forgive what you do.

    Let me ask you one question
    Is your design that shiny
    Will it buy you forgiveness
    Do you think that it could
    I think you will find
    When your death takes its toll
    All the beauty you built
    Will never buy back your soul.

    And I hope that you die
    And your death'll come soon
    I will follow your casket
    In the pale afternoon
    And I'll watch while you're lowered
    Down to your deathbed
    And I'll stand over your grave
    'Til I'm sure that you're dead.

  441. RIP, Steve by Frenzied+Apathy · · Score: 1

    Like so many others have commented here, regardless of what you think about Apple and Steve himself, he was a visionary and was instrumental in propelling the computer industry forward to the point it's at now...

    --
    The cake is a lie.
  442. is there any logic in your post ? by unity100 · · Score: 1

    neither mussolini was the inventor of dictatorship. however what he did has popularized and mainstreamed something that should have been left in the past.

    exactly like what steve jobs and apple did.

  443. Special Person at the Right Time - Twice by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think he really knew how fortunate he was in life, even though it might not have seemed that way in the end.
    The candle that burns brightest, burn the fastest (sic).

  444. Showmanship by Arnold+Reinhold · · Score: 2

    I attended the World Wide Developers' conference when the Mac II was introduced. Rumors insisted it was to be the first color Macintosh. When the exhibit hall doors opened, there was a Mac II with its big (for the time) monitor, but the image was the original Mac's crisp black and white. It was only when I got closer that I noticed the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen--it alone displayed in bright rainbow color. That was Job's showmanship.

  445. Steve Jobs - the 20th Century Rennaisance man by indian_rediff · · Score: 1

    Learning the news as I did this morning, I was in tears. I am not a fan of Apple (although I own an iPhone). But Steve Jobs has done in one lifetime, what many, many people put together could not do in many lifetimes. Any one of his achievements would qualify as genius. He has reinvented the term genius. Steve Jobs: May he rest in peace. My thoughts are with his family and with the Apple employees.

    Indian Rediff

    --
    All views my own. Anyone else with the same views needs to have his/her head examined.
  446. Sad to see him go. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs and his contributions to advancing our computing and device technology will be missed. He brought us devices and advancements that will be appreciated for generations to come. Rest in peace.

  447. RIP indeed, and condolences at his passing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I wish nobody an early demise. But we're just celebrating someone who brought us shiny new cool stuff. And all that stuff did (by and large) was bring us more entertainment. It's not like Apple discovered a cure for cancer, or got us to Mars. Jobs didn't figure out how to bring peace on earth. All his technology was centered around was bringing us more entertainment.

    I suppose as addicted as we are to Hollywood and youtube, we have to celebrate the guy who did so much to keep us supplied. I'll bet there wouldn't be half as many posts over the death of an Einstein or a Salk.

  448. Thanks for everything by Darksun · · Score: 0

    RIP Mr. Jobs, your innovation and imagination will be missed.

    --
    *tap tap tap* this thing on?
  449. Steve Jobs isn't dead! by otaku244 · · Score: 1

    He just left to develop Apple's iCloud division!

    --
    Mod me down, I shall become more off-topic than you could possibly imagine.
  450. RIP by zsadecki · · Score: 1

    RIP

  451. RIP Steve by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    (but can we get a crosscompiler now?)

  452. honest joke by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs and slobadan milosevic enter a nightclub in hell. Its really crowded. Slobodan says 'we never get seat. We should kill everyone and bury in big hole. Steve puts his arm around the dictator's back and says... 'Slobo, we dont have to kill them, let me tell you about what I did in Malaysia with an ipod factory.

  453. Shame that in this case there will not be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ...one more thing. :(

    1. Re:Shame that in this case there will not be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And one more thing. Fuck cancer.

  454. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by moozey · · Score: 1

    Sorry, but just because he was the first to make these developments does not mean no one else would have in his absence... I mean come on, you REALLY think we wouldn't have monospaced fonts? You don't think that some other designer or even another typography student couldn't muster up the vision of applying it to the computer world? Give me a break. I'm all for Apple products and certainly believe he was an extremely important figure in the computing world (rivaled by very few), but no way is he the only person in the last 20+ years capable of envisioning everything you've just mentioned. He just happened to do it first.

  455. Today Macs everywhere are booting with sad faces by XeXeN · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs has been uploaded to the iCloud... He will be missed!

  456. Come on guys... by BrokenHalo · · Score: 0

    Let us not fool around with asinine platitudes about speaking ill of the dead. Anything we say now about Jobs can't hurt him any more than when he was alive, so let us be honest:

    Steve Jobs was a prize shit, and in my considered opinion the world is a better place without him in it.

    1. Re:Come on guys... by Dog-Cow · · Score: 1

      Ah, he's a kindred spirit of yours then.

    2. Re:Come on guys... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ballmer showing class. There's a first time for everything.

    3. Re:Come on guys... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Steve Jobs was a prize shit, and in my considered opinion the world is a better place without him in it.

      And you're a fucktard with no class or taste.

