RIP Steve Jobs

msnbc is reporting Apple founder Steve Jobs has passed away

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44794276/ns/business/

Not a hoax. It hit the news about 10 minutes ago. A real blow to technology.

Smart man. I don't like apple, but he was an economical genius. I'm sure he will be missed. I can see apple's stocks crashing in the very near future.

was his long illness revealed ?

Jobs died of pancreatic cancer.

Not wild about most Apply products but... daaaang. I'm at least glad that company was around to pioneer cool new ideas.

Salanis wrote: Not wild about most Apply products but... daaaang. I'm at least glad that company was around to pioneer cool new ideas.

Agreed. Trial and error of ALL technology helps pioneer the future of the top end technology. From cars, to computers, the best survives and is improved upon. Even if I'm not a fan of the Apple products, they help pioneer what I DO use.

Yeah, that does suck. GRM has been an all-Mac office for a long, long time--like back to the days of CIS injection.

I've been on Macs since System 7. It's a shame about Jobs--he's one of the few people I'd describe as a true visionary. He changed the computing and music industries forever, killed the floppy disc and just about killed the CD. Few people can claim as many accomplishments.

Used Macs since 1985, bought my first in 1987. I'm not a zealot but I do like the innovations, many of which came from Steve's head. Thanks, Mr. Jobs.

Never used macs, but I was fond of the NextStep/GNUstep window manager.

Regardless of any of that, Jobs's passing is a major loss. He was an inventor, innovator, and someone who had a positive effect on the lives of lots of people.

iSad

When I saw the pictures from the press conference when he stepped down I thought he looked just like the 6 people I have known who died of cancer. Shaved head, gaunt and just generally grey all over.

Never paid attention to him before so I didn't know it wasn't normal.

It takes very smart people to make extremely complicated things. It takes a genius to make them simple. First commercially successful personal computer. First mass produced GUI. Virtually invented "desktop publishing". First fully computer animated film. Changed the way music is sold and listened to. Changed the definition of "smart phone". First commercially viable slate computer. He got more than what technology could do. He got what it was for.

Saw this in Will Wheaton's Google+ stream this morning:

"Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary." -Steve Jobs

fast_eddie_72 wrote: It takes very smart people to make extremely complicated things. It takes a genius to make them simple. First commercially successful personal computer. First mass produced GUI. Virtually invented "desktop publishing". First fully computer animated film. Changed the way music is sold and listened to. Changed the definition of "smart phone". First commercially viable slate computer. He got more than what technology could do. He got what it was for.

QFT. There may be many people who are great at designing hardware or fixing hardware. A visionary that sees what hardware does to a society is rare.

I've long maligned some of Apple's business practices, but those practices kept them much more than financially solvent. Jobs was nothing less than a genius, and ranks with Nikola Tesla and Edison on my list of admiration.

It will be interesting if Cupertino can carry on the spark of his vision or will lose their way in the forest of better technology.

One of the interesting things that Jobs/Apple has done recently is to expose the market to the simple fact that people are willing to pay MORE for MORE. Look at Ford/GM/Chrysler- spent the better part of 50 years cutting cost and making things cheaper. To the point that the customer noticed.

In the mean time, Apple made the Mac, which was more expensive than a PC, and when it was actually better, it sold a lot. Then the iPod- not the first MP3 player, and easily one of the most expensive, yet is sold a TON. Similar stories of the iPhone, and iPad- all are typically much more expensive, and not the first, but done so well, and so easy to use, that the market pays for performance.

I'd like to hope that we finally get it. The part about delivering more, I mean.

Jobs figured out that simple thing so that he could deliver his vision of the future. Or put A-B together to make products that we feel as visionary. History shows that, like Edison, they were not visionary (since they were not the first in many cases). But they were far, far better executed, and people pay good money for that. Reliably.

Hope that part of progress isn't lost.

Big fan of all Mac products, so this was very sad news to me indeed. More than anything: Cancer sucks. Just heard about a good family friend being diagnosed with a few years left. It sucks. Bad.

alfadriver wrote: I'd like to hope that we finally get it. The part about delivering more, I mean.

Well, therein lies the rub. A certain set of people have always been willing to pay more for something fashionable. $400 jeans are not new, nor are they better than $20 Wranglers at being jeans. Apple brought tech gadgets into the world of fashion and marketed them very well. They were of adequate quality and exceptional good looks but in truth, no more functional than Calvin Klein is over Levis. I think it was a brilliant strategy - it is very difficult and expensive to stay on the cutting edge of technology and they realized that you don't really have to - you just have to make what is available attractive enough, usable and accessible to a larger audience. In the 80s they were the edge, in the '00s they were all about brand and packaging. Same result - success.

In any case, RIP Steve.

