Steve Jobs Exhibit on Display at U.S. Patent Office Museum

[scoobydoo99]

... WHY IN THE WORLD is there a PUBLICLY FUNDED museum in the US Patent Office at all???

um. you do realize that DC is full of publicly funded museums, right? Everything from the National Postal Museum to the Naval Archives. Typically, civilizations value history and try to preserve artifacts that might be of interest to future generations.

If you are concerned about the national debt, might I suggest we forego one aircraft carrier, or perhaps the F35 fighter (which the Atlantic calls "A weapon that costs more than Australia". haha)
http://www.theatlantic.com/national...-weapon-that-costs-more-than-australia/72454/

 

[AppleScruff1]

Enough with the Steve Jobs stuff. We are in the post Steve era now.

 

[longofest]

Hey, if you come by and see the exhibit, be sure to then come by Gadsby's Tavern Museum or the Apothecary Museum. Gadbsys was damaged by the earthquake earlier this year.

Both sites are pretty fun - the Apothecary is probably my favorite, as you can learn all about what they used to prescribe as "innovative medicines" at the turn of the century.

Also, you might get to see my awesome wife who works at both museums as a museum educator (just saying ).

WHY IN THE WORLD is there a PUBLICLY FUNDED museum in the US Patent Office at all? ...

Seriously? Do you realize how minuscule public-funded museum budgets are of ANY sort of government budget (whether federal, state, or local)? The percentage is practically zilch. The majority of funding is from private donors -yes even for public museums.

Remember that Museums (especially good ones) aren't just a place that show off exhibits and/or historical pieces. Good museums are places of education and are place of interactive, hands-on learning. Think of it as a way to get up close and personal with subject matter that you'd otherwise be just reading about in a classroom.

Really... try GOING to a museum. Maybe you'll get an education while you're there.

 

[Sandman1969]

hmm personal computers existed before the mac.

Did anything steve jobs created existed before C/Unix was created?

Yeah the Apple I and II existed before the MAC and were part of the first few Consumer Computers. Along with the Altair and TRS-80.

You also realize the I and II didn't run UNIX?

 

[Sandman1969]

Hey, if you come by and see the exhibit, be sure to then come by Gadsby's Tavern Museum or the Apothecary Museum. Gadbsys was damaged by the earthquake earlier this year.

How bad was Gadsbys damaged? We were there earlier this year with my son's scout pack. Very interesting place indeed. A Lot of history went through there. We had a great guide and the boys really liked the man playing the part of an American Swordsman.

I will check out the Apothecary Museum as well.

I plan on checking out the Job's display as well. Right up the road from my work.

 

[SandynJosh]

Probably not wise to compare this to the Holocaust. I think the point is the Patent office does probably not a lot of opportunities to get good press especially with the patent lawsuits recently. Its probably an opportunity to get some good press and steve's patents have been pretty instrumental to technology advancements in the last few years.

The patent office is smarting from the 1899 head of the U.S. Patent Office resigning and urging the closing of the office because "everything that could be invented has been invented."

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1) That Microsoft (if anyone) basically created. Since we're not playing "first", we're playing impact. In impact, Windows, and Windows 95 in particular, wins hands down.

2) Bill G, perhaps. Or any random engineer with a vision. But yes, i agree with what i believe is your point. There needs to be a puppet master, and said puppet master does not necessarily have to be an engineer. With that i completely agree. In ways, one is better off not being an engineer. That way you can be more "get this done!", than "how do we get this done?". Engineers tend to... be engineers in the end :- )

Bill Gates and Microsoft ripped off CP/M, an 8-bit OS and converted it to 16-bit, but otherwise it was a straight rip-off. That Gates and Co. did the same later to Apple is also history.

 

[SandynJosh]

"Personal computer" prior to the Apple II is a term that is relatively inapplicable, as the computers prior to Apple II were not functionally accessible and programmable in the way we think of today. So, what I was saying is that what would Dennis Ritchie be doing today (prior to his passing) without the enormous market for personal computing in the consumer space that Apple basically created?

Your first sentence is right on. I owned one of those early computers that preceded the Apple II. You essentially wrote code in Assembler or Machine language, neither of which made functionally useful programs like were churned out on and for the Apple II. The mid to late '70s was the stone age.

 

[divinox]

The patent office is smarting from the 1899 head of the U.S. Patent Office resigning and urging the closing of the office because "everything that could be invented has been invented."