  457. United states october Jobs report by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    one less !!!

  458. Re: Leadership by Gimbal · · Score: 1

    There's a book, titled Divide or Conqueror, by Diana McLain Smith, in which Smith discusses the disagreements between Steve Jobs and John Sculley, back in the 1980's, at Apple. Judging by the discussion Smith presents, in that book, I suppose it could be said that the disagreement was over whether or not Jobs would be allowed to lead. The proof would appear to be in the proverbial pudding, as to that.

    Leadership is a tricky thing to do (quite generally speaking, at that). My opinion is that Steve Jobs had not only the vision and the motivation, but also some terrifically useful ideas with regards to the domain of expertise of the business he lead - namely the Apple company, and by indirection, some broader part of the tech industry, as well.

    To voice a more acrimonious opinion: IMO, Jobs teh shytte, and Bill Gates is teh poz3r. Well, people make myths and heroes however we will, anyway. Cheers, and a virtiaul +5 on your comment

  459. Cure pancreatic cancer ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    there is NOT an app for that !!!

  460. OMG how fat was he? 300-400lbs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can't remember the times I told him to just put down the fork.

  461. Respect for the recently passed away.. by s4ndm4n · · Score: 1

    I have to say I'm shocked at some posts but rather than point any fingers, I just want to say whatever anyone thinks of someone while they are living, after they die, we should all give them the respect. RIP Steve, you will be missed, by the technology world, even if there are those that don't realize it yet.. you were one of the many great innovators of today.

  462. RIP Steve Jobs by joesucks · · Score: 1

    Steve, we will miss you, you have made being a "geek" a cool thing.

  463. Farewell to the Most important CEO by stecoop · · Score: 1

    The most important CEO - RIP.

  464. Unique CEO by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    No offense, but he won't be remembered that way by those who understood him. He's the only CEO I can think of that truly didn't belong in this age of feudalism. Form and function were part of the same thing to him. He understood the social context of what he was doing. Even though, his legacy may ultimately just be to allow elitists to control the masses through technology, that's not his fault. For a brief time, he succeeded in augmenting lifestyle and leaving a lasting impression on fashion. We are all actors on a stage, and Jobs brought some color to an otherwise technocratic system. MP3 players would not have been as big today nor as functional, and certainly not as decent looking. His focus was to bring happiness into peoples lives, not just useful functionality. Like or loathe the ipod generation, it was entirely new to see ordinary people excited about the next generation of ipod nano, as much as they were about the next generation of Nike Air. He intellectualized fashion. He sought happiness more than most as he knew he was dieing. He brought happiness to people. Not just spiritless, bland technological functionality. Wozniak and Gates are very influential people but completely different in terms of their goals. Jobs is someone who 'got it' in a deeper sense. He was a buddhist too, not something everyone knows.

  465. Not just talk by afortaleza · · Score: 1

    There's a man who made some difference in the industry, he will be missed as a professional and be much more missed in his family. R.I.P Steve Jobs !

  466. you'll be missed steve by capsteve · · Score: 1

    but i expect that you've inspired enough people to think differently, that you'll at least live on thru the memories and actions of an entire generation.

    --
    three can keep a secret, if two are dead - benjamin franklin
  467. The man understood design. by invid · · Score: 1

    The man understood design, and he had that elusive "vision thing". He had a clear view of what he wanted his technology to be and stuck with it.

    --
    The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
  468. RIP by pak9rabid · · Score: 1

    RIP Steve. You will be missed.

  469. Bah, He's just like Obi Wan Kenobi by Gimbal · · Score: 1

    The force is even stronger with 'im nows ><

    RIP, Steve Jobs - so long, and thanks for all the considerate design

  470. Genius, but a bad man and certainly no visionary. by Zoson · · Score: 0

    Jobs achieved a lot in his life time. Looking at what he did though... It was just stuff that big corporations have been doing since corporations existed. Control your market. Stand for things that will make you money. Screw everything else.

    If Jobs hadn't been in computers, the last 10 years would have progressed the industry significantly more. We wouldn't have appletards that don't know how to actually _operate_ a computer. It would have become a necessary skill for success. Instead we had a general dumbing down of the computing populace.

    People would understand their digital rights. People would know how to interact with a filesystem, and not just iTunes. And everyone would have higher quality music.

  471. After an august organ by grepppo · · Score: 2

    Alas the passing of Mr Jobs
    Gone to the Walled garden
    From where there is no jailbreak
    Flash ah ahhhhh
    That wasn't one of yours..


    E J Thribb 44 11/12

  472. my first experience with a Macintosh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Story about my first experience with a Macintosh... it was 1984 at Carnegie Mellon University... in this era the cutting-edge Microsoft (PC) operating system was MS-DOS 3.0.... it looked like this: http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/gfx/logo/msdos_screenshot.jpg . In this era, when using Microsoft PC's with MS-DOS it was quite common for people to lose hours of work unless they manually saved their work constantly, even if they did nothing wrong because the the computer often "froze up" with no warning. Anyway, I was trying out the Paint software on the new Mac, which looked like this: http://www.forevergeek.com/wp-content/media/2010/08/MacPaint-Japanese-Girl.png . Keep in mind that at this time there were no hard disks in PC's or Macs... just floppies. I had spent about an hour drawing a picture on the Mac but had not saved my work at all. I stretched my legs a bit under the computer table and my foot accidentally kicked the power cord out of the socket. The computer instantly died. I was bummed that I had lost my picture but I plugged the computer back in and watched it boot up again from the floppy. Did it come up with an error message "your computer was not shut down properly" (which you will see with a Microsoft Windows computer to this very day). No. Did it just boot up normally as if nothing had happened? No. Without a single message and without asking me a single question, it booted directly into the Paint software WITH MY ENTIRE PICTURE INTACT.

