Entertainment For Lively Minds
Steve Jobs has passed away.
Posted by ivan on 6 October 2011 - 1:04am.
As influential tech types go, he was quite something. I'm no Apple fanboi, but still, he's left one heck of a legacy.
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Bert Jansch, 'Picca' Dilley,
Bert Jansch, 'Picca' Dilley, and now Steve Jobs. Bloody bad day to be honest. Didn't Aldous Huxley, JFK and someone else all pass away on the same day? (C.S. Lewis, I had a look...) All way before time too.
Not sure we'll see another
Not sure we'll see another inventor as influential as he has been for a long, long, long time. Just reading the stories about him now, and his legacy is pretty astounding. Besides Apple, the Mac, the iPod, iTunes, and iPad, I had no idea that he created Pixar, too.
I'm not sure I can think of anyone who's affected people's daily lives around the globe more than he has.
After the takeover
of the Pixar company Steve became the largest individual shareholder in Disney.
I am having a break
from the blog at the moment, dipping in and out very sporadically.
But I couldn't let this one go past without the mention of Fred Shuttlesworth who also passed yesterday. As dedicated and important to the Civil Rights cause as Martin Luther King, Ralph Abernathy, James Bevel et al.
That is all. Rest in peace one and all.
He set out to 'put a dent in the universe'
and, arguably, he succeeded. On his own terms, too.
He had a knack for identifying where the market and the technology was going to be in 12 months time and designing products to meet the needs of that market. Until very recently, most new Apple products were initially released to widespread 'huh?'s; it took 12 months before the customer realised it was just what he needed - bit-mapped screen, mouse, no floppy disks, no serial ports, all-in-one computers, iTunes Store, iPod, iPad, UNIX on desktop computers, CGI animated feature films...
Of course, he was the first of the 'home computer' manufacturers to take industrial design seriously. He commissioned Jerry Mannock to create the case for the Apple II and set a style that defined Apple products for 10 years. If it were left to Steve Wozniak, Apple would have remained a niche manufacturer of kit computers where the customer was expected to source their own case. Jobs was the first to see that a computer could, indeed should, be a commodity product which the punter could unpack and use.
Wow.
This is terribly sad news. Even the most grumpy Apple naysayer would have to admit that the man was a towering genius, if not always a comfortable personality to work for. What a mind, though. What focus. What vision. And only 56.
R.I.P.
A grumpy Apple naysayer (sometimes) writes
Indeed. He was a visionary. Very sad.
Announced by Apple:
CUPERTINO, California — Apple Inc. said the company's co-founder Steve Jobs died Wednesday. He was 56.
In a brief statement the company said Jobs died Wednesday. He had been battling pancreatic cancer.
"We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today," the company said in a brief statement. "Steve's brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve."
"The world is immeasurably better because of Steve"
Unless you have AIDS, Malaria, no food, or no clean drinking water. Then you have to rely on Bill Gates to give you an app for that.
Steve Jobs is somebody's father, somebody's husband, and his early death is, for them, a personal tragedy.
I'm just getting sick to death of the messianic hyperbole which is portraying him as some kind of sage, instead of the particularly brilliant businessman that he was. At best, he didn't change the world, he merely diverted it better than anyone while it continued to fumble along as normal.
And all this Dianification; please. It's about as stupid as it would have been leaving bits of half-eaten cucumber outside the Body Shop when Anita Roddick died.
Yep
There has been some terrific bullshit spouted today. I laughed for about ten minutes when I saw that pile of apples with one bite out of them outside the Apple shop. And the vox-pops on PM were very funny too.
He was a clever, clever man, but I didn't know him, so although it's sad for him and his family and it is a shame, I'm fairly sure the world will continue to spin on its axis.
I do find this grief-by-proxy (not here, but elsewhere) when famous people die peculiar. It's fine to feel sad when people you like die, but some of the things I've read and heard are amazing.
I'm not passionate about computers at all
But you can't deny his inventions made a massive, and mostly positive, influence on the world.
A very brilliant man.
And a bit of an odd sod as well, as they often are. It will be interesting to see what happens to the company without his vision.
What lovely people
http://www.siliconrepublic.com/new-media/item/23911-westboro-announces-v...
But on the other hand...
...who gives a ripe red fuck what those certifiable loons think?
Something happens -> publicity garnered -> job done for them (pardon the pun).
