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Steve Jobs' Yacht Revealed

schwit1 writes "Venus, the incredible luxury yacht Steve Jobs had been designing up until his death a little over a year ago, seems to have made its first appearance as a finished product in the city of Aalsmeer in the Netherlands. Unsurprisingly, its design is breathtaking. Reportedly designed in a joint effort between Jobs himself and Philippe Starck, the stunning ship first showed up on the blog One More Thing, which posted some stills as well as a few other details. The ship is about 230 to 260 feet long, for instance, and made entirely of aluminum, which makes it particularly light. And if you had any doubt this is Steve Jobs' yacht, there are seven 27-inch iMacs in the wheelhouse. According to One More Thing's sources, the Jobs family will be present for the yacht's christening ceremony proper, thought it's unknown whether or not they intend to use it, or what its ultimate fate may be. Regardless of what may happen to her, she sure is a beauty. It's certainly a shame Steve Jobs never got the chance to see her finished."

276 of 438 comments (clear)

  1. iSore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I don't know, it looks more like an iSore to me.

    1. Re:iSore? by gfxguy · · Score: 4, Funny

      No joke... "breathtaking" in a bad way, maybe.

      --
      Stupid sexy Flanders.
    2. Re:iSore? by tomhath · · Score: 5, Insightful

      More like a barge than a yacht. I guess he was going for the rectangle with rounded corners look.

    3. Re:iSore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      None of the corners are rounded. Philippe Starck didn't want to get sued.

    4. Re:iSore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Congrats on first dickishness. Very clever.

      I don't own any Apple products, and likely never will - I have major philosophical differences with that kind of closed-source approach.

      But y'know what? Jobs was a fucking genius, and that boat is a clear expression of how his vision matured over the years. Just because I don't like the underpinnings of Jobs' genius doesn't mean I can't appreciate it for what it was.

      Oh, and y'know... he's dead. Those wars are over, asshole.

      None of what you said alters the fact that the boat is sort of ugly. When vision matures in this particular manner it's usually called cataracts.

    5. Re:iSore? by slashmydots · · Score: 5, Funny

      Don't worry, it will use Apple Maps and crash into something in Nebraska. Yeah, that far inland, lol.

    6. Re:iSore? by Grayhand · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't know, it looks more like an iSore to me.

      A two word description, sterile and boring. If you turned that in as a final design for design school I'd expect to flunk. Even the placement of the iMacs lacks imagination. I thought they'd be built in not sitting in a row blocking the window. A design fail on every level.

    7. Re:iSore? by cyberdime · · Score: 1

      Looking at the video I had some trouble figuring out if I was already looking at the boat or just the dock. The rounded corner jokes aside, I think the iYacht's one clear Jobs design feature is the way it blends in with its surroundings. The only really loud Apple products I know of are those radioactive iMacs that came in a various colors.

    8. Re:iSore? by ynp7 · · Score: 1

      It's even uglier than the original iPhone.

    9. Re:iSore? by nomad63 · · Score: 1

      I absolutely agree.
      cubism crossed paths with far east culture and they beat each other up real bad, ending up this monstrosity.
      Fugly...

      --

      __________
      The more I know people, the more I love animals
    10. Re:iSore? by pitchpipe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Those wars are over, asshole.

      You just stated and disproved your point in one sentence. Interesting.

      --
      Look where all this talking got us, baby.
    11. Re:iSore? by Joviex · · Score: 1

      Seriously. If that is amazing design, I'll keep my 18' criscraft.

    12. Re:iSore? by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 1

      Agreed. It's so ugly and stark. The only part i like about it is the back.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    13. Re:iSore? by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

      At least there weren't cubicle walls blocking the windows, too, like every damned place I've ever worked.

      --
      (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
    14. Re:iSore? by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 4, Funny

      You're right. It's matured in a sort of Lucasian way. You know the way that the last star wars movies made were so mature and superior to the first star wars films made.

      ---

      I don't hate jobs or apple. Even owned an iphone 3.

      That boat is ugly.

      --
      She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
    15. Re:iSore? by EdIII · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Oh, and y'know... he's dead. Those wars are over, asshole.

      Nooo.... no they're not. The wars he started are really just beginning.

      Steve Jobs was truly an evil and despicable person in the world of computing. One of the first to even understand what cyberspace *was*, what it *could* become, and how to ultimately control it.

      It was once explained this way, and still is my favorite analogy:

      Steve Jobs saw computing as a wide open territory yet to be populated. He did not want to empower people with free movement, or any freedom in general, in this new "space". The way he saw computing was like trains instead of cars. He would build the trains, sell the trains, and by building and owning the tracks, "guide" people in this new "space". He would be the gatekeeper, the guide, the prophet, and all would experience his world, on his terms, and why not? He's a fucking genius right ?

      To say that man is a toxic plague upon cyberspace is a vast understatement. Where are we now with the whole concept of the walled gardens? How many other companies are rushing in with greedy fervor to make money the same way? Microsoft... I'm looking at you with Windows 8 and the app store.....

      Yes, he could see that people wanted easy to use, shiny, very shiny, devices that just worked. Why not do that and control their ability at the same time?

      If somebody brings up his anti-DRM stance, just remember that he had the foresight to see there was no winning that war, and that by controlling the walled garden and giving very cheap payment options, he would make up the money in volume and hardware sales.

      The wars, the wars against people and freedom, have only just begun. Thanks to Steve Jobs, the people have started out with a severe disadvantage and handicap.

      Although, to be fair, he is not wholly responsible for the horrific state we are in. Zuckerburg has some responsibility too.

    16. Re:iSore? by Sulphur · · Score: 1

      Its an iJob.

    17. Re:iSore? by EdIII · · Score: 5, Insightful

      No rage. Just a vast sea of disappointment and concern for our future.

      I was not the one to come up with that analogy, nor did it come from a vacuum either. Jobs did not do great things for computing. Creating admittedly great devices is merely a distraction for the toxic environment he created where consumers do not own their own devices, decide what software and media is acceptable for the devices, and have freedom in general.

      It's not like I would have to try very hard to get disappointment, frustration, and yes, rage from app developers and vendors that work with Apple either.

      The app store is not a great idea, and it is a terrible execution of it for that matter. Creating a walled garden approach to computing is never a good idea. I might feel different about it if:

      1) Any developer could submit any app, without restrictions, and receive a fair price. I won't argue about Apple's cut for this, which is way too high, either.
      2) The consumer owned their own device and did not need to the endorsement of the Supreme Court to "jail break" their device to load software, and basically, enjoy what should be the basic fundamental rights of anybody in the computing "world".

      An app store as a distribution model, great idea. An app store as a tool for totalitarian suppression of a population (mostly sheep), terrible idea that is a pox on society.

      You can try to attribute hate and malice to my "rant", but how about coming up with good defenses of for the walled garden and lack of freedom?

    18. Re:iSore? by donscarletti · · Score: 3, Funny

      An hater would say that it shows that Jobs had no design talent of his own, an admirer would say it shows he was too professional to waste Jony Ive's time designing his personal possessions. Either way, his legacy as a man of taste would have been greater if the executor of his estate scuttled her before she was complete.

      --
      When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
    19. Re:iSore? by Joce640k · · Score: 1

      DAMN! That's fugly...looks more like a building than a boat.

      And the bridge full of iMacs? Fail on every level. It's just a grey table with some iMacs on it.

      --
      No sig today...
    20. Re:iSore? by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Jobs was a fucking genius

      Really? He was a good salesman and he developed a sense of taste (check out the original iMacs), but he relied on others to do the design work. In fact most of the designs seem to have been ripped off from Braun products of the 70s and 80s, or are just copies of existing objects like slide locks. Many of the most innovative features were developed by other companies, e.g. the iPod wheel or Siri.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    21. Re:iSore? by pmontra · · Score: 2

      The most static boat design I ever saw. It's great only if the goal was disguising it with the buildings in the harbor.

    22. Re:iSore? by Alex+Belits · · Score: 1

      Now it is not.

      --
      Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
    23. Re:iSore? by tehcyder · · Score: 3, Informative

      I love your reply because it shows exactly what uncritical hero worship looks like. I imagine that you can be easily manipulated to fawn.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    24. Re:iSore? by Dekker3D · · Score: 2

      I agree. This is not what I expected when the article called it "breathtaking". It's not even breathtakingly bad, it's just... plain. I don't even like Apple (ethical reasons) but I have to admit they usually have some sort of sense of design. That makes it pretty hard to believe a designer like Jobs ever thought of this ship.

    25. Re:iSore? by houghi · · Score: 4, Interesting

      that the boat is sort of ugly

      Sort of ugly? This is the definition of ugly. If ugly has a mother, this would be it. It is not even a yacht, it is a floating brick.

      I hope they patented and trademarked the shit out of it, because that would mean nobody can make anything ugly anymore.

      There are people who have more money then they have sense and still have good taste. Here is proof

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
    26. Re:iSore? by dkleinsc · · Score: 1

      You know the way that the last star wars movies made were so mature and superior to the first star wars films made.

      Wait, I'm confused: How can there be multiple "last" and "first" Star Wars movies, when everyone knows that there were only 3 of them?

      --
      I am officially gone from /. Long live http://www.soylentnews.com/
    27. Re:iSore? by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      I don't know, it looks more like an iSore to me.

      A two word description, sterile and boring. If you turned that in as a final design for design school I'd expect to flunk. Even the placement of the iMacs lacks imagination. I thought they'd be built in not sitting in a row blocking the window. A design fail on every level.

      You mean they shouldn't be where everybody puts monitors on a bridge because it makes fucking sense? Well, thanks for that insight into the mind of Interface Designers In Open Timoneer Service.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    28. Re:iSore? by Plumpaquatsch · · Score: 1

      The most static boat design I ever saw. It's great only if the goal was disguising it with the buildings in the harbor.

      Yeah, yachts should be build to show off. Just like phones.

      --
      Of course news about a fake are Fake News.
    29. Re:iSore? by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 1

      I never liked Stark's boats... But I was hoping for something more like the Maltese Falcon as well. It is hard for me to imagine Jobs building something so ugly, impractical, and frankly unimaginitive.

    30. Re:iSore? by firesyde424 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This.... a thousand million times... this. I am so sick of the hero worship. Albert Einstein was a genius. Nikolai Tesla was a Genius. Thomas Edison was a great inventor and, arguably, a genius. Steve Jobs was none of these. He was a great salesman and perhaps even an extraordinary salesman, but not a genius. I heard some kid talking the other day about how Steve Jobs was a genius because he invented the smartphone and the MP3 player. It was all I could do to not slap the kid.

      Let's be clear. Steve Jobs did NOT invent the smartphone. He did not invent MP3 players. He did not invent the personal computer. He merely repackaged those ideas into something else. Steve jobs was a great salesman, nothing more.

    31. Re:iSore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      But y'know what? Jobs was a fucking genius, and that boat is a clear expression of how his vision matured over the years.

      No.