  473. Re:An open letter to Bill Gates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You, my non-friend, are a racist. Shut the fuck up and die.

  474. The Jobs Optimist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I became enamored with his creations.

      (Starting with the ][+ even going so far as to solder hundreds of tiny circuit board dots for a huge16kb)

    I became ensnared within his insidious cult of personality.

        (Many of my artistic hires would "only work with Macs")

    I became enraged with his devious methodology of proprietary products.

      (iTunes, 'nuff said)

    Is the final chapter on Steve finally in?

    The fanbois can still hold their collective breath and wait for the announcement that it's all just a clumsy, awful hoax to generate publicity for the delayed iPhone 5 disaster.

    In 30 years as much as I've come to despise Apple The Infernal Company and Steve The Jobsian Monster, they collectively were, beyond a shadow of a doubt, pure masters of the marketing game and know all too well the methods of manipulating the masses.

    I'm half-expecting a product rollout, concurrent with the funeral, replete with the as-yet-unannounced 64GB iCoffin (with unprecedented 16MB cameras so that we can all be safe & sure the dead is dead; via the Limited Jobsian-Edition iZombie app, of course). Soon everyone will be tenting outside funeral homes ready to pay (brains through their noses) for a two-year, premium iDied 4G contract. All will eventually forget about the enormous iSick fail (with blame squarely placed on a counterfeit iLiver).

    As long as our iPhone can direct us to the next hot restaurant and iPod can play our favourite music in blissful isolation, we all can live easier with false-flag terror, erosion of basic liberties, extra-judicial killings, illegal wars, drug-dealing gov't and the slow death of the republic, ad nauseum.

    No matter what I or anyone thinks of this contemporary Willy Wonka, he and his dastardly evil machine called Apple were, in the end analysis, certainly exceptionally good for the industry as a whole.

    Now back to your regularly scheduled programming including apoplectic concern about the future of our little consumer entertainment devices...

  475. The future, delayed by MrJones · · Score: 1

    Without Steve the future of consumer technologies may be delayed. No matter if you use Windows o Android, everyone uses a technology based on Steve's Company: Apple. Thats why Steve was important.
    RIP Steve, and many thanks for all your good work!

    --
    Get my e-mail after a captcha test in: http://tinymailt
  476. Admiration from a Foe by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I work for, what many consider, the primary foe of Apple. However, Steve Job's design, style, and innovation were unmatched in the industry and for that I know he was admired by most. I know people who own Apple products identify with Steve because of the care he demonstrated when designing products for them. They know that he created products that complemented their life, helped them communicate with friends, expose the simple joys of life, and realize a symbiotic relationship with technology. He will be missed and no doubt that his vision for the future has been documented. I would also say a prayer for his family and his four children, that in time their loss, the void that is left will be softened much like the rounded edges on his iconic devices.

  477. RIP Steve Jobs by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    For the latest news check out: http://23newsnow.info

  478. Jail-Breakers Salute you by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The iphone jailbreakers salute you steve jobs. May you find peace in the afterlife.

  479. We've all lost our Jobs. by opusbuddy · · Score: 1

    We've all lost our Jobs.
    Hole in Infinity's Loop;
    The seed at the Apple's core.

    --
    If this were easy, they wouldn't need us to do it!
  480. Re:Genius, but a bad man and certainly no visionar by Custard+Horse · · Score: 1

    Dumbing down is the process that allows mass appeal and take-up. If you had it your way I guess you would still be using the command line. The internet would be the stuff of fantasy. Slashdot would be on a BBS.

    I'm no Apple zealot but I can see that Apple products kicked the competition up the ass and forced the competition to, you know, *compete*.

    As with Bill Gates, love him or hate him, Steve Jobs' efforts have improved the experience for users of all new tech in the last decade.

  481. Re:An open letter to Bill Gates by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    i could kill you so easily little faggot

  482. Beg to differ by fuzznutz · · Score: 1

    Toy story 3 did suck.

  483. jobs died in America by roman_mir · · Score: 1

    As Jobs died in America, jobs died in America.

  484. Appears I may have been "off" in my p.s. ... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    News of Steve Jobs' death causes market jitters:

    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/06/shares_back_up_in_germany/

    APK

    P.S.=> Personally, @ least in the "SHORT TERM"? I can't see 1 man's death negatively influencing a tech-stock that much... the tech stands on its OWN, & Mr. Jobs wasn't into Apple's coding tech @ API levels in the OS, personally!

    That all "said & aside" then - So, why the "big shake up/worry" then??

    Now - This is where the stock market often "boggles my mind", & the fact they're calling HIM an "inventor" in the presses which, imo, is NOT the truth!

