Matthew on 6/10/2011 at 13:07
Oddly, I ordered an iPad a couple of hours before the news came through, with 'Think Different' engraved on the back.
Kuuso on 6/10/2011 at 13:14
This was quite expected, the guy's been shrinking for years.
It's funny how his philosophy is "completely" opposite to mine - he always was design and usability first, hardware second (do remember that I am from Nokialand). However, it's exactly that what made him such a great businessman, he knew exactly what kind of a product will sell and he knew what kind of user interface it should have to be as widely usable as possible. Take the Ipod for example, it's wheel is so intuitive even now (getting overtaken by more expensive touchscreens). This is not to even mention that he "casually" founded Pixar and pretty much created commercial 3D animation movies, which are the bread and butter of today's hollywood cinema.
As a DJ and heavy music user, I can't but admit that he really helped music integrating with the internet, not even speaking of all the DJs rocking their macs - even if it's just a preordered playlist in Virtual DJ :p
No, I won't buy a Mac even now, but I do respect the work he's done - he's probably forced plenty of companies to think a bit more about usability, which is not bad at all.
Vernon on 6/10/2011 at 13:32
I'm not sure usability and ergonomics is his legacy. Sure, it was a big part of it, but I think his legacy was the marketing stuff. The I'm a Mac adverts were ultra, ultra viral. They won't be forgotten for years. I heard a rumour that he would vet every magazine advertisement placement! Even in tiny boutique magazines. You've seen his keynotes. They blew people away. There was also the design of the Prada-style shops as these kind of open, transparent environments - they belied anything that may have been going on behind the scenes. There was the secrecy and product launch dates. This stuff was crazy and incredibly effective. There have been plenty of beautiful and ergonomic designs over the years that had nothing to do with Apple. The thing was, they sold it and sold it hard. That's Jobs' legacy, imo. A frigging marketing genius.
In some ways, I think the word usability is a misnomer in the Apple case. These white boxes that 'just work' were run by magic, in Jobs' own words. That stuff is really appealing to people who don't care about what is going on inside the white box. I think that those who do care what happens inside a given box have a very different definition of the word 'usability.' Anyway I am beating a dead horse here. The idea of Macs being made for the bewildered end-user market is widespread and well-known
Forever420 on 6/10/2011 at 13:54
GG
Thing that make Jobs and apple pernicious was they had image of being "good guys" and for peace and justice but whatnot, but just used image to cover for massive exploitation of hapless 3rd world people.
Jason Moyer on 6/10/2011 at 14:05
Steve Jobs was a marketing guru. Everything he did for Apple during both of his stints as CEO was about creating a brand. Wozniak was a visionary; Jobs was the man who convinced people that novel tech toys were an indispensable part of everday life.
SD on 6/10/2011 at 14:33
(
http://skeptoid.com/blog/2011/10/05/a-lesson-in-treating-illness/)
Quote:
I’m sad that today I’m adding a slide to one of my live presentations, adding Steve Jobs to the list of famous people who died treating terminal diseases with woo rather than with medicine.
Most pancreatic cancers are aggressive and always terminal, but Steve was lucky (if you can call it that) and had a rare form called an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor, which is actually quite treatable with excellent survival rates — if caught soon enough. The median survival is about a decade, but it depends on how soon it’s removed surgically. Steve caught his very early, and should have expected to survive much longer than a decade. Unfortunately Steve relied on a naturopathic diet instead of early surgery. There is no evidence that diet has any effect on islet cell carcinoma. As he dieted for nine months, the tumor progressed, and took him from the high end to the low end of the survival rate.
Renault on 6/10/2011 at 14:54
Hate just about anything apple - macs, ipods, ipads, etc., but you had to respect the vision of the guy. I don't know anything about the structure of Apple, I kinda wonder if there's anyone remotely qualified to carry the torch now that he's gone. In any case, R.I.P Steve Jobs, for better or worse, you changed the world.
Medlar on 6/10/2011 at 17:10
RIP
SubJeff on 6/10/2011 at 17:25
Really? You "hate" them? How odd. They may not be for you but you can't have used any of them for any length of time if you "hate" them. I'm the resident Android zealot here, I'm pretty sure, but I don't hate Apple products. They are good products, excellent even, they just aren't for me.
On another note - the tributes and en-shrining of Apple stores is some kind of crazy cult worship weirdness. It reminds me of an Alien Workshop t-shirt I saw once that had a picture of a TV with two worshipping hands reaching up to it and the slogan "Exalt the New God" under it.
All respect to the man, he did great work in his field, but he certainly didn't change the WORLD.
I read this quote by him today.
"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart."
Steve Jobs 2005
Frikking awesome.
demagogue on 6/10/2011 at 18:04
That's an inspiring quote, although said from the perspective of someone able to make a living from their vision. If the world isn't buying it, thinking about death just makes you worry more about how you're ever going to build up a savings to protect yourself or do anything at all in life. I think that's why we're so inspired by people that can not only live off their vision but flourish; they're making all those tropes about following your dreams mean something for the rest of us.
I wouldn't say I hate Apple products. My usual reaction is something more like being struck by the dissonance: "This interface is great! Why can't I get inside and tinker with anything?" That about sums it up.
