Jobs was put up for adoption by a pregnant college coed.

If it happened today, she'd have aborted him.

Thanks for sharing this Amy. Steve was one
of the top influencers in my life.

Regards,
Tony

Oh, you fuckers are going to be insufferable today, aren't you? I was willing to give you yesterday, because the guy was remarkable. Now will this ever end?

No candlelit weeping will attend Bill Gates' escape from our world. But set aside for a moment Gates' greater success and influence in the industry.

(Well, not just yet: There's a case to be made that no man made more money from the Macintosh than Bill Gates. Microsoft sold some of the most successful [and expensive] software for the Mac, suites which were absolutely essential for acceptance of the platform in corporate settings. Microsoft bought $150 million dollars of stock at Apple's 1997 nadir. And best of all, Apple was the perfect fig leaf when the Security Exchange Commission came sniffing around. Officer, whaddya mean, 'industry dominance'? We don't dominate nuthin'! Why, those guys down Cupertino are crazy successful, and we have no control over them whatsoever...!)

This guy's character had major faults. There were backdatings of stock options; there were evasions about his health to stockholders and regulators when it was obviously a matter of profound importance; and perhaps most importantly, there was no charity for which he allowed himself to be emulated.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded 17 years ago. Even then, it seemed a little late... But over the years, Bill always acknowledged that success of his magnitude brought special responsibility. He said he wanted to concentrate on business when he was young, and then do good works when he retired... And he retired early to do just that.

There are people who argue that B&MGF has a shot at eliminating malaria.... That's HUGE. It means a lot more to humanity than could fancy phones, which are coming no matter who sells them to you.

If the forthcoming retrospective of Jobs' life reveals a previously unknown trove of philanthropy, I'll be pleased... But I'll also be surprised. In some important and unattractive ways, Steve's life was all about Steve.

Securities And etc.

Gimme a break, it's still dark out.

There are people who argue that B&MGF has a shot at eliminating malaria.... That's HUGE.

Funny you ahould mention this - the company I used to work for was investigating a malarie vaccine, with help from the Gates Foundation.

In Mr. Jobs' case, iSAD. He was instrumental in moving us forward with new technologies and ways of communicating. But I also agree with Crid, the guy wasn't the end all and be all of the industry.

Next!

Should. S! And I have no excuse, it's quite light out now, and I've had my coffee.

Sheeeeesh.

Everyone's flawed. And we can have more than one hero.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was founded 17 years ago....

I would argue, as have many others, that Bill Gates, Steve Jobs etc. did far more good for far more people as "evil" capitalists than they did or could have done as "noble" philanthropists. Think of the hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people who owe their gainful employment directly or indirectly to these men. Think of how much wealth they created for so many people. We live the comfortable lives we do because of the efforts of capitalists like them.

> And we can have more than one hero.

None blindly.

Amy - how does your Amazon deal work?
Is it only stuff you list that give you a commission? Or anything I buy after browsing to them from your mall?

I am planning a purchase of books and other stuff.

I guess there's no occurrence in American life any more that the loony left, the loony right and the loony in-between can't attempt to hijack for their own purposes.

It says more about the one-size-fits-all spectacles they use to see the world than it does the world itself.

Aww, Kevster, who's afraid of a little reading?

"People shouldn't have so many opinions!"

Here's some candy for you kids

A gumball and some chocolate.

Postrel reminds us that boyfriend jumped the line: Embarrassed to have forgotten that in the list above.

Number 6 is the stupidest (and I hope ugliest) argument you will read today. "Confessions" indeed.

Favorite line from the last seven days was Andy Ihnatko on TwitTV last week, regarding this photo: "Zuckerberg was proud to be seated just two chairs away."

Enough? OK, Good Morning...

No candlelit weeping will attend Bill Gates' escape from our world. But set aside for a moment Gates' greater success and influence in the industry.

Not to mention the fact that Gates' products probably changed more lives for the better than Jobs' did.

Windows-based computers were less-expensive, thus more readily accessible to the masses. For $400, anyone can buy a new Windows set up to join the modern age and connect with the world at large. A Windows-based Web-surfing computer cost as much as the newest low-level iPod and a third of what it takes to buy Apple's iPad.

Microsoft licensed others to write software for Windows- and DOS-based machines, putting countless thousands to work and kicking off a technology boom that brought prosperity to hundreds thousands. Apple insisted on keeping most of the software development under strict scrutiny in-house, a move that limited the Apple's utility and almost caused the company's demise.

For all of Apple's hype about freeing the masses, Gates' company actually did more toward that end than Apple did.

Still, those Apple products are sharp. The company has a keen eye for design and a good sense for trends. And I really like my iPhone ... and my MacBook ... and my iPod.

Microsoft licensed others to write software for Windows- and DOS-based machines, putting countless thousands to work and kicking off a technology boom that brought prosperity to hundreds thousands. Apple insisted on keeping most of the software development under strict scrutiny in-house, a move that limited the Apple's utility and almost caused the company's demise.

You're right and wrong here. Correct that Apple's closed operations nearly killed them, but wrong in what they were closed about.

It gets to a core difference between Apple and Microsoft. Apple is first and foremost a hardware company, not a software company. Apple's great OS and UX is intended to get you to buy their hardware. Apple doesn't make its money on OS X, iOS, Garage Band, or iPhoto. They make it on the machines. Apple has never licensed its OS to be used on any other hardware, which is why OS X is actually quite cheap to buy (and why Apple has shut down companies that were selling "Hackintosh" computers running their software.