    (Point-blank/I.E. - the man did NOT "invent MacOS X", or other Mac OS' either: He had OTHERS DO THE ACTUAL WORK, not he, in coding Apple's wares over time!)

    Sorry, just a fact & not speaking "ill of the dead" either - now, he MAY have had a hand in the artwork/layout/design some, but that's a FAR CRY from making it happen!

    (Anyone can some up with an idea, especially @ the 10,000 ft. view level, after all, making it actually "go down/happen" @ the DETAILS LEVELS is where the devils are, & the real champions that make it reality (imo, @ least!))...

    ... apk

  485. Great. Another problem for the president. by CrispyZorro · · Score: 1

    I guess Fox news will report that this is the first effect of the 5% Jobs-killing, millionaire tax that was proposed.

  486. The economy will never improve by Lashat · · Score: 1

    if we keep losing all the good Jobs.

    --
    For every benefit you receive a tax is levied. - Ralph Waldo Emerson
  487. Give the cancer some credit. by odirex · · Score: 1

    People don't give enough credit to the cancer. I honestly believe jobs was only able to do the impressive work he did because he knew he was dying. Had it not been for that drive, apple would be nearly as popular as it is today. During his 8 year swan song, he managed to lead apple's skyrocket from garbage to the #1 valued company in the world. At the time of his death, it was #1. Not just the #1 tech company, but the highest valued of all companies in the whole world, period. That's an accomplishment I think anyone would be proud departing this life after. Even if the cancer was a slow and painful killer... what a way to go out with a bang. He wasn't just an american icon, he became a global icon. Despite apples numerous design and marketing accomplishments, I still think apple's fanbase was in large part a cult of personality focused on steve. With his passing, regardless of the competence of his successor, it just won't be the same. I am not an apple fan by any means. I do own an ipad2 and I recognize and may even respect steve's accomplishments. I am glad to see him go because now there is hope that the 'apple' era may finally end and we all might get to see something new and different in the industry, if any other company has the balls to step up. It does sadden me that steve's apple was the only company I could foresee bringing *wearable* computing to the mainstream. If he had lived another 10 years, it may have happened. Now it might still happen, but it will take longer and isn't nearly as likely to become 'cool'.

  488. my first experience with a Macintosh by PixMan · · Score: 2

    It was 1984 at Carnegie Mellon University... in this era the cutting-edge Microsoft (PC) operating system was MS-DOS 3.0.... it looked like this: http://www.operating-system.org/betriebssystem/gfx/logo/msdos_screenshot.jpg . In this era, when using Microsoft PC's with MS-DOS it was quite common for people to lose hours of work unless they manually saved their work constantly, even if they did nothing wrong because the the computer often "froze up" with no warning. Anyway, I was trying out the Paint software on the new Mac, which looked like this: http://www.forevergeek.com/wp-content/media/2010/08/MacPaint-Japanese-Girl.png . Keep in mind that at this time there were no hard disks in PC's or Macs... just floppies. I had spent about an hour drawing a picture on the Mac but had not saved my work at all. I stretched my legs a bit under the computer table and my foot accidentally kicked the power cord out of the socket. The computer instantly died. I was bummed that I had lost my picture but I plugged the computer back in and watched it boot up again from the floppy. Did it come up with an error message "your computer was not shut down properly" (which you will see with a Microsoft Windows computer to this very day). No. Did it just boot up normally as if nothing had happened? No. Without a single message and without asking me a single question, it booted directly into the Paint software WITH MY ENTIRE PICTURE INTACT.

  489. RIP Steve - genius and innovator by digitaldc · · Score: 1

    RIP Steve Jobs, the world will miss your vision and creativity.

    --
    He who knows best knows how little he knows. - Thomas Jefferson
  490. 2011 - 1955 = 66, not 56 by datastew · · Score: 1

    Looks like he was 66 years old when he died. Please fix the headline.

    1. Re:2011 - 1955 = 66, not 56 by MrSmith0011000100110 · · Score: 1

      God I hope that's some poorly formed joke. Need a calculator..."There's an app for that"

    2. Re:2011 - 1955 = 66, not 56 by bledri · · Score: 1

      Looks like he was 66 years old when he died. Please fix the headline.

      Out of curiosity, which processor are you using? Methinks it suffers from the intermittent borrow bit bug. Unless mine is lacking the humor detection unit...

      --
      Some privacy policy Slashdot.
    3. Re:2011 - 1955 = 66, not 56 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You fail it!!

    4. Re:2011 - 1955 = 66, not 56 by diego.viola · · Score: 1

      Math fail.

    5. Re:2011 - 1955 = 66, not 56 by bgspence · · Score: 1

      Was that done with a Windows or a Linux calculator?

  491. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

    Nice speculation, but since we can't visit parallel universes you have no serious evidence to support whether or not Android would have been better or not, whether or not PC's would have been better or not, and whether or not the web was invented. Give me a break. Just because Apple invented a few things first doesn't mean that it wouldn't have come out EVER. Maybe without Apple stifling innovation like they are doing in Europe things would get much better. This Apple worship is worse than fucking Scientology. Steve Jobs used his employees ideas and efforts very effectively, and probably had quite a few good ideas of his own. Thats about all you can say about him.