      That "boat" is a monument to the stupidity of ignoring weather and physics for the sake of the designer's ego. There are reasons small, lightweight boats of this type all look pretty much the same, and these can be summed up with a single word: seaworthiness.

      This thing looks like the design was taken from an oil tanker or a bulk freighter, where there is so much inertian that the shape of the superstructure does not matter.

    32. Re:iSore? by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      The internet is more like trains than cars. The packets (railcars then, rather than automobiles) must travel between stations to arrive at their destination. When we used to commonly have non-switched networks, it was like the cargo then being put onto trucks which had to be trusted not to run into one another, but now you don't even commonly see hubs, and they're assumed to be effectively worthless at higher speeds.

      Apple wanted to win an entirely different war, not over how you will get to your destination, but what your destination would be. But they are hardly unique in that regard. It is precisely the same thing as Microsoft bundling IE and sending you to Bing and bunding media player and sending you to MSN music. Which is to say that it's evil, but not the particular kind of evil you describe.

      Ultimately, users bear the responsibility for creating the software, hardware, and political systems in which they operate. When we put energy into the systems that seek to control us, we wind up controlled. If there were no Jobs or Zuckerberg or Gates there would be someone else or some other institution which would provide essentially the same thing, so long as that's where the users spend their money.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    33. Re:iSore? by Dishevel · · Score: 1, Insightful

      If Jobs "Great Genius" was the fact that he " recognized the great work at PARC" then you are a genius as well for recognizing Jobs genius.
      Jobs was by no means a stupid man.
      He was harsh, demanding a decent business man and a very good marketer.
      Woz was a fucking genius. Steve Jobs was a smart asshole who bought or stole every good idea he had and sued anyone who had a similar idea.

      --
      Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
    34. Re:iSore? by NumenMaster · · Score: 1

      I have to agree. It's a pretty ugly boat. He ordered a custom yacht knowing full well he was dying. Goes to show what a weirdo he was.

      --
      Where's my sock? There it is...
    35. Re:iSore? by AK+Marc · · Score: 1

      You had a better analogy in the first rant. He wanted trains. Cars kill tens of thousands of people per year. Trains hundreds. The perceived "freedom" of sitting in stop and go traffic doesn't offset the death and carnage that cars cause. At least according to some.

    36. Re:iSore? by sarkeizen · · Score: 1

      But y'know what? Jobs was a fucking genius,

      I always wonder why people say this. It's unclear exactly how much of what Apple produced was Jobs's idea and how much help he had. We probably will never know since it's currently in Apple's best interest to keep the myth alive.

      Oh, and y'know... he's dead. Those wars are over, asshole.

      Think so? I think when a prophet dies is a sign that the wars are on their way

    37. Re:iSore? by In+hydraulis · · Score: 1

      So, giving up basic freedom for convenience and an illusion of safety, then?

    38. Re:iSore? by icebraining · · Score: 1

      That's a great argument for a closed App Store. It's not an argument for the impossibility of choosing other stores and/or installing apps from other sources.

      Also, if you think there's no malicious code in the App Store, I have a bridge to sell you.

  2. Bandwidth saver by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    For those of you who wish to save bandwidth and not seek out a picture:

    Imagine USS Seal and Merrimack having a love child.
    Imagine a hurricane depositing a pagoda on top.
    But not as pretty.

    1. Re:Bandwidth saver by _merlin · · Score: 2

      Haha that's actually a damn good description of the eyesore. Thanks for expressing it in words.

    2. Re:Bandwidth saver by ackthpt · · Score: 1

      For those of you who wish to save bandwidth and not seek out a picture:

      Imagine USS Seal and Merrimack having a love child.
      Imagine a hurricane depositing a pagoda on top.
      But not as pretty.

      While it's not the Ruby Yacht of Omar Khayyam (as seen in Rocky & Bullwinkle) you could quite possibly water ski behind Jobs' tub.

      --

      A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
    3. Re:Bandwidth saver by c0lo · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Imagine USS Seal and Merrimack having a malformed child conceived as a results of drunken/berserker reciprocal legitimate rape.

      FTFY. I looked for both USS Seal and Merrimack photos.
      By whatever God you respect! both of them have elegant lines in comparison with Jobs' yacht.

      --
      Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
    4. Re:Bandwidth saver by _merlin · · Score: 5, Informative

      I think he was probably referring to Merrimac after her rebirth as Virginia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS_Virginia

    5. Re:Bandwidth saver by c · · Score: 1

      I was thinking there might be a bit of the USS Monitor thrown in. It certainly looks about as fast and seaworthy...

      --
      Log in or piss off.
  3. Wow by Pikoro · · Score: 2

    What an ugly monstrosity. Well, we know Steve was a minimalist. Look at the pictures of the bridge. No buttons!

    --
    "Freedom in the USA is not the ability to do what you want. It is the ability to stop others from doing what THEY want"
    1. Re:Wow by mysidia · · Score: 1

      What an ugly monstrosity. Well, we know Steve was a minimalist. Look at the pictures of the bridge. No buttons!

      Sorry... I was too distracted by the f****'in animated gif at the top left on the Slashdot homepage to notice.

      Steve wasn't around to approve the final product. I'm sure he'd scrap this and tell his builders to start over, if he saw it

    2. Re:Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Well, we know Steve was a minimalist. Look at the pictures of the bridge. No buttons!

      Steve must have thrown a tantrum when they installed the anchor.

      For you future slashdot billionaires while touch screens only are a hoot on dry land they are really a pain in the ass at sea with ... you know...waves and shit...

      Also for godsakes please have some class. If you want to be cool, different and flaunt your wealth there are ways to do it.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Maltese_Falcon_(yacht)

  4. Ocean Air - Corrosive ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I seem to recall that ocean air is fairly corrosive. I realize whomever buys this will have a lot of money, but I'd guess those iMacs would have be replaced fairly frequently, and possibly prone to failure while at sea.

    1. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive ? by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      I'm sure the bridge is enclosed and air-conditioned.

  5. not a mac fan but by jjbarrows · · Score: 1

    they are usually well designed. this is not.

  6. I can't wait to see by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Samsung's CEO's new yacht. I hear they'll be debuting it next year.

    1. Re:I can't wait to see by Duhavid · · Score: 4, Funny

      Did you mean debugging?

      --
      emt 377 emt 4
    2. Re:I can't wait to see by lxs · · Score: 5, Informative

      I doubt that Samsung has anything left to learn about building ships. Real ships.

    3. Re:I can't wait to see by DingerX · · Score: 1

      So that's what Apple's going to "invent" next.

    4. Re:I can't wait to see by aNonnyMouseCowered · · Score: 1

      "I doubt that Samsung has anything left to learn about building ships."

      Yeah Samsung are masters at building everything from a ship to a microchip, but they certainly needed quite a bit of inspiration to DESIGN their own Gangnam brand of round-cornered gadgets.

  7. Definitely not an Apple product! by ALeader71 · · Score: 5, Informative

    That is the ugliest seagoing thing I have ever seen. Job's design taste obviously didn't come from Jobs himself. He should've had his designers build models (for him to poop on) until he found one that was sleek and attractive.

    --
    Only the dead have seen the end of War. - Plato
    1. Re:Definitely not an Apple product! by connor4312 · · Score: 1

      Agreed - maybe minimalist worked on the computer, but it doesn't seem to be doing much good in the real world.

    2. Re:Definitely not an Apple product! by RespekMyAthorati · · Score: 3, Funny

      He should've had his designers build models (for him to poop on) ..

      Hence the iPoopDeck.

    3. Re:Definitely not an Apple product! by Amouth · · Score: 1

      Agreed, while you can't see whats under the water, based on the shape i see, i know i wouldn't want it to take it into any real ocean.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
    4. Re:Definitely not an Apple product! by DamageLabs · · Score: 1

      Looks like an upmarket copy of Dashew's Unsailboat..
      Look here http://www.dashewoffshore.com/fpb83_intro.asp for the old boat or here http://www.dashewoffshore.com/fpb112.asp for the new.

  8. Distinctive by MangoCats · · Score: 2

    Kind of Frank Lloyd Wrightesque... not my impression of a ship for rough seas.

  9. So that's what he did... by jjjhs · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... with all the profit from all the overpriced iDevices.

  10. Anything that blocky can't be called sleek by Yo_mama · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Looks like the Jobs reality distortion effect persists after death!

    --
    Never understimate the power of human stupidity -Lazarus Long
  11. It's a fake. by aurashift · · Score: 5, Funny

    And if you had any doubt this is Steve Jobs' yacht, there are seven 27-inch iMacs in the wheelhouse.

    Why yes I do. I doubt any egocentric billionaire could afford one of those $1800 27-inch iMacs, much less seven of them. Good lord, such opulence!

    1. Re:It's a fake. by swanzilla · · Score: 2

      Meh. I'm waiting for an egocentric trillionaire to build a 27" iMac Beowulf wheelhouse cluster.

    2. Re:It's a fake. by Manfre · · Score: 1

      He probably got an employee discount.

  12. That's not a yacht! by titanium93 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This is a yacht!
    http://diamondsyacht.com/

    --
    Sigs are for losers
    1. Re:That's not a yacht! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting
    2. Re:That's not a yacht! by micheas · · Score: 1
    3. Re:That's not a yacht! by pmontra · · Score: 1

      The Diamonds is conventional, maybe Jobs wanted something "different". The Infinitas is *very* unconventional. I'm not sure to like it but Jobs should have tought along those lines than the ugly ones he ended up with.

    4. Re:That's not a yacht! by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      This: http://www.luxuo.com/yachting/schopfer-yachts-infinitas-superyacht.html

      Wow, that looks like a (very big) dildo, unlike Jobs's yacht which just looks like wank.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    5. Re:That's not a yacht! by zippthorne · · Score: 1

      If that's a yacht, then so is this: http://tron.wikia.com/wiki/Solar_Sailer, they both exist only on a graphics card, after all...

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    6. Re:That's not a yacht! by fatphil · · Score: 1

      Sink Different (tm)

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
  13. My wife's comment on first sight: by cervesaebraciator · · Score: 2

    At least it's not a rectangle with rounded corners, then he'd have to pay royalties to a certain company.

    1. Re:My wife's comment on first sight: by mpfife · · Score: 1

      Dang it - now there is a patent on square ships with rounded corners!

  14. Where was Jonathan Ive? by whoever57 · · Score: 1

    Ugly! Ugly! Ugly!

    From the looks of it, I assume that Jonathan Ive was NOT involved in the design.

    --
    The real "Libtards" are the Libertarians!
    1. Re:Where was Jonathan Ive? by rubycodez · · Score: 1

      hmmmm, it's really just the front of that thing that throws the whole look off, it's like a 50's kitchen appliance. some kind of angular shape is need there and no reflective surfaces at all....

  15. I would hold off by Seizurebleak · · Score: 1

    Until the iYacht 2 comes out next year...

    1. Re:I would hold off by SternisheFan · · Score: 1

      Until the iYacht 2 comes out next year...

