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Steve Jobs...

Died way before they actually announced his death. He was so private that they could have pulled it off for longer if they wanted to.

Nothing else to see here after reading the book. We needed a true Apple fan asking the right questions for his Biography.

The World needs to move along and truly pay respect to his presence by continuing to make things people enjoy.
 
"GREED IS GOOD" especially when jobs has no further say in it. This guy is going to milk it since there will be no other reason for anybody to even mention any of his work, not the most eloquent writer of his time.
 
Let's hope is was just a rough draft because, quite frankly, it wasn't that great of a biography (in scope, depth, or mastery of subject). Worse, it wasn't that well-written.
 
At least in my lifetime, I don't think anybody personified cut-throat more than Bill Gates. I am sure we can all find some 19th century robber baron who was more "ambitious" than Gates.

Me neither, but that was who he was. Despite what some people think in the Mac corner, Gates was a brilliant engineer, but more importantly a brilliant businessman. Jobs, were a brilliant, wickedly charismatic, marketer with stunning vision.

Personally, i'd argue that this is extremely evident in statements from the two; especially when it comes do success (or lack of thereof) in the market. For example, each time Jobs says "they just don't get it", i think Gates smiles inside, thinking the same of Jobs. In a sense, that might've been Jobs greatest weakness: in striving for perfection, in bringing the perfect product to the market - he refused to accept the fact that the perfect product is not necessary for business success. Just look at Jobs quotes on how MSFT sells a lot - of crap. Obviously he knew it was so - he just couldn't make himself do it, and maybe he didn't know how to make that compromise.

That said, I'm happy that Jobs managed to break through and make his model work. But like Gates, I'm not so sure of a) how long that success will last, and b) how successful one can be in employing that model without a "Jobs" at the rodder. After all, history has certainly repeated itself before.

P.S.

To avoid sour faces, with marketing I'm referring to the discipline of bringing products to market, rather than PR. Not that he didn't excel at that part too, but to me, marketing implies so much more.
 
For example, each time Jobs says "they just don't get it", i think Gates smiles inside, thinking the same of Jobs. In a sense, that might've been Jobs greatest weakness: in striving for perfection, in bringing the perfect product to the market - he refused to accept the fact that the perfect product is not necessary for business success.

exactly this!
 
Me neither, but that was who he was. Despite what some people think in the Mac corner, Gates was a brilliant engineer, but more importantly a brilliant businessman. Jobs, were a brilliant, wickedly charismatic, marketer with stunning vision.

Personally, i'd argue that this is extremely evident in statements from the two; especially when it comes do success (or lack of thereof) in the market. For example, each time Jobs says "they just don't get it", i think Gates smiles inside, thinking the same of Jobs. In a sense, that might've been Jobs greatest weakness: in striving for perfection, in bringing the perfect product to the market - he refused to accept the fact that the perfect product is not necessary for business success. Just look at Jobs quotes on how MSFT sells a lot - of crap. Obviously he knew it was so - he just couldn't make himself do it, and maybe he didn't know how to make that compromise.

That said, I'm happy that Jobs managed to break through and make his model work. But like Gates, I'm not so sure of a) how long that success will last, and b) how successful one can be in employing that model without a "Jobs" at the rodder. After all, history has certainly repeated itself before.

P.S.

To avoid sour faces, with marketing I'm referring to the discipline of bringing products to market, rather than PR. Not that he didn't excel at that part too, but to me, marketing implies so much more.

One of the best posts that I have read here in a while. Well worded.
 
Pretty sure Google does anything but masquerade their beta status of products. Google labs stuff has had beta tagged onto it for YEARS. Of any company they are last people to hide that.

Didn't Apple admit a couple of weeks ago that Siri is still beta?
 
Nah. You typing on this site is Steve Job's presence. The means you are using is Steve Job's presence. I meant what I wrote.

Huh?

I'm typing on a Dell XPS Core i7 running Windows 7 x64, on a forum running vBulletin software on a Linux host system. Most likely there isn't a single bit of Apple hardware or software in the chain.

I don't see Jobs' "presence" anywhere.... We're in the post-Jobs era.
 
Huh?

I'm typing on a Dell XPS Core i7 running Windows 7 x64, on a forum running vBulletin software on a Linux host system. Most likely there isn't a single bit of Apple hardware or software in the chain.

I don't see Jobs' "presence" anywhere.... We're in the post-Jobs era.

That makes sense. Considering that you are posting on an Apple-based forums, and you don't use a Mac (or any other products considering how particular you were? Because if you did, your post is null) Steve Jobs' presence does not exist because you are posting on a Linux host system and you don't see it.
I agree.

You are right, I should have typed absence because you don't see it on your Windows 7 x64.
 
Insanely Great!

I've just started reading it now. Favorite part so far is Jobs elementary school prank where he and his buddy made fake "Bring your pet to school" signs. Pandemonium ensued.

More Jobs anecdotes is a good thing.

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Huh?

I'm typing on a Dell XPS Core i7 running Windows 7 x64, on a forum running vBulletin software on a Linux host system. Most likely there isn't a single bit of Apple hardware or software in the chain.

I don't see Jobs' "presence" anywhere.... We're in the post-Jobs era.