I've just seen pictures of all the vigils and leaving flowers...
that's been going on. I'm sorry, but isn't that faintly fucking ridiculous?! Anyone would think the bloke was Jesus H. Christ or something.
Steve Jobs was a bloke that built shiny objects that are very popular. He's dead. Get over it.
I kind of agree Patrick
but thats just a little too harsh. I like this tribute from his wife, possibly one of the nicest things I've ever seen on this internet thing.
http://paloalto.patch.com/articles/a-tribute-to-steve-jobs#photo-8022587
I'm not sure
It didn't seem ridiculous when people laid flowers for Princes Diana, Kurt Cobain and Alexander McQueen, so why should it be ridiculous to lay flowers for Steve Jobs - a man who's influence on the world was arguably greater that all three of those combined?
Well...
...to be fair *I* thought it was ridiculous when flowers were laid for those people and thought a vast bit of the country went certifiably mad in the aftermath of Diana's death.
But that's me, if people want to spend £20 on some flowers to put in a shopping mall, it's up to them.
Maybe Diana was a bad example
But if Wayne Rooney or Liam Gallagher died tomorrow, I doubt anyone would claim it ridiculous that some fans left flowers outisde their homes, even if they wouldn't do it themselves.
Amy Winehouse
recent example.
Would not do it myself, but each to their own. And it makes some people feel better - a completely trivial example but my kids put a flower on our cat's grave. Their idea not mine.
Yes
I see your point.
With you all the way
with the Diana thing. Half the country went collectively mad!
"The Diana thing" was truly scary...
When I see footage of people weeping and wailing at her funeral now, I can't believe what I'm seeing. It was unfathomable and embarrassing.
Diana
I actually agree with you. People went OTT with Diana. And perhaps pre-Diana, leaving flowers for Winehouse or Jobs would've seemed very strange (and not just because they weren't dead at tha point).
It may please you to know that I was sat in my bedroom playing blues scales during the minutes silence for Diana's funeral! I knew nothing about it.
If you knew nothing about it...
... how are you able to pinpoint that the exact minute you were playing blues scales was exactly the same minute as the minute's silence?
Because I went downstairs
And my parents told me I'd been playing blues scales through the minute's silence. Quite simple really.
I'm impressed...
... my parents wouldn't know a blues scale from a minor pentatonic with a sharpened 4th or flattened 5th degree.
Whatever
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when you mention a minor incident from your life on the internet and some armchair detective tries to pick it apart. Even worse when they get up arrowed for it! FWIW I was discussing Diana with Patrick, who I happen to know likes the blues, so I thought I'd mention the fact that I'd been playing blues on my guitar all those years ago, and managed to play through Diana's minute of silence without realising it. If you can't take that at face value then you can, as Primal Scream might put it, KSS MY RS.
I'm so sorry...
... I forgot you didn't appreciate stupid remarks and other people "upping" them. Will you be my friend again? - if it helps, during the minute's silence I was learning the bass part for Money by Pink Floyd (fingers crossed that you like them). "PLEASE DO NOT "UP" THIS RESPONSE".
'Have nothing in your house..
..that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.'. To be fair, he was about more than shiny objects that are very popular - you can say that about paperclips. William Morris would have been a fan.
Sorry if already posted
Can't be arsed to check
http://www.theonion.com/articles/apple-user-acting-like-his-dad-just-die...
But we are ALL living longer, so this can't have happened
The government tell us we are ALL LIVING LONGER. And yet famous people, some of them very rich, are dying in their fifties and sixties... surely it isn't just a ruse to put the pension age up and up and up? They can't be... LYING to us?
"Work till you drop, d*ckheads".
Stats
But on average, we are living longer. This doesn't mean that nobody dies young.
I know about the average...
But Osborne et al say we're ALL living longer. A careful interpretation of the stats or, in layman's terms, mendacious bullshit.
Erm..
When Osborne et al say we're all living longer, he means we're all living longer on average surely. What else could he possibly mean? Does anybody really believe that George Osborn has guaranteed each individual in the UK a long life?
Weeellll, I wouldn't go that far
but the elision of the "on average" qualification is probably calculated to make the more gullible unwashed think that things are better than they are. Not everyone is dead clever like wot we is.
George Osborne has not guaranteed me eternal life. Only David Cameron can do that. Or Steven Moffatt.
Technology and science
...and of course, without advanced medical science and technology, Steve Jobs himself would probably not been with us nearly this long.
Indeed
I am the oldest of my group of friends, but two of them did not make it out of their thirties. Not the way you expect things to work out.