      ...and of course you'll need the proprietary 'dock' connector. (ducks)

  16. Seaworthy? by PPH · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Big panels of vertical glass. What happens when one of them takes a good sized wave?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:Seaworthy? by Pseudonym · · Score: 2

      Nothing, since they're 100% guaranteed scratch-resistant.

      --
      sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
    2. Re:Seaworthy? by OhANameWhatName · · Score: 5, Funny

      What happens when one of them takes a good sized wave?

      It's important to hold the ship at the correct angle to the wave.

    3. Re:Seaworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Just tell the waves not to hit the boat that way.

    4. Re:Seaworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      wait, WHAT?!? are you saying it has WINDOWS?!?

    5. Re:Seaworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Strange. I thought Jobs hated windows?

    6. Re:Seaworthy? by ArcadeNut · · Score: 1

      Maybe that's Transparent Aluminum!

      --
      Visit the Arcade Restoration Workshop @ http://www.arcaderestoration.com
    7. Re:Seaworthy? by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      Won't happen, this thing will never leave the dock except when clear conditions exist for hundreds of miles, and even then its unlikely to leave harbor except when being transferred to a different harbor.

      This thing is a fabulously expensive party barge.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    8. Re:Seaworthy? by PPH · · Score: 1

      The wealthy owners of these yachts expect them to appear in all of the party spots around the globe. They don't skipper them themselves*. They have a crew to do it. Nevertheless, having the thing sunk by a rogue wave traveling between the Mediterranean and the Caribbean isn't acceptable.

      *They probably fly in and meet the boat just offshore. Where they can stand at the flying bridge with martini in hand while the actual skipper is at the real controls in the wheelhouse. It makes for a great entry into the Monaco harbor.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
  17. and major parts are bolted in by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    and major parts are bolted in so when they fail you need to replace the full boat.

    1. Re:and major parts are bolted in by guttentag · · Score: 1

      I hear iFixIt is already working on reverse engineering the special septalobe bolts to solve this problem.

  18. Surprisingly Ugly by swillden · · Score: 1

    I expected more flowing lines not something so... blocky. To each his own, I suppose. I still wouldn't turn it down if someone offered it to me, of course :-). I love boats, and something like that would be fantastic. Not that I could afford even the slip fees, much less to start the engines.

    --
    Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
    1. Re:Surprisingly Ugly by PPH · · Score: 2

      If you want sleek and minimalist, take a look at Wally Yachts. Personally, I prefer the ones with the big stick in the middle with those cloth things hanging from it.

      --
      Have gnu, will travel.
    2. Re:Surprisingly Ugly by flyingfsck · · Score: 1

      It doesn't even have rounded corners.

      --
      Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    3. Re:Surprisingly Ugly by aXis100 · · Score: 2

      Fark....the Wally//118 is 12 kinds of awesome!!

      Would have suited apple's style much better than the hideous monstrosity they have now.

    4. Re:Surprisingly Ugly by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      Don't for get what the folks in Maine can do:
      http://www.hodgdonyachts.com/scheherazade.shtml

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  19. Jobs' Yacht Released by Stephen+Gilbert · · Score: 5, Funny

    No sails. Less space than an aircraft carrier. Lame.

    1. Re:Jobs' Yacht Released by lexman098 · · Score: 1

      Less space than an aircraft carrier. Lame.

      Yet it costs just as much.

  20. iBox by Gription · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Minimalist?

    I barely want it to float. I've seen many beautiful ships. There is nothing on that that has any grace to it.

    1. Re:iBox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Minimalist? I barely want it to float. I've seen many beautiful ships. There is nothing on that that has any grace to it.

      I know what you mean. And i wonder if the Worm-Food Formerly Known As Jobs was yelling and screaming at the shipyard workers, telling them how worthless they are etc.

      He was pretty damned abusive to the ppl who helped make him his fortune. i bet he was even worse when he is the customer.

      Sorry fanbois but i won't gloss over his emotional abuse just because his company makes good products. Abuse is still wrong. Good products don't just cancel it out. If we are gonna make some monument of the man and his life and every detail of it then let's be honest and tell the whole truth and not just be hypocritical bastards who pick and choose only the parts that support our fanbois.

    2. Re:iBox by Garridan · · Score: 5, Funny

      Worthless? Didn't you look at the pictures at the end of the article? It seems that the craftspeople who worked on the ship got an iPod shuffle each! That's a $50 value! Hardly worthless.

    3. Re:iBox by asmkm22 · · Score: 1

      They got a thank you note as well!

    4. Re:iBox by sa1lnr · · Score: 1

      Yea, a little square printout says it all.

    5. Re:iBox by ByOhTek · · Score: 2

      Barely? I'd rather pull a titanic.

      What happened to all the smooth, rounded edges jobs loved so much? That would have been a great place for them.

      --
      Self proclaimed typo king, and inventor of the bear destroying coffee table (patent not pending).
    6. Re:iBox by StripedCow · · Score: 4, Funny

      And the Chinese galley slaves received a promise for better working conditions. Also very generous!

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    7. Re:iBox by crazyjj · · Score: 1

      It seems that the craftspeople who worked on the ship got an iPod shuffle each!

      Wow, I thought that was a joke until I looked at the pictures. You think the cheap bastard could have at least sprang for a regular iPod.

      --
      What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
    8. Re:iBox by pugugly · · Score: 1

      On some level I'm just glad it's not just me.
      I feel sorry for the poor thing - it evokes one of those people that have been told they're gorgeous all their life and are just . . . average.
      Don't tell it I said that though - that'd be mean.

      Pug

      --
      An Invisible Entity of Vast Power whose existence must be taken on faith alone: Liberal Media
  21. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by aXis100 · · Score: 1

    No big deal, just get them conformally coated.

  22. Re:iSnored? by ozmanjusri · · Score: 4, Funny

    And they named her Venus.

    They probably didn't realise "The Good Ship Venus" had a fair bit of prior art. I wonder who they'll sue for that?

    --
    "I've got more toys than Teruhisa Kitahara."
  23. Re:Grow up by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I tend to agree with you.

    It in fact has graceful and classic lines reminiscent of the Art Deco movement of the 1920's.

    But seriously, did you expect anything else but childish nonsense on Slashdot about Apple?

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  24. I don't mind it... by xQx · · Score: 4, Funny

    Sleek and mirrory with floor to ceiling windows... until you see the wheelhouse. Seriously, WTF?!

    It looks like Steve Jobs took the designs of the black ship that Zaphod Beeblebrox stole from the restaurant at the end of the universe, built it in white, then jammed a old corrugated iron shack on the top for a wheelhouse!

    1. Re:I don't mind it... by SomePgmr · · Score: 2

      Yeah it got a little wonky up top. And the shiny bit up front is annoying, though I guess it'll disappear on the water.

      I get the feeling they were aiming for old school minimalism... I pictured something like the Farnsworth House.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Farnsworth_House_2006.jpg

    2. Re:I don't mind it... by Dahamma · · Score: 2

      Seriously, the wheelhouse looks like the Microsoft store takeoff of an Apple store.

    3. Re:I don't mind it... by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      You're forgetting those cold winter nights. No sun at night to get a greenhouse effect from, and windows have terrible insulation qualities (new ones aren't nearly as bad, but this house was probably made decades ago when windows were utter shit from an insulation point-of-view, and not much better than just having an open hole in the side of the house).

    4. Re:I don't mind it... by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Compared to crappy old single-pane windows, sure. Compared to actual walls with insulation in them? Not so well.

      And I don't know how old this house is, but I'm betting it predates double-pane windows.

    5. Re:I don't mind it... by DarkOx · · Score: 1

      Well it was designed as a summer home, so that probably was of little consideration. Insulation in a late 40's (before air conditioning was common even for the wealthy) structure not designed to be occupied in winter would not have been much of a factor in energy efficiency or comfort.

      --
      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
    6. Re:I don't mind it... by Hognoxious · · Score: 2

      Oddly, if you put another window just inside the other it insulates more than twice as well as one window alone.

      Somebody should patent that.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    7. Re:I don't mind it... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Oddly, if you put another window just inside the other it insulates more than twice as well as one window alone.

      One "standard" pane is R=1, double-pane is R=1.7 or so. Infrared passes handily through glass. UV doesn't, mostly. Filling the interstitial space with nitrogen gets you close to R=2 and adds maintenance costs. Partial evacuation will get you higher, but costs still more to maintain. None of which would be a problem for the Jobs, who had more money than he knew what to do with.

      I would presume that they would use multiple layers of glass and plastic to get a combination of insulative value, impact resistance, and scratch resistant. At the risk of sounding cheeky, I imagine it would involve Gorilla glass or similar...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    8. Re:I don't mind it... by Grishnakh · · Score: 1

      Filling the interstitial space with nitrogen gets you close to R=2 and adds maintenance costs.

      And there's also triple-pane windows out there, but those are probably well within the single-digit R-values as well. Meanwhile, a good old-fashioned wall made of timber frame and fiberglass insulation can have an R-value of over 13, and that's with some mediocre insulation. There's better insulation out there, and building with 2x6 studs gets you thicker walls that you can stuff more insulation into for a higher overall R-value.

    9. Re:I don't mind it... by fatphil · · Score: 1

      Even more like Villa Savoye in France: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_Savoye
      A major difference is that Villa Savoye looks easier to steer.

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
  25. Re:The "she" thing.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    This is a longstanding nautical tradition, so...yes. Yes you are.

  26. Buddhist by EnsilZah · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'd have thought a Buddhist would strive to be unencumbered by such monuments to worldly wealth.
    But then, I might not be well enough informed.

  27. It's a shame? by AntiBasic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    How is it a shame that a cruel, lying, megalomaniac who disavowed his daughter's existence for nearly 20 years didn't get to out on his yacht?

    1. Re:It's a shame? by Swampash · · Score: 2

      To think that you had that line carefully crafted in your mind, honed to a mirrorlike snark, ready to inspire flailing uncoordinated nerd high-fives from all who would read it, only to fumble it in the end zone by making a brain-dead syntactical fuckup that rendered the entire post nonsensical.

    2. Re:It's a shame? by houghi · · Score: 1

      Because going out on this thing is punishment.

      --
      Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
  28. Hideous by collet · · Score: 1

    I have never seen a boat/yacht/ship more ugly than this thing...

  29. iMacs? by PPH · · Score: 2

    I hate to be a nit-picker, but are those iMac monitors daylight readable?

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
    1. Re:iMacs? by windwalkr · · Score: 1

      Brighter than the sun. I wish you could turn them down without ruining the contrast.

  30. iFugly by flyingfsck · · Score: 2

    Damn, what a horrid yacht. It looks like a 1920s steam ferry.

    --
    Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
    1. Re:iFugly by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1

      I think Jabba's "pleasure barge" in "Return of the Jedi" was nicer than this thing.

      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:iFugly by DerekLyons · · Score: 1

      Done right, there's nothing wrong with that look... but this wasn't done right.