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Bill Gates and Microsoft ripped off CP/M, an 8-bit OS and converted it to 16-bit, but otherwise it was a straight rip-off. That Gates and Co. did the same later to Apple is also history.

Crying, are we? Gates and Microsoft. Not Apple and Jobs. Simple as that.

(also a) no, it wasn't otherwise a straight rip-off, and b) DR only have themselves to blame. c) since were on MR where something can't be stolen if its not patented, what DR patents did Microsoft infringe with DOS?)

 

[derickdub]

"Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal"

Who cares whether the patents were "stolen" or not? Welcome to the world of inventing. It happens all the time.

And all those people crying about the cost of the exhibit, I suggest you go visit it. And when you're done go into DC and see the billions in taxpayer's money "wasted" on the monuments on every street corner. And just because a government agency is spending money doesn't mean they're spending money they were given in government grants. There is a such thing as budgeting.

With your attitude we may as well abandon the whole idea for having the patent office. We're in debt, why worry about innovation when we have pizza to deal with?

 

[ZipZap]

I wonder if the actual inventor names appear on the patents.

There is no way Jobs invented 300 patentable items/processes.

Shame if the actualy geniuses weren't recognized.

 

[mutantteenager]

How very unbiased of the patent office....

At best Steve Jobs was a visionary in Marketing. Pretty much all of the products Apple have made and are making have been done before, so they are evolutionary nor revolutionary.

This 'tribute' would make more sense outside an ad agency.

 

[longofest]

How bad was Gadsbys damaged? We were there earlier this year with my son's scout pack. Very interesting place indeed. A Lot of history went through there. We had a great guide and the boys really liked the man playing the part of an American Swordsman.

I will check out the Apothecary Museum as well.

I plan on checking out the Job's display as well. Right up the road from my work.

Gadsbys was spared from major structural damage, but its chimneys shifted pretty significantly. The real bummer was that it was forced to close for approximately 2 weeks - through the Labor Day weekend - while structural engineers made sure everything was sound. That was a lot of programs and visitation that was lost The chimneys are still being fixed... scaffolding is still around the building. Of course, for a historical site, they have to be very careful about fixing and reconstructing it... brick by brick documentation and all that.

I have some pics on TechPerfect of the damage.

Glad you enjoyed Swordsmans! Do visit the Apothecary... It's pretty interesting

 

[vitzr]

A testament to a man who changed the world for the better and pushed the Human race forward.

What a joke. Hero worship at it's extreme reveals how shallow some single minded people can be.

Pushed the human race into more debt. Fanbois parents coughing up the big bucks to keep up their kids image. Pads, Pods & Phones... Yeah what a great contribution to humanity.

All Hail The The Supreme Ruler

 

[kdarling]

I wonder if the actual inventor names appear on the patents.

Yes, the real inventors are on the patents, as Jobs himself lacked the ablilty to implement anything.

I think that's why so many people without technical education or skills worship him. It's like a dream come true, to be a user with ultimate decision control over what others create.

There is no way Jobs invented 300 patentable items/processes.

He didn't. It's more like three. On the others, he had some input and was thus listed along with everyone else involved.

While legally the order doesn't matter, by their own convention Apple appears to usually list the primary inventors first on their patents. (I've only seen a few alphabetical ones.)

Jobs' name is pretty far down on the list in many of the 318 design and utility patents that include him.

Over 85% of those patents are ornamental design patents. (In the EU, they would be Community Designs instead of patents.) E.g. along with a dozen other employees, he helped decide the look of the Mac Mini case.

Of the remaining 44 actual utility patents, his name is also usually in the middle of the list.

Of the handful that do have his name at or next to the top, they're pretty simple ones as befits his limited skill set. An example would be using the iPhone's onscreen slider to power off... pretty obvious since it was also used for the inital unlocking. Another is changing the shape of an icon while it's being dragged. Good ideas, but not earth shattering by any means.

The big exception is of course the so-called "iPhone patent", which ceremonially lists Jobs at the very top, just above SVP Scott Forstall.

 

[umterps1991]

Nutcase

First all Nutcase, the USPTO does not use any tax payers dollars. Its a fee funded organization that uses the revenue it makes based on the fees for patent examination, etc to run the organization. In fact, the government in the "past" has raped the USPTO by taking the money it makes and using it for other agencies. Bet you didn't know that.