Jobs was 56 which seems young to me, but at the beginning of the last century two thirds of people died before 60.
I find it humbling
I somehow missed this story until about 9:30 this morning. I felt really sad. The humbling part is that no matter who you are, how brilliant your mind, the size of your legacy or fortune, there is absolutely nothing you can do to buy yourself time.
Perhaps its a small tribute that I haven't been bombarded with "jokes" as I normally am within hours following similar occasions.
I'm a comparatively recent convert to the Mac world he played such a part in creating. Can't help feeling that the edge will be taken off the organisation and that they will struggle to keep up the momentum. I'm a major fan of my Mac, iPhone and iPod but I'm not convinced about this iCloud malarkey. Without Steve Jobs, I think it may be a tough sell for them.
However, all thoughts along those lines can be put to one side for a bit. It's a great loss to the world. If I had a flower and I was walking past Regent street, I'd certainly be happy to lay it at the Apple store front. I can't honestly imagine me ever saying that about any other organisation.
Is this strictly true?
I would imagine (and I may be wrong, and would be happy to be corrected) that the level of treatment received by Steve Jobs would have been higher than many people given that he was an American in America and had a lot of money to throw at any treatment available. His transplant wouldn't have come cheaply (although I've no idea if money allows you to significantly jump the queue).
Given that most of the House of Windsor
seem to live forever, having a few quid certainly doesnt hurt in the longevity stakes
A couple of interesting tweets
RT to me via Tim Burgess: "Christ, seeing Sir Alan Sugar tweet about Steve Jobs is like watching Jedward eulogise Mozart."
And from Andrey Arshavin: "Good bye Steve Jobs thank you for changing the world and giving many peoples repetitive strain injuries from holding their phone so much."
Find a reliable search
Find a reliable search engine and try "apple china suicide".
Quite
A successful bloke died.
Meanwhile, three times a day, people in a factory commit suicide.
He's Henry Ford. He's no Princess Diana.
People in China
making iPads for a dollar a day is also a tragedy.
Kinda my point.
I should be less opaque.
No, I should be less drunk;
I should read other people's posts properly.
If it's not in poor taste, isn't Apple China Suicide a TMFTL par excellence?
[I refer you back to the subject line of this post]
Just watched the Stanford speech.
Apart from the occasional audible snickering/laughing/not paying attention cos I'm rich already crowd,I thought that was great.
amazing someone has already set it to music
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2F...
Who invented the ipod?
Some of the tributes to Steve Jobs state that he 'invented' the ipod.
Didn't some British chap actually pretty much invent it - or at least the proto-version - only for the copyright to expire, thus leaving Apple free to appropriate his idea? Didn't Apple even admit this in court? I'm sure someone on here knows far more about it than me.
I'm certainly not having a pop at Steve Jobs: great businessman, leader and market-driven thinker, but I agree that the 'changed the world' comments are a touch too far. Personally, I think his genius was in the marketing field - whenever Apple brought out a new product, he had a way of making it sound as though the version you were using was rubbish!
Apple didn't invent a great deal
Rather they took existing niche products, refined them and successfully brought them to market.
So they weren't responsible for the graphical user interface, the mouse, the touchscreen phone, the mp3 player or the tablet. But they cornered the market in many of them.
Yes that gets closer to the real truth probably
All this "changed the world" malarkey. There are a great many enormously talented people at Apple. And the full story over who was actually responsible for which ideas is one yet to be told. One of Jobs' main skills was the intuitive recognition of talent in others.
But having said that, it's clear that without him, and the enormous risk and investment Apple was prepared to take at the turn of the century, things would be a lot less satisfactory in the world of communication technology today.
What's not been said really is how far beyond the narrow field of computing, their influence on product design has been. Technology is something we are all forced to interact with every day. And whether it's well designed or carelessly designed, sadly does affect the quality of our lives more than we would like.
That's exactly the point...
Jobs was obsessed with "getting it right" and would happily can a new product if it didn't meet his high standards of design and 'rightness'.
We all know waaay too many people like this guy...
http://www.theonion.com/articles/apple-user-acting-like-his-dad-just-die...
Dennis Ritchie
has died.
No doubt there will be far less fanfare but, in my view, unquestionably as important in developing our concept of computing today as Jobs.
That's right
In our department, you'll find just as many copies of "Kernighan and Ritchie" on peoples desks as Apple products.... and where would OSX be without UNIX?