  31. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by timeOday · · Score: 1

    I don't think they can run without ventilation.

  32. Floating Apple Store by guttentag · · Score: 1

    The combination of aluminum and seamless glass walls makes it look like a floating Apple store... With an iPad on top and an iPad mini on top of that (because Steve always needed one more thing). On one of the of the iPad-like floors there's a black spot about where the headphone jack would be, except it's on the wrong side.

    Perhaps the 7 iMacs are for navigation and control -- clustered to run a custom version of Siri without a connection to the data center. This way he could steer the thing, ask for the weather report and open the glass bay doors using only voice commands.

    Steve: "Siri, open the iPod bay doors."
    Siri: "Insanely great. It's been a long time. Can you explain the removal of your user account on October 5th, 2011?"

  33. a thing of beauty? by macbeth66 · · Score: 5, Informative

    As much as I dislike Apple, the company, they do have some smart looking gadgets. And they owe a lot of that to Steven Jobs, I'm sure. But that thing looks like the Staten Island Ferry. A nice one, but a ferry none the less.

    I just went to Google, typed in yachts and hit image. There were some truly beautiful boats; sail and powered. Steve Jobs was NO boat designer.

    1. Re:a thing of beauty? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      And they owe a lot of that to Steven Jobs, I'm sure.

      Frankly, I'd say that this abomination is the ultimate in proof of my own personal long term belief that Apple owes it's designs to 99.99% other people, and 0.01% Steve Jobs saying "Yes", "No" and "Buy that one" when he sees a company with something he can use.

    2. Re:a thing of beauty? by donweel · · Score: 2

      Agreed. I have recently spent about two years in a shipyard restoring an antique wooden boat. I have seen a lot of people throwing truckloads of money at something they thought up. I have come to call them barn jobs they always look like something built in a barn. A truly fine vessel has a pedigree. A known designer, built in a known shipyard, will always have worth, and be a thing of beauty. He could of just paid these guys and described what he wanted and ended up with something nice.

      --
      Many a long talk since then I have had with the man in the moon; he had my confidence on the voyage. Joshua Slocum
    3. Re:a thing of beauty? by mrvan · · Score: 1

      I completely agree that the thing looks hideous and I hope they sail it away from the Netherlands as soon as possible.

      However, (1) the shipyard does have a long and rich history http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_De_Vries. You don't get the "royal" prefix by bribing the Queen, you get it by existing at least 100 years and having a distinguished record. For example, the "Royal" warehouse KBB (Bijenkorf) lost its prefix when it was acquired by a hedge fund.

      (2) according to wikipedia they are actually the same guys behind the feadship you quoted

      So, I am guessing that the ugliness is at the specific desire of the guy who ordered it...

    4. Re:a thing of beauty? by walter_f · · Score: 1

      But that thing looks like the Staten Island Ferry. A nice one, but a ferry none the less.

      I just went to Google, typed in yachts and hit image. There were some truly beautiful boats; sail and powered. Steve Jobs was NO boat designer.

      Philippe Starck isn't, either.

      The stern of the vessel has obviously been designed with later alternative purpose use in mind.

      So she might end up as a luxury ferry boat delivering services exclusively for owners of eight and twelve cylinder cars (Bugattis, Porsches, Bentleys, Lamborghinis, you name it) between some of the most fashionable sea side locations of the world, such as Hyannis Port and Biarritz were in their days.

      Maybe one of the princes in the Persian Gulf area wants to run a ferry between Dubai and Kuwait, who knows? Just cut a wide enough opening into the stern of the hull, Philippe Starck will again be pleased to help with the aestetics, I am sure.

      The thing is dead ugly.

    5. Re:a thing of beauty? by bobbagum · · Score: 1

      But the thing is a Feadship, Feadship is a bunch of shipbuilders Royal de Vries is a member of Feadship

    6. Re:a thing of beauty? by upside · · Score: 1

      Then you probably came across the h2ome yacht.

      Same old story: find a design, pare it down, make it white, call it your own.

      --
      I'm sorry if I haven't offended anyone
  34. That looks like... by Edis+Krad · · Score: 2

    ....the first floating Apple Store.

  35. Re:The "she" thing.... by macbeth66 · · Score: 2

    Not at all. When men went to sea, the boat they were on, nurtured them and kept them safe from harm and alive.

    When men aren't being stupid, they know women are the stronger sex. It is women they lean on when they are afraid. It seems only natural to think of that boat beneath their feet as a woman.

  36. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by Almost-Retired · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ocean air is not the only corrosion to worry about. I've no clue what they intend to use to protect the alu hull with.

    Story time folks, been told before but there may be new readers here.

    In '59, I had the pleasure of being a bench tech, at a little place on Mission Bay called Oceanographic Engineering, helping to assemble the electronics for the 2 cameras that were mounted on the Trieste when it went down onto the mohole in the Pacific a few months later. The Navy had come in and bought the first 2 we made but instead of the cases we were going to use for towing them thru sewers to inspect the sewers, they gave us specs for a bronze case, with quartz windows they supplied. Designed to withstand about 25 kpsi, its 17 or 18 kpsi in the mohole. But they wanted to play a bit before the real show and asked us to make the first one out of 7078-T6 alu. It took us about 6 weeks to get a lathe that big AND accurate setup and we made the first case out of a 6" diameter alu rod about 2 feet long. Fixed it up with all the packing glands it would need. They picked up the whole kit on a smallish cruiser, 65' for so and took it out about 50 miles to give it a dunk test. We had sent it out and had the heaviest cad plate we could get put on it. They brought it back the next day and having been scratched by rolling around on the deck deep enough to penetrate the plating, and in one days time over the side and down about a thousand feet, those scratches came back to us 1/2" wide and an inch deep, just from being in the sea water for about 12 hours.

    Needless to say, the real cases for the Trieste trip were cut from some special bronze that started out nearly 8" in diameter. The camera itself was 2.5" in diameter, so we bored a 3" hole for it in the bronze and padded it with weather stripping to hold it centered in the hole. Those 2 cameras, a rounded box with some relays in it to turn the stuff around and switch the lights, and the gondola of the Trieste were all that was pressure sealed, everything else was running at the ambient pressure which was considerable. Except for chewing thru the rubber diaphram separating the sea water from the oil in the pan & tilts for one of the cameras, that trip down with Picard and Walsh, it all worked. The P&T wasn't disabled & still worked when they came back up. With some very interesting pix I got to see a few of.

    And Steve had it made with an ALU hull? 'scuse me, but... I predict it will spend a lot of time in dry-dock, getting patched. It likely won't last much longer than I will since I have a 78 year head start on it.

    Cheers, Gene

  37. Nice looking yacht, but... by MindlessAutomata · · Score: 1

    It's a nice-looking yacht, to say the least, but it just doesn't offer the kind of functionality you'd expect in a full-fledged modern yacht, especially one for the yachting enthusiast. Really, it's like a large-scale Fischer-Price yacht, to tell the truth.

  38. All-Caps Comic Sans thank you note... ironic much? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    So incredibly funny that the family gave the ship builders ipod shuffles with thank you notes written in all-caps comic sans for building the thing. Everything in the article details it as incredibly well designed, sleek, and minimalist for the king of design... and then they give that note.. words cannot express how ironic and hilarious that is. And seriously... a shuffle? That looks like a > $100 million yacht.. they couldn't spring for normal ipods?

    Btw.. the pic of the note is in the linked article.

  39. Re:How Cheap of them by Score+Whore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I think they gave them one of those one things. You know. Those things. What're they called? It's right here on the tip of my tongue. I hate it when this happens. One of those one things. Ah-ha! I got it: a paycheck.

    The card the the iPod are just thank you's. Going above and beyond. Ya putz.

  40. Re:iSnored? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You mean this?...

    It was on the good ship Venus
    By Christ, ya shoulda seen us
    The figurehead was a whore in bed
    And the mast, a mammoth penis

    The Captain of this lugger
    He was a dirty bugger
    He wasn't fit to shovel shit
    From one place to another

    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    There was fuck all else to do

    Captain's name was Morgan
    By Christ, he was a gorgon
    Ten times a day sweet tunes he'd play
    With his fuckin' organ

    The first mate's name was Cooper
    By Christ, he was a trooper
    He jerked and jerked until he worked
    Himself into a stupor

    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    There was fuck all else to do

    The second mate was Andy
    By Christ, he had a dandy
    Till they crushed his cock on a jagged rock
    For cumming in the brandy

    The cabin boy was Flipper
    He was a fuckin' nipper
    He stuffed his ass with broken glass
    And circumcised the skipper

    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    There was fuck all else to do

    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    There was fuck all else to do

    The Captain's wife was Mabel
    To fuck, she wasn't able
    So the dirty shits, they nailed her tits
    Across the barroom table

    The Captain had a daughter
    Who fell in deep sea water
    And by her squeals we knew the eels
    Had found her sexual quarters

    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    There was fuck all else to do

    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    There was fuck all else to do

    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    Friggin' in the riggin'
    There was fuck all else to do ...

  41. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by Hadlock · · Score: 2

    I'm sure there's triple redundant navigation systems onboard. While the custom iMac thing is flashy, a backup Garmin or similar commercial system is only going to add $40-60,000 to the cost of the boat. The bridge (as well as the rest of the boat) is likely climate controlled (my friend's $15,000 sailboat is, at least) and corrosion is going to be pretty minimal over the 20 year lifespan of this boat (megayachts seem to have a pretty short lifespan for whatever reason; styles change).

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
  42. I just bet by OhANameWhatName · · Score: 2

    That the bridge has a 13 foot wide white surface with one silver coloured ball in the middle of it .. and no other instrumentation :)

  43. OMG is that thing hideous! by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 1

    I guess Samsung must own the patents on round-corners on a ship? Good luck selling that monstrosity. I don't think I've ever seen an ugly luxury yacht before. Consider this another pioneering achievement by Jobs. Blech!

    --
    I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
  44. Meh. by I_say · · Score: 1

    Even if I had all the money in the world, I wouldn't buy that boat. Instead, I'd hire people to figure out how one man can have "all the money in the world."

  45. Re:whoa, that's ugly by arsemonkey · · Score: 1

    Looks worse than a Hunter to me,, I was on a 40 and a 54 years ago,, they did not have scary glass like this thing does. Bet whomever takes it back to the states brings a shitload of plywood just in case.

  46. Looks like a house boat. by VidEdit · · Score: 1

    That flat blocky thing doesn't look like a seaworthy ship it looks like an overpriced houseboat, perfect for mooring in the San Francisco Bay, or, perhaps, the Mediterranean. It seems like another example of Steve Jobs letting aesthetics (ugly aesthetics, in this case) take precedence over function.

    --
    1. Re:Looks like a house boat. by Whiteox · · Score: 1

      Yeah. I think it is meant to be permanently moored. Those portholes are very low. Lots of accomodation at the front and hardly any avionics - no chair to sit on either. It all adds up to fancy houseboat.

