For The Apple Lovers and Critics: How We Remember Steve

[Ragnar-Kon]

Great article Rachel.

I've grown up in a world of both Apple and Microsoft products, and I've learned to appreciate both. I'll admit some of the comments left on Apple articles on Tom's are posted without thought, and I'm sure many were posted for the simple reason of getting as many green up-thumbs as possible.

Even today, I work as a broadcast engineer at an University. Broadcasting is one of those strange industries that rely on both Apple and Microsoft products. We have just as many Mac Pros in our offices as we do Windows 7 machines. Our server room actually has more Xserves than Windows-based servers.

So I see the strength and weaknesses of both Microsoft and Apple products on a daily basis. I, for one, am glad Mr. Jobs came back to save Apple, because if he didn't I am not sure what the broadcasting industry would look like today.

As a side note, all of my desktop machines are self-built Windows machines. All of my laptops are iBooks/PowerBooks/Macbooks/Macbook Pros.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

[citation][nom]Tomsguiderachel[/nom]] I'm glad you're here contributing to the conversation.[/citation]

Thank you.

I'm sure many were posted for the simple reason of getting as many green up-thumbs as possible.

Nonsense. Thumb ups and thumb downs are useless (except for -4 and less - then it hides the comment).

 

[Guest]

http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkYOaSPPf2o&feature=channel_video_title Here's to you Steve!

 

[ram1009]

[citation][nom]HappyBB[/nom]Jobs was just a man who happened to be very good at selling tech products. There's no need to worship him or treat him like god, which so many iPeople are doing. So sick of that![/citation]


I agree completely. He was the right guy in the right place at the right time. Nothing more. Many people could have done the same thing. I can't help wonder how much credit he gets for his employees work. There are so many people working on tech of far greater significance that nobody ever hears about. It turns my stomach to hear him deified.

 

[Guest]

I think this discussion needs to happen in six months or a year from now when emotions will have reached calmer ground.

Then I can speak about why I disliked Mr. Jobs for many years. I regret his passing as I do all forms of life that have only a small space in which to be. Now is a time for mourning.

Please reopen this after a reasonable time.

 

[phenixbard]

Having met the man, but not the business man, the family man. I met him only twice, and at the time, as a child, I never really knew what his significance was. I knew he was a nice guy, with a nice house and mulberry bushes. Mulberry bushes were key to the kid me, that, and his media room.

That said, he had a drive that might was incomparable. I pondered this man, as he had the drive, the will and the skills to constantly deliver. I doubt anyone writing here, least of all me, could say the same of their lives. The onion wrote "Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies." I laughed at this, because, in my mind it holds true. Still, I didn't know the man well, but I liked the man. I'll leave it to my dad to sum up what I think many felt threatened by, and I think it was rarely understood about this man:

"But I can tell you this - he was always pushing, seeking, looking forward, and never really satisfied. I don't mean that in a negative way, but as an insight into the passion and drive you're referring to. He was never driven by the conventional work ethic or conventional sense of responsibility, but by an artist-like passion to keep discovering. That was also the source of his famous outbursts - but it was also the source of his constant striving for perfection in everything that became the soul of Pixar and Apple."

He dies the first true rockstar of computers. Not the first big nerd. Not the richest nerd. The rockstar. The man who appealed to the masses, and got their attention. Nay say what you will, yet Steve will go in history as an icon of technology. He proved consumer computing was viable when many thought that was a ridiculous notion. He paved the music revolution in a commercial model, and forced the industry to play ball. Then he made touch devices accessible to the masses. Personally, I like my droid. I'm a google fan, and the integrations work excellent for me. I still have an ipad as my media center controller and my lounge on the couch watching stupid things device.

The man had a vision, found the right people, and executed. Not many can say that. Many have vision, and no drive. Many have drive, but lack focus and direction. Many just plain quit on the way. Stay hungry, stay focused. RiP, Steve.

 

[scout62]

If Steve Jobs was the great man the Apple sheeple claim him to be then why, especially at the prices Apple charges, didn't he have Apple build products here and put fellow Americans to work?

