iSad

He did, but I do think technology would have eventually evolved much the same way it did even without him. It was inevitable that companies would want to market computers for home use and technology would have evolved to accomplish that goal. It might have ended up differently, but nobody can say whether it would be better or worse.

IMO for about 20 years Apples actually held back technological progression because of how proprietary they were--their hardware came with their software and it took an act of God to intermingle it with much more modular PC hardware and software. I think video cards were about all you could replace in an Apple without needing expensive, proprietary items.

They've gotten a bit better about that in recent years, at least.

It appears Im late to the game, but I have to say Im very disappointed in this community's lack of regard to this man's death. All I see is bitching about how you cant custom mod your Mac and the phrase "proprietary" a bunch of times.

Apple under jobs has done so much good for the PC world, its truly staggering. Millions of dollars spent to refine the manufacturing processes, the purchasing process, the user experience... I cant keep track of the monumental changes he brought to the table.

I was up in Cupertino the day he died, and I can tell you that there wasnt a single visionary in Silicon Valley, a single decision maker, that didnt recognize the enormity of our loss at his passing.

I'm in the process of reading his biography -- actually not much of an Apple fan, but always interesting to learn about someone's life. Especially when that person is as recognizable and idolized as much as he was.

That being said, Steve Jobs was known by his friends and family as someone who knew how to run with a vision. He didn't create computers, he created a company around computers because he saw the value in doing that. It was described many times by himself and peers that were interviewed that he didn't give credit where it was due and would constantly take ownership of people's ideas as his own.

Apparently he was an asshole of a person to work for or with -- but it was kind of ingenious. He would tell people their work was "complete shit" that they spent months on, breaking their morale and emotions until it turned into a legitimate fight or flight response. People with flight left Apple, and people with fight produced things that they invested their whole being, adrenaline, experience, and dignity into. The result was something no other company could ever touch and Jobs knew that.

I could never be like Jobs. I can respect him as a business and technology visionary and leader though.

I can't believe I keep seeing people toss around the word 'expensive' as if it were some terrible disease. Yes, Apple products historically have been priced luxuriously, but recent years have seen prices drop dramatically, to the point where competitors literally cannot keep up. Look at the price of similar Android and WP7 devices. Apple may have charged exorbitant prices, but it led to manufacturing processes that continue to baffle competitors. Apple is said to hold the majority of the manufacturing sector's lasers solely for use in fabricating metal chassies.



Da Vinci and Tesla have been dead long enough to see their legacies passed on to a new generation, evolved and adapted. Jobs has been dead less than two months. His legacy is still in motion.



In the '70's and early '80's, yes. But that Apple died and was subsumed in Jobs' 3rd act. Woz had so very little to do with the company as it is today.



And yet, he cried, unabashedly, on camera, mere hours after Jobs' death.



My intention was not to come here to refute your individual points and be so contentious, but I truly feel that to so callously dismiss Jobs' accomplishments and to paint him as some nefarious money-hungry power freak is akin to framing Wilde as an fanatical faggot, or Gates as a single-minded nerd with little capability for true innovation, or Disney as a day-dreaming anti-semite. Sure it's easy to see them in such light, and many were willing to publicly agree, but to do so is to show an unwillingness to judge each man by their individual accomplishments. We should not be so reductive of the life of a man simply because of largely unfounded bias.

I'm honestly saddened by the things I've read here, from this community.