      --
      Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
  47. Phillipe Starck by GrahamCox · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Starck is the very embodiment of style over substance. His products often look kinda striking or eye-catching, but they function incredibly poorly. The man is a charlatan who threw out the first rule of design: form follows function. A great artist might just about be able to get away with that, but the only person who puts Starck in that category is Starck.

    He's no genius, just an egomaniac with the ability to fool a surprising number of people at least some of the time.

    I wouldn't be surprised if this thing is sunk in the first rough seas it encounters, if its design is anything like as poor as his laughable lemon squeezer.

    1. Re:Phillipe Starck by ApplePy · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This Starck character appears to be the nautical version of the famed "architect" Daniel Libeskind. Libeskind designs art museums without vertical walls upon which to hang art.

      Charlatan is the right word, sir. But perhaps a little lacking. Charlatans designed the emperor's new clothes. I think this class of people -- Libeskind, Christo, and a few handfuls of others -- have elevated the art of charlatanry to new heights. I can't help but wonder if their "designs" are tongue-in-cheek commentary on the vulgar tastes of a bourgeoisie who seem only too happy to embrace having their faces spat upon. The working stiffs know it's ugly and awful. Only the upwardly-mobile pretend to like having poo flung at them.

      --
      That I'm right, and you don't like it, doesn't mean I'm a troll.
    2. Re:Phillipe Starck by mjwx · · Score: 1

      Starck is the very embodiment of style over substance. His products often look kinda striking or eye-catching, but they function incredibly poorly. The man is a charlatan who threw out the first rule of design: form follows function. A great artist might just about be able to get away with that,

      No wonder he got on so well with Jobs.

      Every iDevice in existence values style over substance.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    3. Re:Phillipe Starck by Overzeetop · · Score: 1

      Well, this one is truly a swing and a miss on both fronts, presuming that it performs poorly. It is very possibly the ugliest yacht I've ever seen. It wouldn't even make for a nice looking house. And it's lousy as sculpture.

      --
      Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
    4. Re:Phillipe Starck by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      So basically, it's the ultimate irony that this guy built a ship for someone like Jobs, who has seemed content doing the same thing to his pretentious customers for the past decade+.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
  48. Is this a good design? by Kwyj1b0 · · Score: 2

    Can someone knowledgeable about boats and yachts tell me if it that is a good design for a yacht? I only know what I see on TV/movies/web/Bay area, so while I don't consider it as aesthetically pleasing as others I've seen (okay, I find in almost ugly), I would like to know if there is some sort of functional/minimalistic reason why that is a great boat (I don't "understand" most modern art either, so I'm curious if this is something along those lines that a trained designer might appreciate).

    1. Re:Is this a good design? by Centurix · · Score: 4, Informative

      I've built a few smaller boats with family, I have boat and ship builders and designers in my family and I can pretty much say they will complain about the shape of the bow for sure. A straight bow (or a plumb) is terrible for rough seas as it tends to pull down into oncoming waves. As for the flat chines, let's hope there's a decent stabiliser in the hull otherwise that's going to be one vomit inducing ride. As I can't see the total draft it doesn't show any tech below the water line. There maybe external stabilisers a couple of meters below the freeboard.

      I'm not a big fan of the high transom, I can understand the amount of stress that happens in that area, but from what I can tell, the structure shown seems to indicate a drawbridge extending out of the back so there must be a fair bit of reinforcement behind all that sheet metal to deal with the torque.

      To be honest, it looks more like a river cruiser than a blue water international cruiser. Maybe he intended it to drift around a local lake?

      --
      Task Mangler
  49. Not even close. by DerekLyons · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Regardless of what may happen to her, she sure is a beauty."

    No she isn't, she's hideous - a barge with a couple of boxes and some cardboard on top. Worse yet, with that straight bow and huge expanses of glass in the forepeak... she's not designed to keep the sea either. (And what kind of moron puts passenger spaces in the fo'c'sle anyhow? Other than a bunk slung between the mains, that's the worst part of the ship.)

    She's obviously designed for nothing more than staying in calm waters or moored to impress the impressionable - an as a sailor, I say that's a abomination.

    1. Re:Not even close. by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 2

      Well, that's what you get when a man with expertise in one area thinks that his expertise applies in unrelated areas. How many times did Steve Jobs get contradicted by his employees during his CEO-ship? That sort of thing becomes a habit. It's called "hubris". Marine architecture is a field unto itself. It has nothing to do with any other field, including building architecture.

      I've seen plenty of million-dollar yachts, and that one does look pretty ugly. They're all nice on the inside, of course, and every party I've been to has been while moored at the dock.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    2. Re:Not even close. by chihowa · · Score: 1

      (And what kind of moron puts passenger spaces in the fo'c'sle anyhow? Other than a bunk slung between the mains, that's the worst part of the ship.)

      Someone who has to take his mother in law to sea.

      Oh yeah, because the only thing more fun than being stuck at sea with your mother-in-law is being stuck at sea with your seasick and unhappy mother-in-law! That sounds like a treat!

      --
      If you want a vision of the future, imagine a youtube comments section scrolling - forever.
  50. Not a yacht... by WGFCrafty · · Score: 2

    but I always thought the Astoria perfectly reflects Gilmours more laid back persona.

  51. Meh, not thin enough. by Arancaytar · · Score: 1

    Also, corners not rounded.

  52. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by dbIII · · Score: 2

    Maybe it's been fitted with great big lumps of magnesium to corrode in preference. It's going to be softer stuff than the 7078 and less likely to get such large corrosion cells within the actual material (up to 6% zinc in the 7078 so you could probably almost run a light bulb between areas of the zinc rich phase and the rest in salt water).
    On the other hand, maybe it's not really meant to last, the old tax dodge was to use luxury yachts as a way to transfer money from one country to another by building something stupidly expensive and selling it in a year or two at cost or a slight loss in a different country. I don't know if that loophole is still open in any countries.

  53. Where can it dock? by ExploHD · · Score: 5, Funny

    Too bad it needs a proprietary port

  54. Re:Grow up by Maxo-Texas · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I'm a huge fan of art deco.

    That boat is not art deco.

    It's kind of blocky like the Victory Monument in Bolzano, northern Italy which an example of fascist art style.

    And it kind of reminds me of the wells fargo plaza which is an example of the brutalist style except it's made from aluminum instead of concrete. The wiki says that brutalist examples are typically very linear, fortresslike and blockish.

    Art deco was full of life, color, cool little design bits while also been clean and elegant.

    That monochromatic floating white iron has none of those qualities.

    --
    She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.
  55. Nice looking?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Yeah it looks positively beautiful. When compared with a pile of steaming dog shit smeared into your living room carpet.

  56. iDon'tLikeit by Pepebuho · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It looks ugly, it does not look like a seafaring vessel, but I may be mistaken. Ugly lines

    1. Re:iDon'tLikeit by Frederico+Camara · · Score: 1

      I think it's the second uglyest yatch in the whole world. I've never seen or known of any yatch uglyer than this, but the world is big, you know, so this one must be the second.

  57. Re:Imagine if this were Mitt Romney by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Jobs cofounded a company that built useful things, occupied a position of influence in its industry, made many employees and stockholders wealthy, and satisfied many customers.

    Romney did what for his money, again?

  58. Re:iSnored? by _Shad0w_ · · Score: 1

    The Sex Pistols version almost certainly is.

    --

    Yeah, I had a sig once; I got bored of it.

  59. only one hull ? by swell · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Try as I might with these poor images, I can find only one hull. So many elegant multihull designs in recent decades and he has chosen a barge. It's not just speed that he's sacrificed, it's comfort, safety, fuel efficiency, ability to approach shallow water and, as so many have noticed, class.

    --
    ...omphaloskepsis often...
  60. Navy uses aluminum hulls? by perpenso · · Score: 2

    Aren't various warships using aluminum hulls? Perhaps there is a better alloy?

    1. Re:Navy uses aluminum hulls? by Razgorov+Prikazka · · Score: 1

      I find it surprising that they used aluminum. The ship is build in Yurp, and usually the Yupeens use the far more superior 'aloy' (as you call it) aluminium...

      --
      rm -rf --no-preserve-root / ...and let /dev/null sort them out...
  61. Re:iSnored? by brindafella · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I've sung "The Good Ship Venus" a few times, myself.

    'Venus' is a head-turner/head-scratcher in the same way a person always looks at a Yorkshire Terrier doing #2 and wonders how it doesn't have its backside matted with dung.

    1. It just does not look like it will be a good "sea-keeper", even with a slight turn near the bow.

    2. The upright windows seem as though they will be hit bluntly by big seas, so must be quite strong.

    3. There does not appear to be a way to wipe/wash the bridge windows, but they must have thought of that, surely.....

    --
    Looking at space, radio, science and computing from a 'down-under' amateur enthusiast perspective.
  62. Re:Grow up by YesIAmAScript · · Score: 1

    To me, the hull looks brutalist, I would just call the rest of it modernist (and since brutalist is modernist too, that makes the whole thing modernist I guess).

    Just as an aside, whenever I read someone saying something is Art Deco I just pretty much always substitute in Bauhaus. For some reason people seem to forget the ornamentation of Art Deco and just remember the shapes of the metal, glass and concrete.

    --
    http://lkml.org/lkml/2005/8/20/95
  63. "He" thing, then? by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

    Russians like to refer to a boat or ship as "he"

    Does that make you feel better?

    lol

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
    1. Re:"He" thing, then? by ACS+Solver · · Score: 3, Informative

      Only korabl' (ship) is masculine. Yahta (yacht), lodka (boat) and several other words are feminine, and sudno (ship, synonym of kobabl' in common usage though not in nautical terminology) is neuter.

    2. Re:"He" thing, then? by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      Only korabl' (ship) is masculine. Yahta (yacht), lodka (boat) and several other words are feminine, and sudno (ship, synonym of kobabl' in common usage though not in nautical terminology) is neuter.

      Proof yet again of the pointlessness of gender in grammar, apart from referring to actual biological males or females.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    3. Re:"He" thing, then? by fyngyrz · · Score: 1

      Very interesting, thank you.

      Russian is hard. :)

      --
      I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  64. Re:The "she" thing.... by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

    Perhaps it's simpler than that. They loved women; they loved their ships. A backhanded complement to the ladies, methinks. Ever looked at figureheads? You'll find a lot of ladies, and generally very complementary artwork, too. Add that to the tendency to anthropomorphize things you depend upon, and... yep, seems pretty natural.

    Ladies on ships of old would have been bad luck, too -- fights over them, rape, etc. Your average sailor didn't tend to come from the most cultured of roots, and privation doesn't tend to enhance behavior, either.

    Just my opinion.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  65. Changing Styles by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

    megayachts seem to have a pretty short lifespan for whatever reason; styles change

    Oh, that won't be a problem here. That thing has no style.

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  66. I'm going to just say it by TheGratefulNet · · Score: 1

    I don't believe any one person deserves to be that rich.

    its disgusting and the disparity is just too great, these days.

    sorry, but its just disgusting. and I'm not at all referring to the stupid boat.