Steve was a genius, a visionary, and a very successful business man. He did amazing things that impacted the entire worlds infrastructure. Not many people can say that. He pushed technology into new places and achieved what was thought impossible or fantasy.

That said, The things he did werent necessarily all favorable. Aside from creating a techno-empire, he also created a techno-bureaucracy. Once Apple has you, they really have you. Gadgets with batteries that cannot be replaced. iPad that cannot share data without more apple widgets. WTF? Why cant you use Adobe Flash? Its all about the benjamins...with a side of "lets advance what humanity can do". Then wrap it up in a very well executed marketing and advertising campaign to make you want something that doesnt even do all the things you want it to.

GPS hit it on the head: why do you think that everytime you see someone on a cell phone in a movie or on TV its a iPhone? Why is every laptop you see on screen a Apple? Why does adding a lowercase i in front of anything make it better? Fashion. He marketed his wares better than anyone else in the game, then used a portion of the proceeds o make better toys. A lot of people think ZOMFG Steeev J did the impossible...a tiny tableto[p computer, a phone that will cut your hair and make you waffles, carry a thousand vinyl LPs around in your pocket... - but seriously, aside from that, his big claim is an operating system. Thats really about it, in general. His computers arent made out of unobtainium from another planet, they have the same western digital HDs and Foxconn powersupplies that Windows has, They have the same LCD screens, and the same plastic buttons. They just get better packaging. Im kinda over it myself. If I were a writer, or in media, then maaaybe Id get on the bandwagon - I can see Apple products helpin gin those fields. But I am elbow deep in Excel everyday...one mouse button aint gettin it done for me.

Im sure I will get flamed by the apple fanbois here, so let me digress: he's done things that I couldnt dream of doing. He in every way was a smarter, more advanced, more accomplished, and more ambitious man than I am. But I guess Id rather not push myself to the point of impacting my health. If I was in a job that beat me down to the point that I was dying, I guess Im not sure how much of that I would personally view as success. Id rather still be healthy. Call that selfish if you want - trading some of what I might be able to give to humanity for a little more time burdened by this mortal coil. But thats a decision I would make in a heartbeat.

Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote:

alfadriver wrote: I'd like to hope that we finally get it. The part about delivering more, I mean.

Well, therein lies the rub. A certain set of people have always been willing to pay more for something fashionable. $400 jeans are not new, nor are they better than $20 Wranglers at being jeans. Apple brought tech gadgets into the world of fashion and marketed them very well. They were of adequate quality and exceptional good looks but in truth, no more functional than Calvin Klein is over Levis. I think it was a brilliant strategy - it is very difficult and expensive to stay on the cutting edge of technology and they realized that you don't really have to - you just have to make what is available attractive enough, usable and accessible to a larger audience. In the 80s they were the edge, in the '00s they were all about brand and packaging. Same result - success. In any case, RIP Steve.

I partially disagree. I know there's a serious fasion side to iStuff.

But so many here has raved about how nice it is to run on Macs. Which would imply that they are better to use for a significant part of users. Publishers, for instance. And having messed around with other tablets, the iPad is a lot more intuitive to use, so it's a lot easier for non computer poeple to pick up on (remember when I asked about an iPad for non computer seniors about 6 months ago).

For the most part, all of Apple's products have been a little easier and a little better to use, to the point where they can sell laptops twice as expensive as PC based laptops. Same market size? No, but surely profitable.

The marketing side of the iStuff is iTunes- which is a whole different idea. And looking at how the new Kindle based pad works, Apple sold technology and gave you easy access to stuff, Amazon is giving easy access to technology and selling you stuff. Not sure who wins in the end.

It's also interesting how long Apple has gone w/o being compatable with competitors. Sure, you can get emulators, but it took decades before that happend well. iStuff is it's own format that I can't use on a normal MP3.

Anyway, I agree about the fasion side of the marketing, but do see that there's a lot of user based changes in Apple's applications that do make them better enough for the market.

If it wasn't for Apple, PCs might still be DOS based.

alfadriver wrote: ...I'd like to hope that we finally get it. The part about delivering more, I mean....Hope that part of progress isn't lost...

Youll never sell a $1000 laptop to a walmart mouthbreather when there is a $150 one on the shelf at walmart. You might be able to sell one to me, if Im in the market for a laptop - Im willing to pay for quality...but Im a different demographic than Cletus. Aside from the Calvin Klein jeans argument, there is an upscale version of almost everything in terms of quality. Steve just put his in the limelight. But if more of industry adopted a "more is more" mentality, the cheaper stuff would be more of a minority, not the norm...manufacturing/retailers might abandon the "Race to the bottom" mantra, which would be better for all of us. That would indeed be the best possible takeaway.

Arguably an individual who had the single biggest impact on our culture in the past 100 years. Quibble if you wish, but that's quite a legacy to leave behind. Rest in peace, indeed.