The fact that you are typing anything on a GUI interface on a home computer is evidence of Job's presence. That option simply didn't exist without his vision. Note that I'm not saying he invented anything, he just knew how the technology could be used by people in general. He opened a door you did not even know existed.
 
Pretty sure Google does anything but masquerade their beta status of products. Google labs stuff has had beta tagged onto it for YEARS. Of any company they are last people to hide that.

Google is Web. Web have been (hyping) perpetual beta for what, close to ten years now? Heres O'Reilly's take on the matter (a man certainly worth listening to):

Users must be treated as co-developers, in a reflection of open source development practices (even if the software in question is unlikely to be released under an open source license.) The open source dictum, 'release early and release often', in fact has morphed into an even more radical position, 'the perpetual beta', in which the product is developed in the open, with new features slipstreamed in on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis. It's no accident that services such as Gmail, Google Maps, Flickr, del.icio.us, and the like may be expected to bear a 'Beta' logo for years at a time.​

Perpetual beta allows for continuous development of the product, supported by real-time analysis of actual use, and as important - mis-use.

Simplified, if you're always experimenting, sensing, learning, responding, how are you ever to get out of beta? And, more on point: should you even strive for it? Is it an always attainable ideal? Personally, i think not (SIRI will leave beta though).
 
A follow up release was inevitable, especially considering how far up they moved the release date.

If there are more stories to tell, then I welcome another release, but I think it should stand alone. Don't make me read through the same stuff just to find the new pieces.
 
I've just started reading it now. Favorite part so far is Jobs elementary school prank where he and his buddy made fake "Bring your pet to school" signs. Pandemonium ensued.

More Jobs anecdotes is a good thing.

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The fact that you are typing anything on a GUI interface on a home computer is evidence of Job's presence. That option simply didn't exist without his vision. Note that I'm not saying he invented anything, he just knew how the technology could be used by people in general. He opened a door you did not even know existed.

Correction, without the vision of the team at PARC. Further, Gates was the one who made sure WIMP won the UI war, not Jobs (specifically, Win95). Alas, please get your facts straight; the door existed long before Jobs walked through it. Give credit where credit is due. Frankly, PARC probably did more for computer research in the 80's and early 90's than Apple have done to date. Saddening, really - given the way Apple is praised as the inventor of all these days.
 
The point is, there is no conspiracy theory regarding the timing of his death.
Who said anything about a conspiracy theory? Is euthanasia for terminal cancer so inconceivable to you that you would consider it a conspiracy? It's easier for you believe that he died 24 hours after the most anticipated tech media event of the year?

If I were in the last stages of pancreatic cancer, I would want euthanasia, as would many others that I know. Especially those who are familiar with the pain experienced by loved ones who have died from it. Jobs has obviously spent a long time thinking about death. He doesn't strike me as someone who is afraid of it. He DOES however strike me as a person who would want to die on his terms. Euthanasia is not yet legal in California, but that wouldn't stop a man with his means and willpower.
 
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The fact that you are typing anything on a GUI interface on a home computer is evidence of Job's presence. That option simply didn't exist without his vision. Note that I'm not saying he invented anything, he just knew how the technology could be used by people in general. He opened a door you did not even know existed.

As with most things at Apple, others had the original vision and then Jobs financed it. We owe Jeff Raskin. He was the one who managed to get everyone, including Jobs, to notice Xerox's work on mice and GUIs.

I liked Jeff because he wanted to build a 6809 based affordable GUI computer for the general public. However, even back then Apple was into higher priced products.

So we got the very expensive ($10,000) Lisa instead, and then the fairly expensive MacIntosh ($2,000+ or over $5,000 in today's money). A year later we got the $1200 Amiga with its GUI, but it wouldn't be until Microsoft Windows and PC clones that we would see more affordable devices for the mass consumer, and the real mass adoption of GUIs.
 
did not mention Jobs' death and the reaction to it,


You want to buy a book about what just happened right in front of you?

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Perpetual beta allows for continuous development of the product, supported by real-time analysis of actual use


The only reason we didn't do this earlier was that without the internet there was no way to do it.

Look at Minecraft. Alpha is the new Beta
 
Han shot first.

This guy borked telling the story the first time he tried; now he wants to George Lucas it. For shame!
 
You want to buy a book about what just happened right in front of you?

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The only reason we didn't do this earlier was that without the internet there was no way to do it.

Look at Minecraft. Alpha is the new Beta

I'd say there was, and that its just as much about the nature of the applications. That said, the internet has certainly brought with a shift in this nature, and just as certainly makes this type of development more feasible.

As for Minecraft, despite being a fellow swede and studying these types of things for a living, i really can't say. Maybe, maybe not.
 
Strange

Mere months away there was all praise for Steve here on this forum and now there's a lot of hate.
Steve might have not been the easiest guy in the world but if he wasn't what he was then all the Apple stuff wouldn't be that great as it is now.
Only the best was good enough for steve and that made Apple what it is now.
A big successful company like Apple wouldn't be what it is now without a strong leader visionary like Steve.
He might have not been the nicest guy when He was in the business but who says He wasn't a nice family guy at home?
To Me he is still what he was, a great man.
 
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