    --

    --
    "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
    1. Re:I'm going to just say it by tehcyder · · Score: 1

      I don't believe any one person deserves to be that rich.

      its disgusting and the disparity is just too great, these days.

      sorry, but its just disgusting. and I'm not at all referring to the stupid boat.

      Agreed. What you need to do is vote for people who will introduce serious progressive taxes, as in 90%+ over a certain amount ($1m a year or whatever). Then, the wealthiest will want to plough profits back into society rather than paying it out to themselves in order to buy ever more ridiculous penis substitute toys.

      And, no I don't really care about the impact of jobs on the $250m a go luxury yacht industry. They can find something more useful to do with their skills instead.

      --
      To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
    2. Re:I'm going to just say it by kaatochacha · · Score: 1

      Or, the wealthy would take their ball and go home. Or pay a tax accountant to hide it all. By their nature,
      Some guy in a third world death zone is probably saying the same thing about you right now. Why should you have a car and a home, when he has a bucket and a broken bicycle?
      Would you bother working under those conditions? I certainly wouldn't. One could make the argument that they don't work for money, they work from their own drive. In that case, why not make the tax rate 100%?
      I would argue for balance. Some progressive increase, but don't be ridiculous.

  67. Jealous? Seriously? by fyngyrz · · Score: 2

    Dude, come on, just look!

    --
    I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
  68. Nice packaging by xs650 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Like most Apple iproducts the ibox it came in looks OK. When are they going to take the iyacht out of the box?

    1. Re:Nice packaging by aXis100 · · Score: 1

      I lolled :)

  69. Re:The "she" thing.... by Samantha+Wright · · Score: 1

    That they did. Old English had a neuter gender, but was frequently in contact with Romance languages that didn't, and Old English used gender in peculiar and exciting ways on its own anyway. The US Navy's Naval History & Heritage Command has a trivia page that corroborates the assumption that the ship is seen as something that is nurturing, but to be honest we can't say either way—for the most part, the origins of particular grammatical gender assignments are very ancient, and full of eccentricities we cannot hope to fathom.

    --
    Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
  70. Jobs' true design ability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That ship shows Jobs' true design ability. The Apple products show the designer's ability, for which Jobs took credit.

    1. Re:Jobs' true design ability by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I was actually going to say 'It looks exactly like the 'wheelhouse' build on American River College's Campus in Sacramento, Ca.

      Not sure if it's visible on google maps or via streetview or something, but it's basically smack dab in the center of the campus between the Library, Davies Hall, and the Math Department (Directly adjacent to the CS/Business dept.) It is just as much of an eyesore, and ended up being used for 'administrative purposes' rather than as much needed updated labspace like was originally proposed.

      Yay admins! They've been fucking over the educational institutions out here for years.

    2. Re:Jobs' true design ability by CAIMLAS · · Score: 1

      Indeed. This ship looks like something a 3rd grader might draw, or a floating California mansion, take your pick. It's all hard angles with no angular cohesion, and it's as dimensionally awkward as a Picasso painting.

      Basically, aside from the white, it's everything an Apple product isn't.

      --
      ~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
    3. Re:Jobs' true design ability by Amouth · · Score: 1

      it's as dimensionally awkward as a Picasso painting

      i would't insult Picasso by associating this with any of his work.

      --
      '...if only "Jumping to a Conclusion" was an event in the Olympics.'
  71. Boat design and pioneering by SpaghettiPattern · · Score: 1

    I can safely state that boat design is an ancient craft. Most stuff is already though of. There's no pioneering going in in that department. No easy, "minimalistic" tricks you can pull off like in designing note books or tablets. You have to stick to the designing but like a blood hound. Get inspiration, try out dozens of variations, chuck out most of them and repeating the process until perfection is nearly obtained. That clearly never happened here. Improving boat design requires much more dedication and hard work than, say, improving the design of the IBM ThinkPad.

    It seems that the modern hull is a wedge with a nearly flat bottom. Exactly like the images we see from the Venus. The structure performs well but is extremely dull. The structure on top of the hull is a testimony of poor imagination. The proportions just don't seem to match. Was the golden ratio respected at all?

    --

    I hadn't the slightest objection to his spending his time planning massacres for the bourgeoisie... (P.G. Wodehouse)
  72. Great... by northernfrights · · Score: 1

    It's a giant floating Apple store. Very creative...

  73. Yuck by Starfleet+Command · · Score: 1

    That thing is ugly, I would have thought he would have had a super sleek power yacht, not some 1930's throwback looking thing,

  74. That is exactly how I'd build a boat... by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 1

    ...out of Lego.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  75. Hideous by blind+biker · · Score: 1

    In bikeforums.net, there is a thread called "Jackass bikes", where people post pics of bicycles put together in the least practical and at the same time most aesthetically misguided ways. These bikes usually sport expensive components, some costing thousands of $s.

    Well, this boat belongs to that thread. Expensive, impractical for the stated purpose and ugly.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  76. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by blind+biker · · Score: 1

    In '59, I had the pleasure of being a bench tech, at a little place on Mission Bay called Oceanographic Engineering, helping to assemble the electronics for the 2 cameras that were mounted on the Trieste when it went down onto the mohole in the Pacific a few months later.

    You worked on the Trieste? F#ck, you're hardcore. I'm so jealous....

    Do you have a website/blog where you present some of your memories from that time?

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  77. Re:You aren't so good looking yourself by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's funny how children like you assign some kind of great validation to the act of sexual intercourse. It's as though you believe it to be some mystical thing that only happens to a select few of the chosen elite.

    This might be a huge shock to you, but it's not. Attractive, ugly, skinny, fat, young, old, smart, stupid, rich, poor, good, evil; it's extraordinarily easy to "get some" no matter who you are. That fact that you seem unaware of this is indicative of your own immaturity.

  78. Ugly by Alioth · · Score: 1

    Now I like Apple stuff, I like the aesthetics of Apple stuff but...

    my god is this boat ugly. It looks like a Frank Lloyd Wright designed house that floats, and Frank Lloyd Wright designed some of the most hideous buildings in the world.

  79. Re:iSnored? by Kupfernigk · · Score: 4, Insightful
    It's a strange combination. The topsides (above waterline hull) looks like a WW1 cruiser, only fatter and with a much higher freeboard. The rest of it looks like a Bauhaus bus shelter. It looks as if it should suffer quite badly from gusting due to the large surface exposed to wind and the lack of any tumblehome on the house, or overhang on the windows.

    It looks like a boat designed by two people who weren't actually interested in boats or why good ones look the way they do. Let's just hope for the crew's sake that a proper marine architect was engaged for all the bits below the waterline.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  80. Eurostyle power boats are yuck by Kupfernigk · · Score: 1

    If there is anything which is an aesthetic offence on the water, it is the Eurostyle powerboat. By the 1930s, with the exception of some aspects of underwater design, pretty much everything was known about how to design a power boat. My wife's grandfather was an officer on the Cutty Sark, which was an early 20th century sailing ship, and already they had composite construction and remarkably good performance. The use of alumin(i)um post WW2 has made quite a difference to boat design, but not always for the better (it doesn't lend itself to the same fair curves as plank construction). So "Throwback to the 30's"? Hardly. It looks more like a post-WW2 German river cruiser.

    --
    From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
  81. Re:Imperial Star Destroyer? by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 1

    Actually, the first thing that came to my mind was "looks like one of those new stealth frigates or destroyers". Perhaps if Jobs were still alive, he could pick up movie actresses with it. "Hey, baby, you like to check my new star destroyer, nudge nudge, wink wink?" ;-)

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
  82. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by hairyfish · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ocean air is not the only corrosion to worry about. I've no clue what they intend to use to protect the alu hull with....

    Wow, for someone with such experience you seem to not know much about boats. Aluminium is quite a common material to make boats with, just google "aluminium boat" if you need more info.

  83. This just confirms it. by ericloewe · · Score: 1

    It's official: Steve Jobs had an unhealthy obsession with aluminum. And glass.

  84. wally power by andydread · · Score: 1

    I prefer this. I expected something like this. 3 turbine engines. Not that ugly thing above.

  85. Re:The "she" thing.... by Swampash · · Score: 1

    Ships are male in German, and Russian too IIRC.

  86. Wow. by prefec2 · · Score: 1

    I have never seen a yacht that ugly in my live. It is breathtaking. True. But in the opposite direction. We should paint on it "Sink different!"

  87. Indeed, WinTel was a blessing not a curse by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It ain't just Steve Jobs/Apple, had the PC become owned by IBM, Atari, Commodore and god knows who else (japan had its own eco-structure and it becomes more and more obvious as the world gets smaller that back then every country had their own home computer brand), IT would have looked very different. ALL those companies were about owning the entire market, from the computers themselves (go buy a Commodore from Compaq) to the storage media, the joysticks EVERYTHING.

    It is thanks to Compaq, MS and Intel (and the "failures" of the rest) that we got this accidentally remarkably open platform. Apple sold expensive PC's, thanks to Compaq creation of the IBM-compatible, we got cheap PC's and thanks to those who cloned Compaq's we got EVEN cheaper PC's. Some might point out the Apple Mini but Apple would NEVER have produced that IF they didn't have to because of cheap PC's. Proof? Apple didn't produce them when there weren't any cheap PC's. That is why Apple almost went bust the first time around.

    Thanks to MS we got an OS that would work ACROSS cpu's... yes i know AMD and Intel both made X86 but if you think that makes them automatically fully compatible in all but their most base modes, you are a silly person. And this gave buyers, a CHOICE. Apple/Atari/IBM never gave you a choice. You buy what they choose to sell you. Intel thought 33mhz was enough for the 386(if I remember correctly) and AMD made a 40mhz version and people could choose. Could choose NOT to buy IBM or Dell or Compaq and roll their own.

    It all happened by accident and thank god for it, wintel was/isn;t perfect but we narrowly avoided situations that would have been far far worse.

    But that doesn't mean we are saved. The openess and freedom of the PC and internet might have come around by accident but that doesn't mean it can change.

    Bootcamp, was that introduced because Apple wanted you to be able to use the OS of your choice or because they knew that if people couldn't run Windows on a Mac, they would sell fewer Mac's? I seen an amazing amount of Macbooks with the Aero design on the desktop.

    Closed architectures are not just limited to niche attempts like Linux. If a mono-culture exists, control becomes easy. The US is rather famous for NOT having state censorship for TV such as England has. Instead, the TV broadcasters "choose" to censor themselves and no politician has to stand up and say"I want to limit free speech" but can "think of the children" thanks to self-censorship.

    There have been countless stories of mega-stores in the US censoring products. Walmart censoring music CD's, App store refusing to carry apps. This doesn't matter, as long as a free alternative exist, the internet in general. But as AOL has shown and MS network and countless other attempts, there is a constant push to create walled gardens. And a walled garden isn't that bad, as long as you can get out with relative ease but nobody builds a walled garden with the idea that people should be able to get out easily.

