DescentBB

Steve Jobs has just passed.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/us/obit-s ... &hpt=hp_t1

Well, I think he lived a pretty good life. Better than most.

RIP, Steve. He sure knew how to make things that people wanted (or at least wanted after they saw it).

No matter how much you might dislike Apple products and or how the company operates, there is one thing Steve Jobs did that everyone should be grateful for: He put the RIAA in its place with iTunes. R.I.P.

I feel sorry for the radio morning news. This will be ancient history by tomorrow, by internet standards.

That's sad. He sure didn't look very good the last time he was in public. Pancreatic cancer is one of those diseases that once a person gets it, the outcome is invariably fatal. RIP.

He was a good designer, leader and a hard driving man that wanted his company to succeed, despite the machinations of the corporate suits he fought against. He wanted build products that had style and quality and he delivered. He will be missed.

I never liked the man's products myself, but he was one hell of a tech innovator. Maybe most importantly for me, he gave us Pixar.

heh, well, kinda. Watch this: The Pixar Story
If you have the time, this is a Great watch!

iRIP

Ed Catmull, and Alvy Ray Smith founded Pixar. Jobs was the investor. Irks me that he sold out to Disney.

Gren, watch that link. They go into that. It was amicable for for both companies. Actually. Ed and Alvy are major CEO's with Disney now apart from Pixar.

It's more irony than a "sellout". Ed was fired by Disney because he wanted to integrate digital animation.

Steve Jobs ability to innovate and keep products simple have affected virtually very digital interface you use.

Grendel wrote:Irks me that he sold out to Disney.

X2. Nothing worse than the Disney kidification of a good animation company.

You don't think stock holders should make story line and casting decisions?

tunnelcat wrote:

Grendel wrote:Irks me that he sold out to Disney.

X2. Nothing worse than the Disney kidification of a good animation company.

John Lasseter wound up becoming the head honcho of Disney's animation department, so I'd argue that the deal wound up being a substantial improvement for Disney instead of a detriment to Pixar. Nothing in any of Pixar's work since the sale has suggested that it's anything more than business as usual there.

Again, watch "The Pixar Story". The guys from Pixar talk about this at length. TopGun is right. (imagine that! )

Thenior wrote:Steve Jobs ability to innovate and keep products simple have affected virtually very digital interface you use.

I think that's a bit of a stretch. Jobs copied Xerox to make mac. Jobs copied existing concepts to create the i-pod. Jobs copied existing technology to make the i-phone.

The concept of simplistic & minimalistic interfaces has been around for a long time.

I'll give you that he was a marketing genius who knew how to get the masses to buy into things, but I won't give him credit for very much innovation.

My Apple hate is showing through. I hope his family is being properly consoled for their loss.

Aye. I never cared for the man or his product, but I placed the announcement here because a number of people did.

Apple always sold underpowered and extremely proprietary hardware for way too much of an asking price and used customer ignorance to Apple's advantage. So yes- hate hate hate from me.

It's not as if no other company never did the same thing in the past- but Apple's popularity amongst the masses seemed to steam me. Perhaps marketing form over function and the seeming religious fervor that Apple seemed to carry with its gullible acolytes was the reason or just one of many.

snoopy wrote:

Thenior wrote:Steve Jobs ability to innovate and keep products simple have affected virtually very digital interface you use.

I think that's a bit of a stretch. Jobs copied Xerox to make mac. Jobs copied existing concepts to create the i-pod. Jobs copied existing technology to make the i-phone.

The concept of simplistic & minimalistic interfaces has been around for a long time.

I'll give you that he was a marketing genius who knew how to get the masses to buy into things, but I won't give him credit for very much innovation.

My Apple hate is showing through. I hope his family is being properly consoled for their loss.

For sure, no one has an original idea. But I really think Apple made the minimalist design a bit more mainstream.

And I really do think the was innovative. When the iPod came out (first gen), you had flash based MP3 players. But they were big, cost a lot, and had poor battery life. The iPod was a lot smaller, had longer battery... and still was expensive, but he pushed the tech.

The iPhone - same thing. We all had Nokia Smartphones (which I actually have one - still like it). Apple is good at taking ideas from all over, and marketing in a smaller, more elegant package.

The only innovation in Apple products is the walled garden they are forced to operate in that prevents the user from being able to attempt anything that would make the product look bad.

lol - all you techy nerds don't like apple because you can't hack it (I would classify myself in that category, minus the Apple hate). Clearly, however, they've done something right, judging by their success.

Quit being a hater

Thenior wrote:lol - all you techy nerds don't like apple because you can't hack it (I would classify myself in that category, minus the Apple hate). Clearly, however, they've done something right, judging by their success.

Quit being a hater

I'll give you that I can't hack it.

I'm a hater because of the philosophy behind the product. I'm a big fan of the open source, free collaboration, the user is the king of the system philosophy. Apple operated under the exact opposite philosophy, where everything was closed and closely controlled by the manufacturer.

I want to have ultimate control over what my system does and doesn't do and how I use it. The upside of this is that I can almost create my own form of art from my choices, and create a thing of beauty. This also means that I will have the power to mangle my system and/or make it incredibly ugly and difficult to use. Under Apple, this is impossible. IMO Apple appeals to the masses because they are either too stupid or don't care enough to make their systems a thing of beauty, so they rely on a manufacturer to do it for them, and in the process give up both their sovereignty over the system and their right to pay a reasonable price.

Like I said earlier, congratulations to Jobs for capitalizing on the masses' attitude toward devices, even though I think they are dead wrong.

I think that criticizing Apple for proprietary products, is akin to hating Ford, because their water pumps won’t fit on Chevys…but that’s just me…I never really fit into this spoiled tech culture.

Now, as for the fan boy stuff……

*I am aware that this is not a direct analogy.

Spidey wrote:I think that criticizing Apple for proprietary products, is akin to hating Ford, because their water pumps won’t fit on Chevys…but that’s just me…I never really fit into this spoiled tech culture.

Now, as for the fan boy stuff……

*I am aware that this is not a direct analogy.

The correct analogy would be hating on ford because their vehicles only work on half the roads since the other half of the roads aren't approved for use by ford.

Here's the thing though, snoopy. The vast majority of people don't want, and indeed simply don't need, any real level of hands-on control over their devices. People like my parents and less-tech-savvy siblings want to just turn on their device and know that it's going to work how they expect it to. I may personally feel like Apple products aren't worth the price premium, especially considering how stable Windows 7 has proven to be, or that Apple swings a bit too far in the opposite direction, but I understand their core philosophy. Hardcore tech-heads, or even people like me who aren't experts but have managed to pick a few things up, want to have that degree of autonomy. But for the people who just want something that's going to work for them, the Apple model is perfectly adequate.

It's pretty much the car analogy. I don't want to be required to stick my head under the hood and tinker around for hours...I just want a car I can start up and cruise around in. Many people feel the same way about computers. Hell, that's sort of the reason I've never bothered with Linux.

Depends whether the extra $500 is worth the time savings (if any, point used to be more serious than it is these days I think). There are some people for whom it likely is. There are, of course, also a lot of people who really own Apple hardware because it's fashionable to do so, and I'm not sure what the breakdown is there. There'll be "a mix of the two" people as well, of course.