    --
    That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
  492. Apple ][ by rapett0 · · Score: 1

    My first real computer experience was on an Apple ][ at my elementary school. Granted it took many other factors over a lifetime to lead me where I am today, but I have to give props to Steve Jobs (and the Woz) for help getting it (being career, educational choices, etc.) started.

  493. Got answer on Mr. W.'s reaction also by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Video: Wozniak remembers friend Steve Jobs:

    http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/technology-video/video-wozniak-remembers-friend-steve-jobs/article2192817/

    * It put him to tears supposedly (no, I haven't watched it, I've got no desire to see others' pain is all)...

    ( & the headline over @ DIGG today is "Video: Wozniak cries remembering friend Steve Jobs ;(". Understandable...)

    APK

    P.S.=> It happens but I've got no desire to see it is all on my not watching that - "been there, done that" & as I am sure have you all, part of life, is death... apk

  494. Visionary by Sir+Realist · · Score: 0

    Truly a visionary in the field of marketing. Shareholders will miss him.

  495. Recalling my first Apple experience by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My first Apple experience dates back to the early 1980s, when I learned on an Apple just how hard it could be to do anything on a computer.

    Then, we got an 8088 based machine running DOS and never looked back.

  496. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm sad Jobs has passed as well - he was a great man who did great things.

    But I can't agree that today's technology would never have occurred if he had never lived. He was definitely a visionary, but he didn't have a monopoly on wanting products to be elegant and "just work". Perhaps he had more impact on the direction of the computer industry than any other single person, but the field is way bigger than any single person, even a giant.

  497. But, but ... by mrwolf007 · · Score: 1

    ... he only wanted to test the new product.

  498. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    That's why I'm against abortion. Every time you may be killing a baby Jobs. /s.

  499. Re:top execs at Samsung by DocSavage64109 · · Score: 1

    If the Galaxy S2 my coworker just got is any example, Samsung execs will not only have to match his death, but die even more impressively. I'd expect group seppuku (or whatever they do in Korea).

  500. My Hero! by methano · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs was one of my heroes. May he rest in peace.

  501. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    you make it sound like he created the universe

  502. Dawn by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    :-(

  503. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is bull. He had some great ideas, but of the sort that somebody else would eventually have anyway. I hate this kind of exaggerated one-sided propaganda.

  504. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    LIES! Steve Jobs sued the hell out of everyone who tried to make any technological advancement. If it wasn't for him technology would be 100 years ahead of what it is now today. He restricted innovation, he was a copyright and patents tyrant. I am glad he is dead and I hope he rots in hell.

  505. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, Donald Knuth was already rendering proportionally spaced fonts on computers years before the Macintosh came out.

    Just more hero-worship from an Apple fanboy.

  506. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    right, without deity steve, we'd all be lost.

    his real magic was that he presided over a company that ran such a thick marketing smokescreen that people like you believe the above.

  507. Legend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You can think what you want about the products he brought out. What we can't question is that he actually changed the world. This isn't something that many people can say.

    He has brought a new way of thinking of how products are designed and was a genius in what he did.

    I tip my hat to him and well done. He has achieved more in his life than most of us here ever will and he accepted death with an honour I envy.

    RIP Steve

  508. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Have you considered that, in reality, if it wasn't for Steve Jobs, the tech industry would be ahead 10 years than it is? He did his best to ensure that only him and Apple could come up with those 'innovations', keeping everyone else locked out until he was ready. He was brilliant, but we only got 'innovation' on his timetable...everyone else who had the idea before him was usually squashed Apple style.

    Same can be said for Bill Gates and Microsoft.

  509. Re:Who said he was found dead in his home in the A by Rational · · Score: 1

    Sounds like a typical case of shit-for-brains submitter. :-/

    --
    "Be nice, veer left, and never stop thinking" Iain Banks - Walking On Glass
  510. X-P by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Heard they're gonna burry him in an "iTomb" LOL

  511. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You, sir, are an idiot.

  512. Smells like fanboy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    keep suckin his stiffy

  513. What a hypocrite he became! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I have been seeing quotes being posted made by Steve Jobs about the early years of hacking and innovation and how their first products came to life - off the back of other people's research and patents.

    But, try and bring out your own clone, or copyleft product and the IP & Patent lawyers from Apple are banging your door down crying shenanigans at you.

    Try and modify your own Apple device, and you are labelled a criminal.

    This is his legacy, his epitaph: We followed on the heals of other innovators, but don't you dare follow us of we will sue your arse off!

  514. stupid argument. by unity100 · · Score: 1

    that is like saying mussolini didnt invent dictatorship. yeah he didnt. but he reinstituted and popularized something that should be left in the mists of time.

  515. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by ThorGod · · Score: 1

    Disgusted with some people here dancing on the coffin.

    WTF is wrong with you? [...] And if you're a decent human being, you can't cheer his death either.