    When mega-stores are the only places to shop, their control becomes extremely risky to a free society. And with the app-store, Apple and Steve Jobs have given everyone who values real freedom a frightening look at how IT could have turned out if Jobs had sold cheaper PC's.

    Jobs has the most depressing eulogy you could think off: "Thank god the man was a failure at the most critical time". And we can only pray that it remains true because if the app-store walled garden approach succeeds in W8 new app-store, the PC environment as we know it, is doomed.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

    1. Re:Indeed, WinTel was a blessing not a curse by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      The accident that made the open PC industry possible was that IBM copyrighted their BIOS code of the original IBM-PC but forgot to patent the BIOS concept itself which allowed Compaq to build computers with its own implementation of a IBM-PC-compatible BIOS.

    2. Re:Indeed, WinTel was a blessing not a curse by T.E.D. · · Score: 1

      It is thanks to Compaq, MS and Intel (and the "failures" of the rest) that we got this accidentally remarkably open platform.

      That depends on your definition of "accident". You are right that it was mostly an accident that the PC became a fairly open platform. However, it was no accident at all that the more open platform then kicked everybody else's asses in sales. Macs and Amigas were far better machines for years, but they got steamrolled by the open PC platform. They could never compete on price with hundreds if not thousands of different hungry PC vendors, and eventually they got beat on features too.

      The more open platform almost always wins.

    3. Re:Indeed, WinTel was a blessing not a curse by tlhIngan · · Score: 2

      The accident that made the open PC industry possible was that IBM copyrighted their BIOS code of the original IBM-PC but forgot to patent the BIOS concept itself which allowed Compaq to build computers with its own implementation of a IBM-PC-compatible BIOS.

      Incorrect.

      IBM actually was the king of vendor lock-in. The only problem was they needed a PC, stat, after pretty much ignoring the market and being content to sell mainframes. But they saw the winds of change and they weren't going to be the top guy anymore.

      So the IBM PC was created purely out of commonly available parts - something unheard of at IBM - just because they needed it out the door quickly. Why do you think they outsourced the OS to Microsoft? They needed one, quick. They wanted CP/M but Digital wasn't returning phone calls.

      If IBM had maybe a few more years, the results would've been much different (see PCjr and other IBM innovations including Micro Channel), and Microsoft would be but a minor player in development languages (as the IBM PC would run IBM's own developed OS).

      It also led to the mistake of letting Microsoft control the rights to DOS - instead of being IBM exclusive. Also a very unusual step for IBM at the time - probably either due to haste, or it was the only way Microsoft would let them have an OS (Gates was a very cunning businessman).

      Of course these days, given the cut-throat nature of the PC business and the very small margins, things have settled down a lot hardware wise and the race to the bottom has nearly completed (everything's sold on very tiny margins). Intel had to shake up the market by telling people that people are willing to spend more than $1k on a PC provided it offered some innovation over every other box at best buy. (Why do you think all the ultrabooks have screens that aren't 1366x768?)

    4. Re:Indeed, WinTel was a blessing not a curse by Kraeloc · · Score: 1

      "The US is rather famous for NOT having state censorship for TV such as England has." Ever heard of a little group called the FCC?

    5. Re:Indeed, WinTel was a blessing not a curse by fatphil · · Score: 1

      Digital were not returning calls because it was a wrong number. They should have called Digital Research instead,

      --
      Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863
  88. Design vs engineering by jandersen · · Score: 1

    Without knowing more about the vessel, if that is not too rich a word, I'd say that this is a perfect demonstration of why designers are not meant to be engineers. It's like some of these buildings that went up after the 60s, which won awards for their 'bold architecture' and 'innovative design', but which turned out to be instant slum, because they were not really made to be lived in.

  89. Not a yacht by Epeeist · · Score: 1

    In Britain this would be called a "gin palace", designed to be shown off in the harbours of Monaco and the south of France but rarely taken to sea except by ship delivery companies.

  90. Khetanna by porjo · · Score: 1

    Reminiscent of Jabba the Hutt's barge from ROTJ. "Bring me Solo and the Wookiee. They will all suffer for this outrage", LOL

  91. Re:iSnored? by atisss · · Score: 1

    You can take it to Shipyard(r) approved waters only. It's not meant for sea or ocean. And only if You hold the steering wheel correctly.

  92. Fugly. by Darth_brooks · · Score: 1

    Looks like someone chopped off the back 3rd of the USS Maine.

    --
    There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
  93. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by blind+biker · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Wow, for someone with such experience you seem to not know much about boats. Aluminium is quite a common material to make boats with, just google "aluminium boat" if you need more info.

    I am not the person you're replying to, but I did google for aluminum ships. This was the first hit in my list.
    Quoting the article:

    You can't make this stuff up: the Navy concedes the first vessel in its latest fleet of warships - the 18-month old USS Independence (not to be confused with the late aircraft carrier sporting the same name) - is suffering from "aggressive" corrosion.

    --
    "The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
  94. Re:Grow up by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    It in fact has graceful and classic lines reminiscent of the Art Deco movement of the 1920's.

    There really should be a "-1 factually incorrect" mod option on slashdot. That boat is nothing like art deco. You presumably just saw a picture of something art deco and white once and thought that anything white must be art deco.

    As other comments below say, it's more like some brutalist 60s creation.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  95. Re:iSnored? by kqc7011 · · Score: 2

    To me it looks like a yacht designed to stay in a harbor and entertain guests with a occasional flat water cruise. If it looked something like a Ulstein X-bow then we would know that it is a serious bad weather vessel.

    --
    Passionately Indifferent
  96. Re:The "she" thing.... by sFurbo · · Score: 1

    . For starters, women weren't even allowed aboard because (the belief was) they brought bad luck

    If you isolate a mostly male crew and keep them celibate for a few months, I can see how having a few women in the mix could bring ... bad luck. OK, so luck is not the correct term, but it would be bad for the women, the men and the vessel. Calling it bad luck would ensure that people followed the advice.

  97. Re:iSnored? by flyneye · · Score: 3, Funny

    Wash the bridge windows? Stand on the roof and pee on them.... Lager, rinse,repeat.

    --
    *Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
  98. Battery by vlm · · Score: 1

    I heard the engine room is welded shut, you know, to make it thinner, so if the starting battery needs replacement you have to buy a whole new boat.

    --
    "Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
  99. Re:It's beautiful by tehcyder · · Score: 1

    Contrary to what almost everyone else here thinks, I think it's a striking, beautiful design. And no, I'm not an Apple fanboi, I haven't owned a single Apple product in my life and I'm not particularly interested in them. But I can appreciate the design, or should I say architecture, of this yacht.

    You are, of course, entitled to your opinion, in the same way that you are at liberty to believe in a Flat Earth.

    --
    To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
  100. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by Almost-Retired · · Score: 4, Informative

    In fresh water, yes. Great boats till the rivets start leaking in 25-30 years. Salt water OTOH, is very corrosive to aluminium which I usually shorten to alu.

  101. Re:iSnored? by Monoman · · Score: 1

    I was thinking V should have been a P.

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    Keep the Classic Slashdot.
  102. Sea Org is now afloat by Rogerborg · · Score: 1

    I find the lack of faith in this story... disturbing.

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    If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  103. Just to be clear... by argStyopa · · Score: 1

    ...this was funded by all those iPads and iMacs and iPhones I saw at the OWS protests.

    Ah, delicious irony.

    --
    -Styopa
  104. Ugliest yacht ever? by PortHaven · · Score: 1

    I don't know. But it's surely in the running for that label.

    Want to see a breathtaking and beautiful yacht...

    The Maltese Falcon
    http://yachtpals.com/maltese-falcon-7053

    There are not many modern vessels that can rival her lines, grace and sleekness. And she boats the most advanced sail system ever.

  105. Yacht? by Erikderzweite · · Score: 1

    Yacht? Looks more like a junk to me.

  106. Beautiful? by Murdoch5 · · Score: 2

    I personally think it looks horrible, it's a big triangle, it looks like a mac book case and overall it bulky and retro styled in a bad way. I would of expected to see something like this in an old star trek episode as a "future yacht", I would never of thought that anyone would build a massive yacht and make this ugly on purpose.

  107. So.... by Charliemopps · · Score: 1

    Does it use Apple Maps? Because it's likely already a wreck if so...

  108. Jobs was a selfish bastard by shine · · Score: 1

    Lots of Chinese workers got paid very little so that he could have that.
    Jobs was a selfish bastard.

  109. Goddammit! by mark_reh · · Score: 1

    I'm sick of trying to be part of the solution. I'm going to become part of the problem.

    I'm going to get me a Hummer- not the newer, tiny ones, one of the big old ones, and have it converted to burn a mixture of rubber from tires, motor oil, and coal. I wanna leave a trail of thick, black smoke everywhere I go.

  110. Re:Ocean Air - Corrosive? by Sollord · · Score: 1

    That actually the Navy's penny pinching stupidity they didn't want to pay for the advanced anti-corrosion system the ship designers called for so now the ship is slowly dissolving

  111. Re:The "she" thing.... by Andreas+Mayer · · Score: 1

    Ships are male in German

    Umm... no. "Das Schiff" or "das Boot" are neuter. (OK, so there is "der Kahn" (the barge) which is masculine.)
    But many Ships have female names. Then they are referred to as female.

  112. * strokes cat * by whancock · · Score: 1

    I'm looking forward to seeing this appear in a James Bond movie.

  113. Bad taste by GerryHattrick · · Score: 1

    Would that be the 'Philippe Starck' who turned the Eurostar lounges into barbers' salons? All aboard for the Skylark, Starck!

  114. Offshore by nanospook · · Score: 1

    They will end up converting it into an offshore iMac shop and parking it next to the Queen Mary.. mark my words..

    --
    Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
  115. Re:How Cheap of them by Jeng · · Score: 1

    The card the the iPod are just thank you's. Going above and beyond. Ya putz.

    The Jobs could have gone above and beyond in the thank you department also.

    I've seen bigger tips left for hotel cleaning crews.

    --
    Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
  116. Glad to see where Jobs family priorities by TheSkepticalOptimist · · Score: 2

    I don't know, this makes the Jobs family look like the biggest group of douches in history.

    I've said it before that usually when some rich billionaire dies of some kind of disease, there is usually some kind of center for research that the family declares in his honour. I've heard nothing, no donations, nothing from Apple or the Jobs family about giving some of them billions into research that might help prevent other families suffer the results of cancer.

    Instead the family happily reveals a superfluous yacht. What a bunch of douches.

    Why do people love this company? The create inhuman working conditions so they can produce their devices a 2 - 5x profit margin, rake in billions in profit and then hoard the money away giving absolutely nothing back to society. Yet Bill Gates, who has focused his life to philanthropy, giving away billions, is regarded as an asshole.

    --
    I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
  117. Invoking the graceful sheer line ... by Rambo+Tribble · · Score: 1

    ... of a taller USS Monitor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Monitor

  118. While Jobs is buying yachts Gates is curing polio by elabs · · Score: 1

    I'm very happy with how my Windows money is being spent.

