Apple defined by purloined mantra?
As a retired data processor with extensive experience with IBM computers, I couldn’t help but laugh at the background picture hanging on the cubicle overhead cabinet behind Ashton Kutcher who is portraying Steve Jobs …
Like so much intellectual property that originated with others, especially Xerox’s PARC (Palo Alto Research Center), “Think” was the mantra made famous by IBM. I had desktop think signs in IBM blue, and then later in Red.
While Apple has its successes, let us not forget that its key uses on the desktop, spreadsheets and desktop publishing, came with third-party software innovation from outside of Apple. And that it did not and does not represent a significant portion of the marketplace. (Except for being wildly profitable) And that Job’s vaunted taste somehow bypassed the user interface on iTunes. Personally, I considered Jobs to be a quirky, ill-tempered manager with an extremely confrontational style – taking media credit for the work others performed in the background.
Whatever Apple was or is, and whatever legacy was left by Steve Jobs, he did not deserve to be portrayed by a third-rate actor – personable as he may be – who seemed somehow to diminish both Jobs and Apple. I am not an Jobs’ fanboy, preferring the humble genius and humanity of co-founder Steve Wozniak, to Jobs’ despotic personality.
It was Wozniak who wanted to bring computers to the world, not Steve Jobs -- all Jobs cared about was money and turning Woz's creations into businesses.
Unfortunately, in the end, Jobs was done in by his own arrogance – believing that his will and hippy-dippy cure for cancer was more powerful than modern medicine. There is no doubt that he was one of the seminal leaders in desktop computing and consumer electronics, but I wonder if his “genius” will continued to be recognized a hundred years from now.
-- steve
“Nullius in verba”-- take nobody's word for it!
"Acta non verba" -- actions not words
“Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance.”-- George Bernard Shaw
“Progressive, liberal, Socialist, Marxist, Democratic Socialist -- they are all COMMUNISTS.”
“The key to fighting the craziness of the progressives is to hold them responsible for their actions, not their intentions.” – OCS "The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane." -- Marcus Aurelius “A people that elect corrupt politicians, imposters, thieves, and traitors are not victims... but accomplices” -- George Orwell “Fere libenter homines id quod volunt credunt." (The people gladly believe what they wish to.) ~Julius Caesar “Describing the problem is quite different from knowing the solution. Except in politics." ~ OCS