Microsoft took the opposite approach - they built the software and let others handle the hardware, at a whole range of price points and performance levels. As a result, the Apple experience is more cohesive and smoother in general (software and hardware are made for each other) and the Windows experience is more ubiquitous. There's no doubt that Microsoft has done far more to reach the masses with computers, but Apple has done more to guide how computers should work and how we should interact with them.

Still, those Apple products are sharp. The company has a keen eye for design and a good sense for trends. And I really like my iPhone ... and my MacBook ... and my iPod.

I really like those devices, too.

What I think is remarkable is how effective Apple has been in creating the trends. The truly portable mp3 player didn't exist until the iPod (anyone recall the Creative Nomad?). Back when the iPhone came out, Blackberry ruled the smart phone space, and people lamented the lack of a keyboard on the iPhone. Now RIM is on life support, and Google is doing the Microsoft route with Android, which like Windows, is derivative of iOS (and also like Windows, is going to be the platform that brings smart phones to everyone). Most recently, the iPad created a market, and others scrambled to catch up.

Absent Jobs leadership, I'm not sure Apple makes any of these things. Past experience of Apple without Jobs suggests that it won't be Apple that creates the next disruptive consumer technology device; but as Jobs would understand, his death makes room for the next generation of creatives to fuse design, engineering and marketing to make remarkable things that people really enjoy.

> Microsoft licensed others to write software for
> Windows- and DOS-based machines

Exactly. I'll always adore Winders for the plenitude of cheap and free software (often portable) from all over the world. Garage-band manufacturers throughout Asia and America have built accessories (or the machines themselves) for every price point. Apple never had that kind of playful, economically-desperate innovation. Apple was a guy in a BMW from Bel-Air: Snotty, expensive, and completely unimproved from the showroom floor. Wintel was like a kid in rice from the San Fernando Valley: Showy, garish accessorized, and deeply customized.

Things got weird in the '94 interview with Rolling Stone, as he talked about object-oriented programming:

With our technology, with objects, literally three people in a garage can blow away what 200 people at Microsoft can do. Literally can blow it away. Corporate America has a need that is so huge and can save them so much money, or make them so much money, or cost them so much money if they miss it, that they are going to fuel the object revolution.

It was infuriating, because that was already happening on the PC side... And it never happened on the Mac, even after he was back in charge.

Jobs didn't embrace small-scale software developers until the Iphone— He configured access through Itunes to slice off a huge percentage of their income for himself, and to choke their distribution entirely when he didn't like their work.

Imagine if the president of General Motors was allowed to decide how you'd accessorize and (even paint) your car.

No more Pink Ramblers.

Grab bag

I love OSX. As a scientist migrating from the Unix world, I can have my iTunes, run Microsoft Office, and then pop open a xterm window and run my favorite professional programs for data analysis. You can do most of that with Linux but at the expense of trying to plug security holes constantly and still finding yourself the host of a denial of service attack from some kid in Australia.

Amy, I have a lot of reading to do. I'm going to hit your links, and Crid's, but have not done that yet.

Nevertheless, I just wanted to say, before proceeding elsewhere, that this comment " ...he talked some impressive tech talk" made me smile.

I've been with my geeky sweety for over four years now, and although sometimes he thinks I'm just smoking a joint and ignoring his tech talk, that shit is music to my ears.

If you and I were ladies sitting around a campfire, back when people were still hunter-gatherers, the guys we swooned over would have been the tool-builders. Those hulking hunters were always sexy, but the ones who hung out at the campfires with us, designing better arrows, who were better at conversation - we like, eh?

>> Kate is absolutely right.

You don't actually know anything about Steve Jobs do you?

>> Actually, I do. Like she said, people are flawed. He was.

mmmkay. like how?

again, I don't think that you know anything about his history. You wouldn't have written to him if you did.

The press has anointed Jobs as the new Edison, based on three similar consumer devices that he'd overseen the development of. Wait a few years for the truth to come out. It's not going to be pretty, and you'll probably be embarrassed by what you've written here.

>> I guess you really don't have a window into my brain -- just a pathetic need to be "right."

LOL. Right about what?!? The fact that you don't know anything about Jobs? Well that's evident. It's your fault for claiming that you do. Why didn't you just acknowledge that you like his products rather than claim that you know about him personally. It's not like you're obliged to know the guy's bio. But instead you doubled down and have embarrassed yourself, and so that's somehow my fault.

As Stephen Fry points out, the "tiny nitwits" above who try to diminish and denigrate Steve Jobs' life and accomplishments fit Oscar Wilde's definition of a fool.

http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/10/06/steve-jobs/single-page/

> Wait a few years for the truth to come out.
> It's not going to be pretty

Paulo has secret knowledge! He's a cornerstone of the subterranean Silicon Valley Cabal!

For shit's sake, dude, she's burned a lot more of her disk space on my causal critiques of the guy than her own praise. At no point is her appreciation of the guy personal.

What exactly do you want? What do you know that others don't? Specifics.

> Wait a few years for the truth

Secret knowledge! Guy reminds me of Louis Tully:

"Gozer the Traveler. He will come in one of the pre-chosen forms. During the rectification of the Vuldrini, the traveler came as a large and moving Torg! Then, during the third reconciliation of the last of the McKetrick supplicants, they chose a new form for him: that of a giant Slor! Many Shuvs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Slor that day, I can tell you!"

"What's going on here with you is an interchange with a small man who's determined to be "right" about something where there is no "right" or "wrong," only a girl who wrote an appreciative letter to a guy who made a difference in her life and those of a lot of people.
"

Amy, just remember Steve Job's quote, "Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice."