Totally! There isn't a single product that competes with any of Apple's that isn't cheap trash from no-name brands.
Steve Jobs
- Thread starter JRoss
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Totally! There isn't a single product that competes with any of Apple's that isn't cheap trash from no-name brands.
Both of which only duplicate part of the functionality of an iPad. I'm not saying they're not pricey or that that premium is quantitatively justifiable. I'm just rejecting the implication that Steve Jobs perpetrated some giant con because his company's products tend to be a little more expensive as well as the implication that you pay for something you don't actually get.
For sure, I'm not saying that either. But I object to the implication that it's either Apple's way or cheap crap, jovial nature aside.
That said... the Kindle Fire has nearly the same functionality as the iPad. As far as I know the only things it's missing are a 3G option and cameras.
Coincidentally, the camera is something I have missed on the iPad 1, and the 3G is one of the most useful things about it.
Obviously the latter depends on your specific use case otherwise the wifi version of the iPad and the iPod Touch wouldn't exist.
Oh dear. No one here actually knows why Steve Jobs was important?
(And this is not a lecture on what makes Apple being great. Whether at Apple or Next or Pixar, Steve pushed for similar things. THAT'S what this is about.)
Do you all know why Henry Ford was important? It wasn't because he invented the car (he didn't) or because he was a good person (he wasn't) but it's because he kick-started the automated assembly line phase of the industrial revolution.
Would we have gotten there eventually? Yeah, but Ford is who pushed us there first, before anyone else was ready. Technology and industry would undoubtably have lagged behind a few years had there been no Henry Ford.
Does everyone here agree that that makes him an important figure in American history? Yeah?
Steve Jobs was the same thing. No, he didn't invent the computer. No, he didn't invent the mouse and the desktop. But what he DID do was take those things and convince the public that they needed them. He convinced NORMAL people that computers were useful.
Before Steve Jobs many people didn't think that. HP didn't want to build the Apple II before Apple was even a company. (They were offered it.) XEROX didn't want to use their GUI system for anything. (They basically gave it to Steve Jobs for free.) And Bill Gates didn't want to make Windows before Macs came along. (Microsoft was happy making Word.) That's right...Word is 2 years older than Windows. How much longer would MS have kept making Word and NOT making Windows if Steve hadn't come out with the Mac?
All of the pieces were there, but no one thought normal people needed a computer that had a HUMAN interface (desktops, folders, windows) until Steve Jobs decided they needed it. How many command lines do you use these days?
So yes, all of that stuff would have happened eventually, no argument, but it would have started later. Windows 3.1 didn't come out until 8 years after the Mac did. That's when Windows really started gaining ground in the home market: In 1992. When would that have happened if Steve and the Mac hadn't been around? 94? 96? After all, HP and IBM didn't think there was any reason to build a 'PC' at the time. What makes you think Microsoft would have rushed without the Mac tempting them? When would XP have come out? Windows 7?
We'd definitely be 5 years behind in the home computer market. Sure, we'd have HARDWARE that was just as fast as now...engineering goes one...but the software would be lagging. We'd just now be getting Windows Vista this year!
And look at touch-screen phones. And tablets. People have been making them forever, but they were fringe products. What did the popular phones look like in 2006?
They looked like this.
And now what do popular phones look like? They look like this.
This is NOT a "oh, everybody copies Apple" rant. Of COURSE these companies would have come up with these eventually. I'm not saying they wouldn't have. But remember how fast things changed in 2007 after the iPhone came out? No one else was working on stuff like that yet. The first Android prototypes looked like Blackberries at the time! Look how fast that changed.
Would it have happened overnight without the iPhone? See that shiny Android phone in your pocket? That's a 2014 phone in a world without Steve Jobs. Heck, maybe even a 2017 phone if the lack of the Mac in 1984 slowed Windows down by a few years.
That was what was important about Steve. He didn't invent stuff. He took our hands and explained why we should use things that were invented, but not being used. He nudged us along and if you ask anyone else in the tech industry they'd readily agree. Read what Bill Gates said after he died. Gates is not the kind of guy who'd say stuff like that if he didn't mean it.
This is not a Mac/PC argument. This is a "Steve was a leader" argument. And no one else who makes electronics would disagree with this.
So go ahead and say Steve didn't make a difference. But please go on out and buy a 2004 PC and a 2005 mobile phone while you do it. Because that's about as advanced as your software would be right now without him.
*** And that's just the main thing about Steve.
He also totally shook up the music industry and forced them to make the jump from CDs to downloads before they wanted to.
And he got Hollywood's attention with Pixar and many other studios have started taking lessons on how to run a studio based on their example.
And he brought back the idea that design could be useful AND beautiful. That was a staple of 50's and 60's technology but it went away for 20 years. He helped convince the public to want it back.
Any ONE of those subjects could also make a fascinating article and yet I'm forced to just make them footnotes here.
(And this is not a lecture on what makes Apple being great. Whether at Apple or Next or Pixar, Steve pushed for similar things. THAT'S what this is about.)
Do you all know why Henry Ford was important? It wasn't because he invented the car (he didn't) or because he was a good person (he wasn't) but it's because he kick-started the automated assembly line phase of the industrial revolution.
