What Everyone Is Too Polite to Say About Steve Jobs

[NotMe546]

Wow.

In the days after Steve Jobs' death, friends and colleagues have, in customary fashion, been sharing their fondest memories of the Apple co-founder. He's been hailed as "a genius" and "the greatest CEO of his generation" by pundits and tech journalists. But a great man's reputation can withstand a full accounting. And, truth be told, Jobs could be terrible to people, and his impact on the world was not uniformly positive.

 

[Bobby]

He and Edison were a lot alike, in many ways....

 

[jayn_j]

Not really a negative.

I took a shot at starting a business. I tell people that it proved that as an entrapaneur, I am a darned good engineer! I believed in the technology. I could see the applications. I could convey the vision to others. However, I couldn't generate the cooperation and enthusiasm that was necessary between the providers and the users to move it forward.

That's what Jobs excelled at. He could see the non-obvious possibility and present it in such a way that everybody just knew it was the right answer to a problem they didn't even know they had.

 

[navychop]

The article is misleading regarding Gates. Bill Gates never gave a dime until, swamped by lawsuits and bad press, his lawyers convinced him to do so to improve his public image, convincing him that it would not affect his lifestyle at all.

But I'll admit, he's more than catching up.

 

[Juan]

He and Edison were a lot alike, in many ways....

cept Edison had many more "Inventions" i.e. patents..Edison invented things that did not exist (i.e. the lightbulb) while Steve Jobs just improved existing technology (i.e. the Cell Phone) They were both brilliant men but a better comparison to Steve Jobs would be Alexander Graham Bell. ( Who invented many things other than his "improvements" to the telephone)

 

[Peter Parker]

Actually the dark side of Jobs has been well reported over the years. however when someone dies we tend to celebrate their accomplishments and virties rather than point out their faults and failures. After a period of mourning the reporting will become more balanced.

 

[Peter Parker]

cept Edison had many more "Inventions" i.e. patents..Edison invented things that did not exist (i.e. the lightbulb) while Steve Jobs just improved existing technology (i.e. the Cell Phone) They were both brilliant men but a better comparison to Steve Jobs would be Alexander Graham Bell. ( Who invented many things other than his "improvements" to the telephone)

Edison did not invent the light bulb. He improved designs (and found the right filament) the same is true for several of his other "inventions." He hada slew of them concerning telegraphy but it would be quite a stretch to say he invented the telegraph. Both men improved things that were already there.

but on the raw patent count Edison would be WAY ahead of Jobs. EDison had over 2,000 and jobs is laited on about 300 and they were often group efforts.

 

[navychop]

So, what you're saying is that double glasses guy in the 1984 commercial, talking about "pure ideology" was actually.......

 

[televisionarchives]

I listened to some podcast and radio stations talking about him over the last week. Everyone that did any business with him all said he was very difficult. One podcast talked about his language used in a meeting . He trashed the product they showed him and told them to forget it. They produce it anyway with another company and it was successful. Jobs didn't seem to have many friends. And with the price of anything Apple sold being so high I can only imagine the profits .

One of the things that has fascinated me is that Steve Jobs used LSD. Some have said it was the reason he came up with many of the ideas for Apple. The inventor of LSD , Albert Hofmann, wrote a letter to Jobs and asked him about his "trip". My only concern I guess is that someone might look at his drug use as a way to invent the next gadget.

 

[navychop]

Thin the herd.

 

[yaz96]

Thin the herd.

huh

 

[navychop]

A slight error in the LSD dosage and you're toast.

 

[Juan]

Edison did not invent the light bulb. He improved designs (and found the right filament) the same is true for several of his other "inventions." He hada slew of them concerning telegraphy but it would be quite a stretch to say he invented the telegraph. Both men improved things that were already there.

but on the raw patent count Edison would be WAY ahead of Jobs. EDison had over 2,000 and jobs is laited on about 300 and they were often group efforts.

true..but he had the first "practical" light bulb

 

[Peter Parker]

which is something different than inventing it. he improved on an existing device----which is what jobs and many others did.