  119. Re:How Cheap of them by virg_mattes · · Score: 1

    Considering that you don't know the size of the paycheck, you can't really judge them on the size of the gift. Who knows, maybe the shipbuilders really wanted iPods. I know I'd rather have one than an iPad myself, and it's a thank you gift, not a gratuity.

    Virg

  120. Steve Jobs Museum by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    To be honest, it looks more like a river cruiser than a blue water international cruiser. Maybe he intended it to drift around a local lake?

    Probably the only viable use for this ship is to dock it at Monterey and make it a $30 admission museum dedicated to Steve Jobs's ego.

    Seriously, it's a winning business model, assuming the ship will be purchased for $1 over scrap value.

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  121. Known as Mike to his friends by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

    It's certainly a shame Steve Jobs never got the chance to see her finished

    He couldn't have spent his money to help poor children in Africa like that nice Mr Rosoft?

    --
    Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  122. Gates uglied his house with high tech by peter303 · · Score: 1

    I remember him giving tours where he replaced traditional wall paintings with plasma tv (only 512p at the time). Sometimes tech is NOT the replacement for everything.

    1. Re:Gates uglied his house with high tech by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 1

      But then he bought the digital reproduction rights to a TON of classic art collections. Also, I'm pretty sure he still doesn't have 512p TVs around his house.

      I read that with his system a user of his house would input their preferences and the monitors would display the art or pictures they liked as they moved from room to room. Pr0n!

      --
      by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
  123. Absolutely NOT. by caveat · · Score: 1

    Aluminum is flammable - get a good roaring fire going (a distinct possibility on a warship) and bad things happen..

    Belknap was severely damaged in a collision with John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1975 in heavy weather off the coast of Sicily. A fire broke out on Belknap following the collision, and during the fire her aluminium superstructure was melted, burned and gutted to the deck level.
    --
    This fire and the resultant damage and deaths, which would have been less had Belknap's superstructure been made of steel, drove the US Navy's decision to pursue all-steel construction in its next major classes of surface combatants

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Belknap_(CG-26)

    --

    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
    1. Re:Absolutely NOT. by perpenso · · Score: 1

      Aluminum is flammable - get a good roaring fire going (a distinct possibility on a warship) and bad things happen..

      Belknap was severely damaged in a collision with John F. Kennedy on 22 November 1975 in heavy weather off the coast of Sicily. A fire broke out on Belknap following the collision, and during the fire her aluminium superstructure was melted, burned and gutted to the deck level. -- This fire and the resultant damage and deaths, which would have been less had Belknap's superstructure been made of steel, drove the US Navy's decision to pursue all-steel construction in its next major classes of surface combatants

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Belknap_(CG-26)

      "US Navy request raises issue about aluminum ships [Mar 16, 2010] ... The U.S. Navy is seeking an analytical tool to predict problems with aluminum-hulled ships just months before it is due to announce the winner of the Littoral Combat Ship competition involving such a ship."
      http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/03/16/navy-aluminum-idUSN1513314120100316

      "Cracks plague Ticonderoga-class cruisers [Dec 9, 2010] ... it’s an issue that is plaguing all 22 cruisers in service: cracks in the aluminum superstructure ... The problem, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command, is the aluminum alloy used in the superstructure of the cruisers, which have steel hulls."
      http://www.navytimes.com/news/2010/12/navy-cracks-plague-ticonderoga-class-cruisers-120910w/

  124. The Heart of Gold! by caveat · · Score: 1

    I always tried to imagine what a ship designed like a "sleek white running shoe" would look like...that pretty much nails it. Sure, the product literature yaps on about "infinity symbols", but I can see better..

    --

    Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
  125. Re:iSnored? by heefeneet · · Score: 1

    I've sung "The Good Ship Venus" a few times, myself.

    'Venus' is a head-turner/head-scratcher in the same way a person always looks at a Yorkshire Terrier doing #2 and wonders how it doesn't have its backside matted with dung.

    1. It just does not look like it will be a good "sea-keeper", even with a slight turn near the bow.

    2. The upright windows seem as though they will be hit bluntly by big seas, so must be quite strong.

    3. There does not appear to be a way to wipe/wash the bridge windows, but they must have thought of that, surely.....

    Im sure it is designed to sail on the iSeas.

  126. Re:iSnored? by Solandri · · Score: 1

    That was my impression too (I worked for a bit in the shipbuilding business). It looks like what you get when you give artistic designers too much control - a triumph of form over function. It may appeal to people's tastes in aesthetics, but no way would I want to ride it out in moderate to heavy seas.

  127. Re:iSnored? by Dogtanian · · Score: 1

    And they named her Venus.

    It might be spelled "Venus, the luxury yacht", but it's pronounced "Throatwarbler mangrove".

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  128. Yeesh. by Mike+Buddha · · Score: 1

    I think Steve should have kept to his creative process of letting Jony Ive do all the heavy lifting and he just rubber stamping his imprimateur on the design.

    --
    by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
  129. Re:Imagine if this were Mitt Romney by Man+On+Pink+Corner · · Score: 1

    Who get to decide that, you?

    Apparently so, going by the comments in this thread.

  130. Re:The "she" thing.... by radtea · · Score: 1

    Not at all. When men went to sea, the boat they were on, nurtured them and kept them safe from harm and alive.

    When men aren't being stupid, they know women are the stronger sex. It is women they lean on when they are afraid. It seems only natural to think of that boat beneath their feet as a woman.

    This is such a great example of normalizing a purely cultural phenomenon via imaginary biology that I feel obliged to point out that in Soviet Russia (and in post-Soviet Russia, too) ships are refered to using the masculine pronoun.

    --
    Blasphemy is a human right. Blasphemophobia kills.
  131. Navy having problems with aluminum hull ... by perpenso · · Score: 1

    Apparently the Navy is having problems with aluminum hulls.

    "Builder Blames Navy as Brand-New Warship Disintegrates [June 23, 2011] ... the Navy has discovered “aggressive” corrosion around Independence‘s engines. The problem is so bad that the barely year-old ship will have to be laid up in a San Diego drydock so workers can replace whole chunks of her hull. In contrast to the first LCS, the steel-hulled USS Freedom, Independence is made mostly of aluminum. And that’s one root of the ship’s ailment ... Lots of things — major weapons, for one — have been left off the LCS in order to keep the price down. The list of deleted items includes something called a “Cathodic Protection System,” which is designed to prevent electrolysis."
    http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/06/shipbuilder-blames-navy-as-brand-new-warship-disintegrates/

  132. Another eccentric one-of-a-kind by zuki · · Score: 1

    All I can recall is the disappointment that occurred between the time I read the story and clicked on the link (anticipating a dreamy design of some sleek, yet-unseen and heretofore stunningly futuristic spaceship of the waters) and the first-glance impression when looking at the photos ("is this some sort of practical joke... structure looks like some gazebo-thing made out of Lego blocks with its square top... so totally, repulsively ugly not to mention impractical on the ocean"). Maybe it has some redeeming values somewhere else, but wow! That's a pretty amazing feat to design something that instantly feels this ugly.

    On thinking about it a bit more, it did bring to mind the one-of-a-kind aircraft that Howard Hughes built, a monstrosity that he even managed to fly once, the Spruce Goose. But looking at it side-to-side, the biggest bird ever built seems fairly normal compared to this anomalous-looking ... 'thing'

    Renamed "Steve's Folly', it will probably stay moored at some museum or other. Might just be the right kind of curiosity piece for Paul Allen to add to his collection.

  133. Wet Yachts are Passe by DaKong · · Score: 1

    Real men build sky yachts.

    --
    If not us, who? If not now, when?
  134. Hard to believe it's his. by ebvwfbw · · Score: 1

    What happened Steve? That boat isn't nearly cool enough looking to be something you came up with. Not often someone artistic in one area can translate into another area like ship building. I would have started with something like Ellison's Ronin. Cross with a Aegis cruiser. Doesn't matter, we'll remember you for the company and that hot chick in red shorts in the 1984 commercial.

  135. Aluminum Works Fine by nuckfuts · · Score: 1

    In my younger days I spent many an hour at sea as a commercial herring fisherman off the coast of British Columbia. Skiffs used in the herring industry, while varying slightly in design, are all made entirely from aluminum. You can see many examples of such boats here.

    I have no recollection of corrosion being a big issue. I assume there are aluminum alloys that make it resistant to corrosion the way that adding chromium to steel makes it "stainless".

  136. Ha ha! by BozoForPresident · · Score: 1

    Jobs, the Great Man of Style and form before function, bought a luxury barge.

  137. Prematurely cracks by DriveDog · · Score: 1

    I'm guessing the iYot's glass breaks much sooner than it should. Same goes for the hull. Aluminum is more appropriate for AAVs and jonboats. But I guess 7 or 8 knots would be OK for it.

    I disagree with the comment about looking like a 3rd grader drew it. 3rd graders generally do much better than that. The Navy's experimental stealth ship was more graceful in appearance. I can just hear Old Money snickering something about the Nouveau Riche.

  138. Now that Jobs is gone ... by PPH · · Score: 1

    ... rename it the Potemkin.

    --
    Have gnu, will travel.
  139. It's Corbusian! Re:Grow up by overmod · · Score: 1

    I see his point -- it's '20s, but it isn't Bauhaus. It's Corb.

    Fingerprints of the Villa Stein at Garches are all over the design. Lots of other Corbusian tropes.

    "International Style" -- a few other potential aspects; a little Mies/Barcelona, a little Incinerated House -- you find the precedents.

    It occurs to me that the design suffers from being extensively done from plan and elevation; as one of my former professors would say 'there was no model'... The thing works in side and end elevation, but as noted in front-quarter view it looks like a big triangle. (But not as surprising as the bows-on view of Intrepid!)

    Yah, iconic over utilitarian. But... would Feadship have designed a wallowing, unseaworthy monstrosity? For ANY amount of shut-up-and-just-build-it money?

  140. Feadship not a good 'nough authority? by overmod · · Score: 1

    Last I looked, Feadship was a reputable builder, and wouldn't build a modern-day Vasa.

    I think some of this design is analogous to a trend in modern architecture: using technological wizardry to build wacky-looking things so they are safe and effective. Much of Frank Gehry's stuff (just to name a convenient whipping-boy) would be dangerously unstable if a great amount of very careful thinking hadn't been put into making the paper drawing into as-built structure.

    Having said that -- in both architecture and ship design there have been some interesting structural whoppers when the clever engineering falls short (skybridges and large White Star staircases, anyone?) It remains to be seen if the great white star destroyer actually suffers from the variety of problems that many posters so far have presumed.

  141. Very Square? by Dudibob · · Score: 1

    For a man who loved rounded corners it does feel very...square

  142. Re:Grow up by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 1

    It's OK that you have an irrational hate of Steve Jobs, yes he stole your girl in Jr. High, but maybe it's time to get over it?

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