R.I.P. Steve Jobs

[PDH]

Jobs was a genius at making the complex accessible to the common person.  He gets to much credit for "starting" technologies that clearly either existed before he added his touch, or would have existed in spite of him, but he was an innovator in the analytically difficult area of interface design; his intuition there was almost always correct, and his companies made billions as a result.

Agree 100%.  Just being able to understand what people will want to use...an amazing talent.

[Barrister]

Jobs was a genius at making the complex accessible to the common person.  He gets to much credit for "starting" technologies that clearly either existed before he added his touch, or would have existed in spite of him, but he was an innovator in the analytically difficult area of interface design; his intuition there was almost always correct, and his companies made billions as a result.

Aye.

Clearly he didn't invent the personal computer, or the GUI, or the touch screen, or the MP3 player, or the smart phone.  But he did make those things accessible.  He was also a genius at giving people what HE thought they wanted, and was usually correct.

[Fate]

ZH posted this. Might be worth a look.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/43945579/Playboy-Interview-With-Steve-Jobs

From 1985.

I love that article. Jobs tries, but fails to convince the interviewer that the mouse (described as a box with a button ) is this revolutionary advancement, affordable personal computers ($1000) will one day be a reality, and that in the future will be this awesome system of interconnected networks. The man really saw it all coming.

[Brazen]

ZH posted this. Might be worth a look.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/43945579/Playboy-Interview-With-Steve-Jobs

From 1985.

I love that article. Jobs tries, but fails to convince the interviewer that the mouse (described as a box with a button ) is this revolutionary advancement, affordable personal computers ($1000) will one day be a reality, and that in the future will be this awesome system of interconnected networks. The man really saw it all coming.

Wow, that's from 1985. Believe it or not, the very next year I started the first IT degree in the country.

[The Minsky Moment]

How many business executives really add value to their companies in an objective, measurable way?  Hundreds of business schools and millions of executives around the world spend enormous time and effort trying to figure out how to bring tangible benefits to the bottom line through executive leadership.  99% of what comes out of that effort is a lot of noise, impenetrable and meaningless jargon, emphemeral management "fads", and empty catch phrases.

Jobs did it.  he took over a stagnant company a few more bad quaters away from restructuring, and made it into the largest company in America by market cap, depending on how Exxon happens to be trading.  Of course, other talented execs, product designers and line employees at Apple made a difference, but even among his detractors the consensus seems to be that Jobs' obssessive, perhaps even deranged management style was a difference maker.   

[Barrister]

How many business executives really add value to their companies in an objective, measurable way?  Hundreds of business schools and millions of executives around the world spend enormous time and effort trying to figure out how to bring tangible benefits to the bottom line through executive leadership.  99% of what comes out of that effort is a lot of noise, impenetrable and meaningless jargon, emphemeral management "fads", and empty catch phrases.

Jobs did it.  he took over a stagnant company a few more bad quaters away from restructuring, and made it into the largest company in America by market cap, depending on how Exxon happens to be trading.  Of course, other talented execs, product designers and line employees at Apple made a difference, but even among his detractors the consensus seems to be that Jobs' obssessive, perhaps even deranged management style was a difference maker.

And that wasn't the first time he did it either.  He famously started Apple out of his parents garage into a company worth hundreds of millions by the time he was forced out.  He started Pixar.  Hell even NeXT was a reasonably successful company - it's only when compared to Apple and Pixar that it seems small.

[Valmy]

but even among his detractors the consensus seems to be that Jobs' obssessive, perhaps even deranged management style was a difference maker.  

The obssessive deranged management style?  That should be the new fad.

[Grallon]

One of the very few business leader worthy of respect.  We mourn.




G.

[Warspite]

Jobs was a genius at making the complex accessible to the common person.  He gets to much credit for "starting" technologies that clearly either existed before he added his touch, or would have existed in spite of him, but he was an innovator in the analytically difficult area of interface design; his intuition there was almost always correct, and his companies made billions as a result.

[The Brain]

Meh. I'm still mad about the lack of floppy eject button.

[Fate]

Meh. I'm still mad about the lack of floppy eject button.

Yeah. What was up with that? I had to keep a paperclip handy at all times when using a mac at school.

[HVC]

that and their stupid mice.

[The Brain]

That mouse was beyond retarded.

[Barrister]

Meh. I'm still mad about the lack of floppy eject button.

But that was back from when Jobs was not with Apple.

When he came back he had a simple solution: he got rid of the floppy alltogether. 

[Fate]

Meh. I'm still mad about the lack of floppy eject button.

But that was back from when Jobs was not with Apple.

When he came back he had a simple solution: he got rid of the floppy alltogether. 

The original Macintosh never had an eject button for the floppy. It only had a hole for paperclips.

After he came back, Apple began producing iMacs with CD drives that did not have manual eject buttons.

Seems like a trend. I think he had an objection to the aesthetics of an eject button.