zlacker

What Apple is going to be missing without Steve Jobs isn't creative talent or even someone capable of saying 'no.'

It's going to be missing someone who has the absolute credibility to say it.

Anyone can be a tyrant. If Steve Jobs was a dictator, it was because people thought he had the right to be.

>>tc+(OP)
A very well earned right and credibility indeed. Very few turnaround stories in the tech industry that are of the magniture of Apple's.

>>tc+(OP)
One could make an entire PoliSci dissertation out of your comment.

>>tc+(OP)
Here's a very well done video http://www.bloomberg.com/video/66625228/

>>tc+(OP)
This difference, I suppose, is between someone bending your will to theirs, reducing you terribly in the process, and someone who sees you failing to deliver everything you're capable of, and pushing you (hard) to do what he thinks what you can.

The former doesn't care about who you are. The latter cares deeply, and expresses in by placing genuine faith in you. Everything being said by the people who worked with him indicates that they feel humbled and honored by the experience. It's hard to get upset with someone's approach when you know in your bones that it got you to the top of your game.

What people feel in response to that is love.

[EDIT] "He was dubbed a megalomaniac, but Steve Jobs often gambled on young, largely inexperienced talent to take Apple forward; Jony Ive and his team prove that such faith was spot on."

>>barist+G2
I'm not sure there's a single story of the same magnitude. And that isn't sentimentality talking, I can't think of anything.

>>tc+(OP)
Considering how apparent it was that Steve’s health was gravely bad and rapidly deteriorating, we all in the back of our minds knew the time we had him in this world was limited and precious. So it comes as a complete shock to me how upset I actually am by Steve’s passing.

Even though most of us never knew him, we all feel as if we did know him very well; his inventions, complete labours of love, have become so central to how we live our lives. The profound impact his creations have had on us cannot make us feel any other way.

I didn't go to college, and I remember having a shitty job back in the day, saving so hard to buy a PowerBook G4, but it was completely worth it because purchasing that machine literally changed my life. Without a computer that was an absolute joy to use, I would have never spent so many hours learning how to code and consequently now have the career opportunities that I do.

I feel eternally indebted to Steve, despite having never met the man myself. By creating the wonderful tools he did for us to work with, I feel he is significantly responsible for the career I have today.

To one of the few that can say ‘I changed the world’, thank you.

Rest in peace Steve

>>sjtgra+A8
This. While I'd done a little scripting, I was never interested in working in software development. It made me think of boring/painful win32 programs. After I graduated college I skipped around through sales jobs I hated and was terrible at. And then I got an iOS device (2g iPod Touch) for my birthday, and I was suddenly very interested in programming. The way that device was so effortless to use, powerful (for its size), and fun captivated me. Within a year of receiving that that device I was roughly a third of the way through a CS degree (post baccalaureate), going to school part time and paying for it with my part time job (working at an Apple Store). I've been a paid professional developer for almost two years now, primarily working on iOS stuff. And I really like what I do. It sounds stupid, but I really don't know what I'd be doing now if I hadn't gotten that iPod Touch.

Thanks Steve, I certainly feel like you've done something for me even though I've never met you.

>>tc+(OP)
What Apple is missing is a man whose vision for a product is exactly what the consumer wants....two years ahead of time (at least).

>>astine+T4
As a poli sci major one could make a poli sci comment out of anything.

>>tc+(OP)
HN, why is this above steve's own quote about death?

>>phzbOx+l6
No flash on my iPad :(

>>sjtgra+A8
we all in the back of our minds knew the time we had him in this world was limited and precious.

I can't think of a better way to put this. I think it's fair to say that we benefitted from his life just as much if not more than he did.

>>sjtgra+A8
"Without a computer that was an absolute joy to use, I would have never spent so many hours learning how to code and consequently now have the career opportunities that I do."

That's what Commodore 64 did for me (I grew up with it), and that might be the reason that I'm not the least impressed by any of Apple's products. Furthermore, Apple's conduct -- patent litigations, DRM, "simple" user interfaces -- it all goes against the spirit of opennes and sharing in the "old days" when people shared their code and hacks as printouts in computer magazines.

Steve Jobs may rest in peace, he did a lot. I got enormous respect for him when I learned that he basically saved Pixar, and that's what I will remember him for.

Apple, the company, could disappear tomorrow and I wouldn't miss it the slightest.

(I know I'll get downvoted by Apple fanboys, but so be it.)