    I agree with you completely there. I can't believe the immaturity of the /. commenters at times like this. Damn a man's actions, damn a man's decisions, but unless his actions or decisions threaten yours or another's life - you have no grounds to damn his life! (sed s/his/her/ )

    I think Apple's definitely made serious contributions to the tech world, though I think you're over stating their (and thus Steve's) importance. They're important, yes, but it's impossible to say what we'd have without them. One thing's for sure, it's unlikely 'nerds' like myself would ever go anywhere near something as fashionable as an Apple store without a company as technologically sophisticated and fashionable as Apple. That, in itself, is one hell of an accomplishment.

    Having said that, thank goodness Microsoft and the generic PC manufacturers have had mainstream competition from Apple. I guarantee yesterday's news that Mac OS has 23% of the OS market made Steve a happy man. It makes ME happy, and I'm a nobody. I love being able to install macports and actually compile htop and LyX on my imac!

    --
    PS: I don't reply to ACs.
  516. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, Donald Knuth was already rendering proportionally spaced fonts on computers years before the Macintosh came out.

    Not on personal computers, he wasn't. And I think you'd be hard-pressed to describe TeX output as "beautiful typography."

  517. iDeath - Insanely Great ! by sgt_doom · · Score: 1

    Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011: INSANELY GREAT ! (Nothing more need be said....)

  518. In related news... by thejynxed · · Score: 1

    ...sales of black mock turtlenecks have fallen to an all-time low.

    --
    @Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
  519. It's been fun by Gly · · Score: 1

    This is kind of crazy. I thought that if anyone would be the first immortal cyborg, It'd be Jobs. Regardless, he really did change the world. Godspeed, Steve.

  520. Money by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Steve Jobs was a 1-percenter.

  521. Accident vs design by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 1

    OSX itself is open because Apple could not afford to design a completely closed system at that time, remember, when OSX launched, Apple was still hurting. OSX was make or break for the company. When Apple had the resources to create the OS they really wanted, they created iOS which is not open at all.

    Spurring innovation? That generally is meant to include encouraging others. Einstein is considered so great NOT just because of his brilliant mind but because he has encouraged so many other scientists to build on his work and made science more approachable. Jobs sues anyone daring to build on his work. He spurs innovation only so far as it suits him, to gain control. MS did just the same and then stopped when it no longer made business sense. Jobs would have done the same.

    Remember PsyStar? Apple sued. There is a similar story on the PC side, that company was called Compaq, they too copied someone elses machine, IBM's. They survived and Gates supported it with his DOS. It meant cheap PC's. So cheap anyone could afford them. Have you ever looked at just how much a early Apple cost vs a IBM compatible?

    The history of computing is filled with a lot of lucky breaks leading to cheap ubiqutious computing. Jobs was a hurdle on that path. There were others in Apple responsible for the tech achievements. All Jobs did was sue, charge a premium for design and take the credit for other peoples work. A business man. A business man who ALWAYS tried to squeeze every last penny out of a deal. There are worse people on the planet but I won't mourn his passing. Admire the real heroes of computing who did far more and without expecting a large chunk of cash and total control in return. Even Gates is mode admirable, a louse of a business person he is at least doing something more with the money then just sitting on it.

    Sorry if this upsets you but I don't need to make rich people into heroes to feel good about wanting to be rich too.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Accident vs design by somersault · · Score: 1

      I wasn't referring to open in terms of code, more that it's not locked down in the same way that iOS is.

      Innovation in a marketplace isn't driven through encouragement, it's driven through cut-throat competition. The scientific community, and indeed the open-source community are generally built around collaboration, but even there you still have people who look into "competing" ideas (think of different types of string theory), etc. Even if Apple patented their individual designs (which others can license of course), the important part was that they stopped other mobile device designers being lazy. I knew that my phone's touchscreen UI could be better, but I didn't have any way of improving it myself (back when I was using WinMo). We'd probably have ended up with something good from Android even if Apple hadn't come out with the iPhone, but who knows.. I think it's been a really positive time for gadgets.

      Nope, I didn't have to deal with prices back then. I also know I'd have preferred the Apple or an Amiga to an IBM compatible. They had way superior interfaces and even hardware for a while.

      I won't mourn his passing either, but the result of what he has done has been positive as well as negative. I think it's important to recognise that.

      I'm not upset. I know Jobs was a douche - probably even moreso than Gates as you say - but his take on interfaces and wanting to make things user friendly was certainly much needed to counter the awfully lazy designs that MS had been getting away with. Even though MS are clearly trying these days, things like the ribbon and the way they are organising the control panel in Win7 are just making everything even more of a fucking mess. The 98/2000 (or "classic mode" in XP) control panels are tidy and descriptive - a complete breath of fresh air to look at compared to the unholy mess that is the modern Windows Control Panel. I understand why they were wanting to subsection everything - it's one of the basics of UI simplification - but IMO they've been Doing It Wrong as it doesn't seem intuitive at all. Knowing where it is because you already have found what you want and used it for a while doesn't make it "intuitive", it just means you've learned where everything is. When I use a Debian based system or Android, the control panels just are sensibly organised and you can find what you want quickly. Sorry, going off on a total rant.. but you can see that I've learned to appreciate good design just as much as technical prowess these day (not that MS ever had much of either).

