RIP Steve Jobs

[The Franchise]

How exactly did he make the world a better place again?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

How exactly did he make the world a better place again?

This is incredibly important. You don't want to piss on the guy's grave, but he didn't exactly invent protease inhibitors or the Polio vaccine.

In some ways, this is almost like the death of the Georgio Armani of Computers. He didn't invent the damned thing, he just came up with ways to make it more convenient, but more than anything, fashionable.

[Titty Meat]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

This is incredibly important. You don't want to piss on the guy's grave, but he didn't exactly invent protease inhibitors or the Polio vaccine.

In some ways, this is almost like the death of the Georgio Armani of Computers. He didn't invent the damned thing, he just came up with ways to make it more convenient, but more than anything, fashionable.

I'm actually more interested in learning how he survived 8 years with one of the most deadly cancers.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

I'm actually more interested in learning how he survived 8 years with one of the most deadly cancers.

He had islet cell carcinoma. It's a much rarer, and different form of pancreatic cancer. If he had garden-variety pancreatic cancer, he'd have been dead seven years ago. There's no worse cancer.

[Shag]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

He had islet cell carcinoma. It's a much rarer, and different form of pancreatic cancer. If he had garden-variety pancreatic cancer, he'd have been dead seven years ago. There's no worse cancer.

Good info - thanks. I'd been wondering how he'd survived so long with pancreatic cancer...

[patteeu]

Originally Posted by Bo's Pelini

I'm actually more interested in learning how he survived 8 years with one of the most deadly cancers.

In his Stanford speech he says that his pancreatic cancer was a rare form that is more curable than the standard pancreatic cancer. I'm guessing that that has something to do with his unusually long post-cancer survival.

[ReynardMuldrake]

Originally Posted by patteeu

In his Stanford speech he says that his pancreatic cancer was a rare form that is more curable than the standard pancreatic cancer. I'm guessing that that has something to do with his unusually long post-cancer survival.

The sad part is he delayed his surgery for nearly a year when he was first diagnosed. If he had followed his doctors' advice he would still be alive.

[Shag]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

In some ways, this is almost like the death of the Georgio Armani of Computers. He didn't invent the damned thing, he just came up with ways to make it more convenient, but more than anything, fashionable.

You could say that by doing so, Jobs greatly sped the adoption of certain technologies into society. That adoption rate pushed other competing products into the market, and fostered a highly competitive environment, leading to better products across the board.

I have little doubt that without Jobs, mp3 players, smartphones, and tablets wouldn't be where they are today.

For better or worse, adoption rate is king in the personal technology world, and Jobs was a genius on that front.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Shag

You could say that by doing so, Jobs greatly sped the adoption of certain technologies into society. That adoption rate pushed other competing products into the market, and fostered a highly competitive environment, leading to better products across the board.

I have little doubt that without Jobs, mp3 players, smartphones, and tablets wouldn't be where they are today.

For better or worse, adoption rate is king in the personal technology world, and Jobs was a genius on that front.

Except for the fact that the history of adoption rates belies the fact that Jobs accelerated it. Look at the exponential increase in the adoption rate from radio to TV, from TV to internet, and from internet to high-speed, for example.

[Shag]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

Except for the fact that the history of adoption rates belies the fact that Jobs accelerated it. Look at the exponential increase in the adoption rate from radio to TV, from TV to internet, and from internet to high-speed, for example.

The iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad were not the first to market in their respective genres, yet each sold in high volumes upon launch, dominated the market, and kickstarted the genre. That's purely anecdotal, but I don't think you'd find many that disagree.

Is that a result of current adoption rates, and Apple just happened to time their products as the market was primed to explode? Possible, but I doubt it. Apple is great at making people want their products.

[The Franchise]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

This is incredibly important. You don't want to piss on the guy's grave, but he didn't exactly invent protease inhibitors or the Polio vaccine.

In some ways, this is almost like the death of the Georgio Armani of Computers. He didn't invent the damned thing, he just came up with ways to make it more convenient, but more than anything, fashionable.

Not pissing on his grave.

I'm just trying to figure out why this guy deserves candlelit vigils and all of the news coverage.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by Pestilence

Not pissing on his grave.

I'm just trying to figure out why this guy deserves candlelit vigils and all of the news coverage.

Oh, I didn't think you were in the least. However, there is a fair amount of urine in the carpet padding of this thread.

[AustinChief]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

This is incredibly important. You don't want to piss on the guy's grave, but he didn't exactly invent protease inhibitors or the Polio vaccine.

In some ways, this is almost like the death of the Georgio Armani of Computers. He didn't invent the damned thing, he just came up with ways to make it more convenient, but more than anything, fashionable.

This is the most dead on accurate statement in the entire thread.

Though as much as I don't like the man himself, I won't undersell how influential he was because of his ability to market his vision of technology to the masses...

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins

This is incredibly important. You don't want to piss on the guy's grave, but he didn't exactly invent protease inhibitors or the Polio vaccine.

In some ways, this is almost like the death of the Georgio Armani of Computers. He didn't invent the damned thing, he just came up with ways to make it more convenient, but more than anything, fashionable.

I think you're short-selling how much of a business genius it was. He wasn't successful because he took other people's products and wrapped his Apple brand around it. He had a unique gift for bringing a product to critical mass in a split-second.

The iPod wasn't just a pretty version of an mp3 player. Jobs battled a music industry that was extremely resistant to using mp3s because they viewed them as largely pirated media, and they were too old-fashioned to recognize that this is what consumers wanted. He created a market for mp3s that was way too big to ignore and that was the tipping point for the music industry to finally wake up to the idea that music had to be sold on a different platform. The iPhone wasn't just a phone that could do smart stuff. It required coordination of a lot of external software developers who could rapidly create enough apps to make the iPhone cool to use. If you don't believe that, take a look at how Blackberry screwed the pooch with RIM.

What I disagree with is I think you're presupposing that had Jobs not been around, these innovations would have hit the market anyway. Maybe so, but it would have taken a really long time. The product life cycle isn't smooth. Most revolutionary technologies hit what's called a life cycle chasm and never make it across. And until you cross that chasm, the technology runs into a ton of obstacles.

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

What I disagree with is I think you're presupposing that had Jobs not been around, these innovations would have hit the market anyway.

They absolutely would have and did.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

Maybe so, but it would have taken a really long time.

They already were there and didn't.

Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501

The product life cycle isn't smooth. Most revolutionary technologies hit what's called a life cycle chasm and never make it across. And until you cross that chasm, the technology runs into a ton of obstacles.

You seem to be conflating marketing with innovation. They are discrete entities.

iTunes was not a revolutionary idea, it was borrowed from 10+ year old technology at the time of its release.

The iPhone was a more marketable Palm Treo

Apple hasn't created anything truly revolutionary in many years. What they have done, masterfully, I might add, is create the belief that their products are revolutionary because of the way they market them.

These products had already had many years in which they were floating in your "life cycle chasm". Apple was prescient enough to see when those technologies were gaining momentum and adopters. By no means did they act as a tipping point for the adoption of those technologies.