 

[jdwii]

amk-aka-phantom

I agree with what you say some times but you can really be a dick.

 

[bustapr]

Bill: *talks gibberish*

Steve: "Let me tell this story"

Me: waaahahahahahhahahaha

 

[del35]

I never associated Steve Jobs with Apple's so-called "innovations", he was primarily a businessman. But I did associate him with Apple's iZombies stubbornness, ignorance and tech illiteracy. Because of this:

"Jobs believed: "It isn't the consumer's job to know what they want." In so many ways, he was right. Most people love technology but aren't equipped to articulate what they want it to be like. But many of you are. And when Jobs' acted like you didn't have the brains to know better, it pissed you off. But you were in the minority" .

So very true and why Apple is a threat to the march of technology, very much like people who don't care about the working of their government, but agree to be governed, are a threat to liberty and the well being of society. I am actually terrified of our technology industry becoming like Apple and embracing the belief that all users are too dumb to know.

Let me add that I truly would want to like Apple products, but their technological mediocrity and lack of serviceability, not to mention their lack of open standards, destroys my will. Imagine owning a laptop whose battery or ram you cant replace or upgrade, or whose operating system you can't ditch for an open source one. Yes, Apples casing is pleasant and I like their dvd drives, but those are not good enough reasons to pay a 50% premium, when you can buy a truly superior laptop for significantly less. Technology is too important in our lives not to care about how it works.

Let me finish by saying that one of the most offensive markers of many of the iAmtoodumbtoknow Apple Zombies is the strident hubris with which they flaunt their ignorance. If I were so dumb as to have purchased locked-down mediocre hardware at a premium, I would be a little more humble. I could however understand the pride if Apple manufactured their products here in the USA, but nothing is furthest from the truth.

 

[del35]

Even today, I work as a broadcast engineer at an University. Broadcasting is one of those strange industries that rely on both Apple and Microsoft products. We have just as many Mac Pros in our offices as we do Windows 7 machines. Our server room actually has more Xserves than Windows-based servers.

Perhaps your article should go more into why you need to use both products in the broadcasting industry. Surely some readers are curious. In passing let me just add that your choice of Apple laptops over other laptops makes your earlier claim a bit suspicious. Your comment to me seems more like advertisement. It is as if you were trying to say that not all Apple product users are morons and that even a person who is technologically savvy enough to build a desktop would find an Apple laptop desirable. I simply cant imagine a technologically emancipated person embracing Apple's locked down standards. The two things don't rhyme.

 

[amk-aka-Phantom]

[citation][nom]jdwii[/nom]amk-aka-phantomI agree with what you say some times but you can really be a dick.[/citation]

And why is that?

 

[cesar44]

Rachel:

"And when Jobs acted like you didn't have the brains to know better, it pissed you off".

I think you missed the point, Jobs knew most of the people don't have the energy, the interest, the focus or the time to envision where technology should go to make society quality of life better and better, so he interpret this as a mandate to act in our behalf. That´s what visionaries do and Jobs filled the role perfectly, so you can't blame him for that. He was able to deliver products that would enrich everybody's life and we should be thankful for that.
I think none of this would have happened if he simply relied on market research for developing new products. Just imagine the answers he would have gotten 4 years ago from a market research targeted to understand what would be the odds of a new Apple tablet computer. Probably he would have scratched the iPad project totally ...
I have worked for over 38 years in computer industry and during this time I have taken part or conducted corporate customer research quite a few times and you wouldn't believe how many of them were clueless about their own needs, because they simply lacked the vision their present and future needs. Some of them would even turn to me and ask what they needed so I totally get Jobs' moto and M.O.