      --
      which is totally what she said
    2. Re:Accident vs design by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember PsyStar? Apple sued. There is a similar story on the PC side, that company was called Compaq, they too copied someone elses machine, IBM's. They survived and Gates supported it with his DOS.

      And if you recall, IBM sued Compaq for distributing their intellectual property (the BIOS), but Compaq didn't copy IBM's BIOS - they reverse engineered it and made their own. PsyStar was actually distributing Apple's intellectual property.

      Also, if Microsoft hadn't had the foresight to keep licensing rights for MS-DOS and instead had made an exclusive deal with IBM, the clones would have gone nowhere.

      I almost wish Compaq had failed, because the success of cheap clones meant not just that IBM remained the standard, it became ubiquitous, and its reliance on DOS/Windows set small computing back by 10 years at least. Clones didn't spur innovation, they spurred stagnation. The only real competition was in producing faster CPUs and larger memory/hard drives.

  522. Untimely post... by doccus · · Score: 1

    I take issue with this /. post, in fact.. not only is it TWO days late..which for such a significant event is , frankly , unforgivable, as I first became aware of Mr Job's passing on the 5th via IT world, but also, that I could find NO reference anywhere that he was , in fact "found dead" as the article referenced, but in fact was accompanied by friends and family during his passing.. (I don't know the exact quote, but it was to that effect). I add my sympathies. There is nothing else one could say that isn't already known by the whole world...

  523. Re:http://www.apple.com/stevejobs/ iDead by hutsell · · Score: 1

    People calm down. Jobs is still alive. Do you really think a cutting edge innovative company like Apple would fail at being able to develop an elegant solution that would prevent something as simple as death. Rest assured; he's only working on the next killer app.

    From: His final will stated that he be buried in a glossy white coffin with no visible hinges or latches. ...

    --
    I am not a signature genius.

    --
    Yesterday's Weirdness is Tomorrow's Reason Why
  524. Keep the Nerd Perspective by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 0

    The last 2 days all I hear is people mourning Job's death. And clips of him make it through to prime time TV. They make me shiver. Man, this dude was severely twisted. It also makes me put everything into perspective of a geek. Most stuff he brought to the main stream was clearly innovative and all the money he earned he truly deserved.

    But he or Apple didn't invent anything truly ground breaking.

    Improving the Xerox idea of mouse and graphical UI is nice. Coming up with a top notch portable digital media player is nice too. And the Apple trackpad which marginalises the mouse is very nice again. Hell I even own a Mac Powerbook and I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Surely not for a tablet.

    So, here's a proverbial business man being worshipped like a god. And I just don't get it. Not a single bit of it.

    What's next? The world celebrating Gates' or Balmer's death? Perhaps.

    But will true visionaries that did amazing work, when nobody really cared, be paid the respect they have earned and deserve? Sitting in system rooms alone, loading code in primitive ways, watching disk arms move, ...

    Will Ken end Denis be paid the homage that should come to them?

    --

    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
    1. Re:Keep the Nerd Perspective by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

      The guy was a member of the Homebrew Computer Club, wanted to work at HP in his summer vacation as a 13 year old kid and perfectly able to really assemble a computer from scratch, the fact that he was a impressive business man don't mean that he wasn't a true nerd too, maybe not as great like Woz, but compared to Woz, almost every other nerd looks small.

      --
      Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
  525. lol flamebait mod by jo_ham · · Score: 1

    Stay objective slashdot!

    Classy.

  526. slashdot = morons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    this post and the first few comments (I didn't read the rest) only reinforce my suspicion that slashdot is populated by moronic, teenagers. In honor of Steve I'm deleting my slashdot RSS feed.

  527. Re:1st's by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    My 2nd computer was an Apple II. My first was a Commodore 64.

    I never cared much for Apple..... or Microsoft. Despite my disagreements that have mostly to do with privacy, hardware ownership, walled gardens, and perpetual live unpaid beta testing (Microsoft you...) the fact remains that without Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, The Woz all of us geeks would be enjoying a world that is far far less cool than it is.

    Those men made technology cool. If it were not for them, there were would be near infinitely less hot blondes that needed their computer fixed. Consider that :)

    I can't say I ever agreed with Steve much on his approach, but I will always be deeply awed and respectful by just how much he helped change the world. He truly was a genius at what he did.

    At Stanford in 2005:

    Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.

    R.I.P

    My 1st Computer was a Commodore 64 also, and 2nd was an 8088 IBM run DOS, If I can't see or edit the code I don't want it. Burn hell Steve. Glad you drank your own koolaid damn cult members enabling the inept among us. I am most surprised by the fact Steve Jobs didn't coin the iNept and make a billion dollars and put one over on those he sold it to. It would be a great name for an iPhone app.

  528. He wasn't "found dead" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't believe he "was found dead"... According to the family, he was surrounded by friends and family.

  529. So long and thanks for all of the iPods by wrencherd · · Score: 1
  530. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

    The fact that all the people that worked closely with him have fond memories of him an the uppermost respect for his leadership, as documented in Folklore.org means that despite his difficult personality he earned the admiration and respect of his team; the clear difference of smartphones and tablet computers before and after the iPhone and iPad respectively makes absolutely unnecessary to visit a parallel universe except for the willfully obtuse.

