Steve Jobs is dead

[sheepdog229]

I heard someone today refer to him as "The Thomas Edison of our era" and that sounded pretty accurate to me.

I wouldn't go quite that far this soon, but he was definitely way up on the list. In my mind, Edison is a step, and maybe a short one, below Gutenburg. We think of the light bulb and AC power as his most important inventions, but I would say that the phonograph may top the list culturally speaking as sound recording served to fix the form of the spoken language about as much as widely available printed material help to fix its written form eventually. When the final accounting is done, I think people will remember Steve Jobs not so much for being one of the guys who built and sold the first personal computer, but because of the way he changed the way we communicate and interact later in his career. During his second run with Apple, he turned it from a niche computer company into a broad based consumer electronics and communications giant.

Actually, Edison didn't invent the light bulb. In fact, his patent was taken away from him in both the U.S. and Britain.

RIP Steve.

 

[OldPhysics]

I was just reading last night about the debut of the latest iPhone, and a couple of reviewers were annoyed that Steve Jobs didn't show up for it. Sorry, guys, he was otherwise occupied, checking out. Well, he did good. I'm sorry he didn't have more time to enjoy life.

Actually, I'd say he accomplished what he set out to do ... and he did enjoy himself doing it. Even managed to mostly keep his private life to himself.

Finally met him last year and got to spend some time with him earlier this year. A fine mind and yes a very driven man.

Just as impressive in private as you might imagine.

Sorry to see him go.

 

[OldPhysics]

I heard someone today refer to him as "The Thomas Edison of our era" and that sounded pretty accurate to me.

A kind and generous thing to say, but not accurate.

Steve Jobs was his own "kind." We're all better off for his efforts and for his example.

 

[elkins45]

A kind and generous thing to say, but not accurate.

Steve Jobs was his own "kind." We're all better off for his efforts and for his example.

I think it's accurate to say we're all better off as a result of Edison's efforts as well.

 

[Fanglekai]

I wouldn't go quite that far this soon, but he was definitely way up on the list. In my mind, Edison is a step, and maybe a short one, below Gutenburg. We think of the light bulb and AC power as his most important inventions, but I would say that the phonograph may top the list culturally speaking as sound recording served to fix the form of the spoken language about as much as widely available printed material help to fix its written form eventually. When the final accounting is done, I think people will remember Steve Jobs not so much for being one of the guys who built and sold the first personal computer, but because of the way he changed the way we communicate and interact later in his career. During his second run with Apple, he turned it from a niche computer company into a broad based consumer electronics and communications giant.

I wouldn't go quite that far this soon, but he was definitely way up on the list. In my mind, Edison is a step, and maybe a short one, below Gutenburg. We think of the light bulb and AC power as his most important inventions, but I would say that the phonograph may top the list culturally speaking as sound recording served to fix the form of the spoken language about as much as widely available printed material help to fix its written form eventually. When the final accounting is done, I think people will remember Steve Jobs not so much for being one of the guys who built and sold the first personal computer, but because of the way he changed the way we communicate and interact later in his career. During his second run with Apple, he turned it from a niche computer company into a broad based consumer electronics and communications giant.

Actually Tesla discovered AC. Edison was fixated on DC.

 

[jdm61]

Are you sure about that? We ended up with AC and I always heard that Tesla was the guy left on the outside looking in.

Actually Tesla discovered AC. Edison was fixated on DC.

 

[jdm61]

As an aside, Mr. Jobs left the company with a bit of a "going away present" For all of the whining about how the iPhone 4S was not the major redesign and how Apple is on the decline, I just read that the 4S is looking like it will be the most successful new product release ever for AT&T even though they now have 2 major competitors for iPhone sales in the US.

 

[Fanglekai]

Are you sure about that? We ended up with AC and I always heard that Tesla was the guy left on the outside looking in.

Nikola Tesla developed polyphase alternating current system of generators, motors and transformers and held 40 basic U.S. patents on the system, which George Westinghouse bought, determined to supply America with the Tesla system. Edison did not want to lose his DC empire, and a bitter war ensued. This was the war of the currents between AC and DC. Tesla -Westinghouse ultimately emerged the victor because AC was a superior technology. It was a war won for the progress of both America and the world.

http://www.teslasociety.com/ac.htm

 

[bladerunner51]

A kind and generous thing to say, but not accurate.

Steve Jobs was his own "kind." We're all better off for his efforts and for his example.

I think the comparison is apt. He was his "own kind" and the world is also better off with what he left behind. Sure, a lot of it is just entertainment, but the gadgets he created are also helping us connect with other people in this giant world of ours.

I feel he should be honored. Hell, I even added a tribute of my own at www.pixt.com/remembersteve

There's tons of other tributes there and you can even upload your own.

 

[bandaidman]

Apple Market cap was about 2.1-2.3 billion when he was named interim CEO in 1997

Today it is 360 billion

A remarkable record that is unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon

Disclosure: Written on my 20" imac...my fifth apple computer, I also inherited an original macintosh classic computer when I got married

On which I wrote the CV for my current job close to 2 decades ago

 

[UffDa]

There was an editorial in the local paper about Steve. The editor wrote that there were many more Steve Jobs out there.
My comment was that for every Steve Jobs, there were 100 useless government bureaucrats waiting to slap him down and
tie him up with red tape.

I have witnessed that in person.

 

[jdm61]

Stephen Fry, who is a major Apple and Steve Jobs fan, got his iPhone 4S review sample about 12 hours before It was announced that Jobs had died. As such, his review of the phone in the Guardian was also a bit of a eulogy for Jobs. He made the somewhat humorous and yet serious comment that if he was able to have grandchildren and he told them years from now that he had met Steve Jobs when he was younger, he would fully expect for his theoretical grandchildren to react in the same way as he would have if his grandfather had told him that he had met Henry Ford or John D. Rockefeller when he was young.