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]cesar44[/nom]Rachel:"And when Jobs acted like you didn't have the brains to know better, it pissed you off".I think you missed the point, Jobs knew most of the people don't have the energy, the interest, the focus or the time to envision where technology should go to make society quality of life better and better, so he interpret this as a mandate to act in our behalf. That´s what visionaries do and Jobs filled the role perfectly, so you can't blame him for that. He was able to deliver products that would enrich everybody's life and we should be thankful for that. I think none of this would have happened if he simply relied on market research for developing new products. Just imagine the answers he would have gotten 4 years ago from a market research targeted to understand what would be the odds of a new Apple tablet computer. Probably he would have scratched the iPad project totally ...I have worked for over 38 years in computer industry and during this time I have taken part or conducted corporate customer research quite a few times and you wouldn't believe how many of them were clueless about their own needs, because they simply lacked the vision their present and future needs. Some of them would even turn to me and ask what they needed so I totally get Jobs' moto and M.O.[/citation]
I think maybe--just maybe--YOU missed the point
I agree with what you said. Many of the readers of Tom's Hardware, however, want all technology companies to cater to savvy, tech-educated consumers (like themselves). THAT's part of why they are pissed off at Apple. However, most people DO NOT want to upgrade their own RAM or replace their own batteries--and that can be hard for some Tom's Hardware readers to accept. Some of them get upset when consumers refuse to take more control over their own possessions. I, however, think it is a perfectly informed and valid choice for a consumer to pay a premium for design, and perfectly valid to prefer to pay to upgrade rather than doing it ones' self. CHOOSING to not have a choice (about the components in your machine) is still a choice. However, I empathize with the readers who feel otherwise.

 

[Tomsguiderachel]

[citation][nom]del35[/nom]So very true and why Apple is a threat to the march of technology, very much like people who don't care about the working of their government, but agree to be governed, are a threat to liberty and the well being of society. I am actually terrified of our technology industry becoming like Apple and embracing the belief that all users are too dumb to know. Let me add that I truly would want to like Apple products, but their technological mediocrity and lack of serviceability, not to mention their lack of open standards, destroys my will. Imagine owning a laptop whose battery or ram you cant replace or upgrade, or whose operating system you can't ditch for an open source one. Yes, Apples casing is pleasant and I like their dvd drives, but those are not good enough reasons to pay a 50% premium, when you can buy a truly superior laptop for significantly less. Technology is too important in our lives not to care about how it works. Let me finish by saying that one of the most offensive markers of many of the iAmtoodumbtoknow Apple Zombies is the strident hubris with which they flaunt their ignorance. If I were so dumb as to have purchased locked-down mediocre hardware at a premium, I would be a little more humble. I could however understand the pride if Apple manufactured their products here in the USA, but nothing is furthest from the truth.[/citation]
I think you very articulately pinpointed the position of many readers of Tom's Hardware. However, I CAN imagine "owning a laptop whose battery or ram you cant replace or upgrade, or whose operating system you can't ditch for an open source one." I can imagine it, and I can even like it, and so can millions of people. And to me, that's not a bad thing. I know you said it destroys your will, but I encourage you to think about the fact that many people would rather NOT USE technology than use technology that takes effort and skill to use effectively. And some people care more about how a computer or device LOOKS than if it is the best value, and that is how the marketplace works--everyone has different priorities. You're right--maybe some owners of Apple products should be more upfront about the fact that they know they are paying a premium, and that they aren't interested in any other operating system besides OSX, and that they, and that they never want to take the back panel off and look under the hood. If Apple owners all acknowledged this, would it help? If your answer is yes, then maybe you will also grow to be able to admit that not everyone has the same priorities as you, and that's OKAY.

 

[vaughn2k]

Apple don't have technology, only innovation. And be careful that sometimes innovation, if done right, can be deceiving...

 

[Guest]

To Resume the previous coments:

Apple is not deceiving anyone , you either like or not.
Not everyone cares about what's under the hood or being able to modify/manipulate their hardware/software and this is why Apple is their 1st Choice.
Im not one of those individuals , my Window PC relationship streches back to windows 95 without ever owning a Mac Computer.
Neverthless , I recognize that not everyone is the same and in that sense Steve Jobs did brilliant "Job".
For all it was worth , I have huge respect for Steve and hope apple keeps "thinking different".

 

[baseballmaven]

A brilliantly researched and written article...awesome job, Rachel.