    --
    Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
  531. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Antisyzygy · · Score: 1

    False. You cannot say that smart phones and tablets would be different or the same since events unfolded the way they did. In fact, smart phones and tablets existed before Apple even did anything with them, and were of similar design. You know, rectangles with touch screens. Give me a god damn break. It was only a matter of time until someone made things thinner. Apple may be the first innovator, but only a fucking idiot would think that things would be that different without them.

    --
    That brings me to an interesting point, / . is just "the ramblings of socially-inept, technology-literate news-mongers".
  532. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Apple may be the first innovator, but only a fucking idiot would think that things would be that different without them.

    Yep, things would be very different. People would be buying smartphones that infuriate them, rather that smartphones they love. They would still be trying one tablet after another hoping to find one that was simple, useful, and enjoyable. Instead they're looking for "something like the iPad" but cheaper.

  533. Re:Disgusted with some people here dancing on the by Kyusaku+Natsume · · Score: 1

    You know that computers need software to be useful, right? The quality of the software is of the same relevance of the quality of hardware. LG and Samsung just to name a few have had the capability to design and build stuff like the iPhone or the iPad way before Apple launched those two products. LG did the Prada before Apple sold the iPhone, and? Is not about shinny or thinner stuff, is about compelling usefulness. That's what Jobs got right since the 70's, and put in very clear terms:

    "Start with the customer experience and work backwards to the technology. You can't start with the technology and try to figure out where you're going to try to sell it."

    If it were only about technology DEC and Sun would still be around.

    --
    Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
  534. Will the real Steve Jobs please stand up? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://gawker.com/5847344/what-everyone-is-too-polite-to-say-about-steve-jobs

  535. Steve and Bill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Some thoughts on the passing of Steve Jobs and his legacy with Bill Gates.

    http://bit.ly/qy9F7y

  536. So many innovations. by Steve+Cowan · · Score: 1

    OK, I have had time to ponder Steve, and I'm here only to put thoughts in writing ... I gave up my /. habit years ago, but I think this is the only place where my uber-nerd appreciation for Steve might have meaning to some. So please indulge me ...

    There are lots of visionaries in the tech world. Lots of people who have amazing ideas about where technology is going, or where it needs to go. It's not hard to deny that Steve was special, but for many, it's difficult to pinpoint exactly why.

    After some thought, I have concluded that Steve's vision was not amazing because of how often he was right, but because of his passion about everything that he did. While he brought great innovations to the masses, his claim to fame is that he repeatedly bet the farm on them, and busted balls to see them happen.

    Off the top of my head I can think of so many big things, and so many little things, that just had him written all over. In no particular order, here is a random selection of innovations both big and small, that are clearly "Jobs" things, including stuff we may have forgotten.

    - GUI computing. Its origin has been discussed to death - it was the invention of Xerox. Whether Microsoft copied Apple or Xerox is irrelevant - Steve believed it was the most important thing for Apple to move towards, to the point of getting himself fired by the very stuffy, ignorant CEO he had hired. And Microsoft's products didn't even begin to approach the intuitiveness of the Mac until long after that happened.
    - The first iPod demonstrated that MP3 players were ready for non-nerds. It had a convenient form factor and responsive UI. Its built-in battery charged while it plugged into the computer. No weird counterintuitive software was required to copy music to it. It sounded great. It was comfortable to hold and operate with one hand. It proved to the world at large that functionally equivalent (or superior) products have no value if they are shittily designed. It also proved that Apple could make more than just computers.
    - Introduced as a trademark "One More Thing" during one of his keynotes, the PowerBook G4 was probably the most drool-inducing computer ever. This thing left all competing laptops in the dust - yes its wickedly fast G4/400 processor and discrete GPU were cool by themselves, but this freak of nature brought far more to the table: it was lightweight, only 1 inch thin, all-titanium construction, widescreen (never before seen in mainstream computing), and had amazing battery life. Technology has since made that machine obsolete (big surprise), but so many of its innovations live on in the computers we use today.
    (To digress just a little, the Titanium Powerbook G4 was, as far as I know, the first device to feature an auto-sensing ethernet port, so you no longer needed to worry about whether you had a crossover cable when you simply wanted to connect it to another computer. I imagine Jobs with a prototype TiBook in his office, trying to copy files from his desktop using a straight-through ethernet cable. It doesn't work, it pisses him off, so he calls up an engineer and says "fix this in by tomorrow or find another job")
    - While on the topic of laptops, the first G3 iBook laptop was the first ever computer to offer wireless networking. It was one of many emerging standards that Apple embraced under Steve's command, including...
    - USB on the iMac. Get rid of (almost) every other fucking connector. Jobs sees USB as the connectivity of the future, and the iMac as the future of the Mac. That powerful-enough computer did away with everything we thought we needed, including serial ports and a floppy drive. It was the first Mac in years with no SCSI. But it was more than that ... the iMac was a celebration of the future of computer hardware. It eliminated all the legacy storage and connectivity, and celebrated with a bold new minimalist design. It was met with fear and disdain by the tech nerds, who always thoug