Secondly, I work there and the exhibit is really cool. A nice tribute to the Man!!

Since when is it the patent office's role to look for opportunities for "good press." They have a job to do. They do it poorly. They should do it better. They should not use a DIME of my tax dollars to worry about spinning their poor work for good press.

 

[tschull]

I wonder if the actual inventor names appear on the patents.

There is no way Jobs invented 300 patentable items/processes.

Shame if the actualy geniuses weren't recognized.

You've never filed a patent before, have you? Yes, all persons, and actual geniuses, contributing to the patent are listed on the title page. You can find an example of one of Jobs' patents here. Why do you find it so unbelievable someone can be involved in filing 300 patents? It's prolific, but hardly unimaginable. Note the subject of the patent I linked for you. It's hardly high tech, but it may have value to the company.

 

[tschull]

Yes, the real inventors are on the patents, as Jobs himself lacked the ablilty to implement anything.

Really?

im·ple·ment/ˈimpləmənt/ Verb: Put (a decision, plan, agreement, etc.) into effect.

I would think if Jobs was deserving of being called a genius, that would be why. Transforming ideas into tangible, useful, commercially available products is no small feat. To do it elegantly is even harder.

 

[divinox]

Really?

im·ple·ment/ˈimpləmənt/ Verb: Put (a decision, plan, agreement, etc.) into effect.

I would think if Jobs was deserving of being called a genius, that would be why. Transforming ideas into tangible, useful, commercially available products is no small feat. To do it elegantly is even harder.

Except, Jobs did not transform the ideas by his own virtue; he may have orchestrated the whole shebang, but he didn't play first violin so to speak.

That said, this doesn't make Jobs less of a "genius". Just a different kind of "genius". One could even say that Jobs genius was not so much in inventing great things, but in turning great inventions down for the sake of the big picture.

 

[DrBetruger]

What a sleazeball. The guy didn't invent anything, didn't write any code but still managed to put his name on more than 300 patents

 

[kdarling]

im·ple·ment/ˈimpləmənt/ Verb: Put (a decision, plan, agreement, etc.) into effect.

Context. We're talking about patent implementation, not business plans to make or market a product.

An idea alone is not patentable, only the unique technical implementation of it. That is what defines a patentable invention.

E.g. everyone thought of flying vehicles. Only those who figured out how to actually implement such things got related patents.

You are correct that Jobs had the marketing genius to figure out which ideas would be popular, and the power and money to make them happen, but without others to do the actual inventing and implementations, he would've had nothing to sell.

 

[unlinked]

without steve jobs, dennis ritchie wouldn't have a personal computer to program on.

("without lamps there'd be no light..." - bender... Hey, someone would have quoted this eventually)

lol

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You're exaggerating a bit.

C and UNIX are not essential pre-requisites to something like the iPhone and iPad. It's not like only C and UNIX would make it work.

Apple (and NeXT) used those because they already used heavily in the industry and were familiar, which meant availability of skilled developers and existing code already out there to reuse. It was more out of convenience than anything else.

Yes, Dennis Ritchie designed two important pillars of iOS / OSX, but let's not claim we owe their existence to him.

It is impossible to predict either way. You could just as well say the iPhone would exist even without Steve Jobs.

 

[wikus]

without steve jobs, dennis ritchie wouldn't have a personal computer to program on.

("without lamps there'd be no light..." - bender... Hey, someone would have quoted this eventually)

lmao!

Good one.

 

[kdarling]

Without Steve Jobs, Dennis Ritchie wouldn't have a personal computer to program on.

That's not even close to being historically correct.

1) C was written on a PDP-11 years before we had personal computers such as you seem to think of them. C was/is used not just as the language used for Unix, PCS and Macs and Linux, but for embedded computers everywhere. Your local stoplight controller probably has code written in it.

2) Apple did not invent the personal computer. Nor was the Apple II the most popular personal computer of its day, partly because it cost way more than most people could afford. Other computers such as the TRS-80, Ataris and Commodores were far less expensive and sold millions more units for years, and had far more influence on getting personal computers into homes.

 

[daxomni]

I'd love to see an exhibit on how the Patent Office uses objective analysis to ensure a competitive market. Oh, wait...

 

[lilo777]

What a sleazeball. The guy didn't invent anything, didn't write any code but still managed to put his name on more than 300 patents

That's what they call "genius"