Would we have gotten there eventually? Yeah, but Ford is who pushed us there first, before anyone else was ready. Technology and industry would undoubtably have lagged behind a few years had there been no Henry Ford.
Does everyone here agree that that makes him an important figure in American history? Yeah?
Steve Jobs was the same thing. No, he didn't invent the computer. No, he didn't invent the mouse and the desktop. But what he DID do was take those things and convince the public that they needed them. He convinced NORMAL people that computers were useful.
Before Steve Jobs many people didn't think that. HP didn't want to build the Apple II before Apple was even a company. (They were offered it.) XEROX didn't want to use their GUI system for anything. (They basically gave it to Steve Jobs for free.) And Bill Gates didn't want to make Windows before Macs came along. (Microsoft was happy making Word.) That's right...Word is 2 years older than Windows. How much longer would MS have kept making Word and NOT making Windows if Steve hadn't come out with the Mac?
All of the pieces were there, but no one thought normal people needed a computer that had a HUMAN interface (desktops, folders, windows) until Steve Jobs decided they needed it. How many command lines do you use these days?
So yes, all of that stuff would have happened eventually, no argument, but it would have started later. Windows 3.1 didn't come out until 8 years after the Mac did. That's when Windows really started gaining ground in the home market: In 1992. When would that have happened if Steve and the Mac hadn't been around? 94? 96? After all, HP and IBM didn't think there was any reason to build a 'PC' at the time. What makes you think Microsoft would have rushed without the Mac tempting them? When would XP have come out? Windows 7?
We'd definitely be 5 years behind in the home computer market. Sure, we'd have HARDWARE that was just as fast as now...engineering goes one...but the software would be lagging. We'd just now be getting Windows Vista this year!
And look at touch-screen phones. And tablets. People have been making them forever, but they were fringe products. What did the popular phones look like in 2006?
They looked like this.
And now what do popular phones look like? They look like this.
This is NOT a "oh, everybody copies Apple" rant. Of COURSE these companies would have come up with these eventually. I'm not saying they wouldn't have. But remember how fast things changed in 2007 after the iPhone came out? No one else was working on stuff like that yet. The first Android prototypes looked like Blackberries at the time! Look how fast that changed.
Would it have happened overnight without the iPhone? See that shiny Android phone in your pocket? That's a 2014 phone in a world without Steve Jobs. Heck, maybe even a 2017 phone if the lack of the Mac in 1984 slowed Windows down by a few years.
That was what was important about Steve. He didn't invent stuff. He took our hands and explained why we should use things that were invented, but not being used. He nudged us along and if you ask anyone else in the tech industry they'd readily agree. Read what Bill Gates said after he died. Gates is not the kind of guy who'd say stuff like that if he didn't mean it.
This is not a Mac/PC argument. This is a "Steve was a leader" argument. And no one else who makes electronics would disagree with this.
So go ahead and say Steve didn't make a difference. But please go on out and buy a 2004 PC and a 2005 mobile phone while you do it. Because that's about as advanced as your software would be right now without him.
*** And that's just the main thing about Steve.
He also totally shook up the music industry and forced them to make the jump from CDs to downloads before they wanted to.
And he got Hollywood's attention with Pixar and many other studios have started taking lessons on how to run a studio based on their example.
And he brought back the idea that design could be useful AND beautiful. That was a staple of 50's and 60's technology but it went away for 20 years. He helped convince the public to want it back.
Any ONE of those subjects could also make a fascinating article and yet I'm forced to just make them footnotes here.
Did anyone in this thread claim he wasn't important? I may have missed that. But I agree with everything you said about why he was important.
Actually, from what I've heard, he gave a LOT to charity, but he did it anonymously, because he didn't want to be seen as bragging about it.
Are these the same sources that claimed he invented the mouse and the PC? 
He is not. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation seems to mainly serve two purposes 1) as a massive tax shelter for the Gates Fortune and 2) as a tool to allow Bill Gates to perpetuate the hegemony of the Windows OS. Helping others seem to be a distant third on the list if it is on his agenda at all.
Truly, this thread has a dizzying cynicism.
Already there seems to be employees wanting to quit, after Jobs' demise.
http://www.dailytech.com/Apples+chi...+Jobs+Executive+Legacy+Alive/article23003.htm
And I'm sure the unbiased, objective evidence for this will be forthcoming?
Somebody clearly doesn't know what a tax shelter is. It's not a shelter if you can't get your money back out of it and avoid taxes. An IRA is a tax shelter. A charitable contribution is not.
At most it's a deduction, but the taxes saved are always a fraction of the amount donated so you would come out financially ahead to keep your money.
At most it's a deduction, but the taxes saved are always a fraction of the amount donated so you would come out financially ahead to keep your money.
You are right, giving away all your money is a great way not to pay any taxes on it
Now, if only all the other billionaires figured that out...
The news that a billionaire died did not upset me too much. What upset me was hearing how many Foxconn workers killed themselves due to the brutal conditions at the factory where iPhones and iPads are made. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxconn_suicides
Well I guess you better stop buying products from
- Acer Inc.
- Amazon.com
- ASRock
- Intel
- Cisco
- Hewlett-Packard
- Dell
- Nintendo
- Nokia
- Microsoft
- MSI
- Motorola
- Sony Ericsson
- Vizio
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