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Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

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Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#21

Post by starkfist »

donw wrote: post #2

I think that it would be stupid not to have him on stage as part of the introduction of the new iPhone. It's not like everybody doesn't know about it, and it would generate a lot of goodwill among developers and Apple employees. It's like the story of the Air Force commander and the mechanic: One day, a military big-wig took off in an Air Force transport, which almost crashed, and was forced to land due to mechanical…

If I were this guy I'd wouldnt want this joke to be dragged on for eternity, I'd want people to forget about it as soon as possible.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#22

Post by tptacek »

unignorant wrote: post #8

This seems to me rather insensitive -- more importantly, it's probably not worthy of Hacker News. Edit: Given the downvotes, I'd be quite happy to hear any legitimate grounds for disagreement. I consider the widely disseminated mocking of someone who hasn't knowingly signed on as a public figure to be insensitive (independent of how funny or clever that mocking might be, and independent of whether being insensitive w…

People really like Steve Wozniak, and a lot of people think the iPhone prototype was blown way out of proportion. I don't care one way or another about Wozniak, but I couldn't disagree more about the seriousness of what happened.

Don't worry about (or waste time commenting about) downvotes. If you're commenting in good faith, your karma will reflect it over the long run.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#23

Post by tptacek »

marcamillion wrote: post #15

I would not be surprised if Gray Powell felt good when he saw this pic. Hell...if it were me...I would be jumping for joy that Woz even knows I exist.

It wouldn't surprise me either, and that doesn't make me happy. Even if the prototype had to get published once it was lost, there's simply no reason any of us needed to know this guy's name.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#24

Post by snom370 »

tptacek wrote: post #9
philk wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would you care to clarify why? Apple is either upset with Gray or it isn't. Woz wearing an irreverent shirt won't change it either way.

Wozniak having a "sense of humor" about someone else's misfortune doesn't help that person. Meanwhile, there's the guy's name, plastered on a rich famous guy's belly, being mocked. I stand by my original comment and believes it sums the situation up precisely.

Had I lost my iPhone prototype, having Woz go to the effort to make a t-shirt and take this picture would absolutely have made my day. Anyone who knows anything about Woz knows that this was done with a good heart.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#25

Post by starkfist »

snom370 wrote: post #24
tptacek wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wozniak having a "sense of humor" about someone else's misfortune doesn't help that person. Meanwhile, there's the guy's name, plastered on a rich famous guy's belly, being mocked. I stand by my original comment and believes it sums the situation up precisely.

Had I lost my iPhone prototype, having Woz go to the effort to make a t-shirt and take this picture would absolutely have made my day. Anyone who knows anything about Woz knows that this was done with a good heart.

Had I lost it, I would have thought it weird that a guy like steve wozinak has nothing better to do than make a t shirt with my name on it.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#26

Post by Luc »

tptacek wrote: post #13
Luc wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Au contraire... He's making light of the situation because it doesn't deserve a heavy-handed approach, and the engineer in question will be just fine at Apple. Losing the prototype could have happened to anyone. It's good-natured ribbing. Besides, Woz doesn't have it in him to be mean, I reckon.

There's not a single pair of subject and predicate in this comment that I agree with. That's fine. We can disagree. I think much less of Wozniak for joking about someone else's career.

I agree to disagree - I don't have insider knowledge, so I may be utterly wrong. Perhaps we'll find out soon enough.

My feeling is this is a bit of social signalling going on. Woz is saying 'Gray is one of us, we can joke around about it, because that's the kind of teasing we can do in our circle'. If the matter were serious, Wozniak would indeed be out of line, and he'd hopefully know better than to do this. There's no need to keep Powell's name secret anymore, he's part of the Apple mythology now.

There is a few bits more info in this article: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20003345-37.html

Woz:"It seems clear that (Powell) kept the iPhone prototype secret enough to satisfy Apple. It's a bad accident that could happen to any of us."

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#29

Post by tptacek »

Luc wrote: post #26
tptacek wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's not a single pair of subject and predicate in this comment that I agree with. That's fine. We can disagree. I think much less of Wozniak for joking about someone else's career.

I agree to disagree - I don't have insider knowledge, so I may be utterly wrong. Perhaps we'll find out soon enough. My feeling is this is a bit of social signalling going on. Woz is saying 'Gray is one of us, we can joke around about it, because that's the kind of teasing we can do in our circle'. If the matter were serious, Wozniak would indeed be out of line, and he'd hopefully know better than to do this. There's…

If Wozniak was an Apple spokesperson, that comment would carry a lot of weight. But he isn't. He has no authority here whatsoever. And I think he's wrong.

Re: Steve Wozniak has a little bit of fun at Gray Powell’s expense

#30

Post by jarek »

tptacek wrote: post #17
philk wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's clearly no malice intended, and I'd say "mocked" is far too strong a term. He's making fun of the situation, not Gray himself. If you find this joke to be insensitive I'm having a hard time imagining what sort of humor you approve of, given practically every joke out there makes fun of someone/something.

There's nothing wrong with making fun of people. I do it incessantly. But I avoid doing it to people when they're down. And, if I ever achieve the sort of success Wozniak has, I hope I'll avoid doing it to people just starting to make their way in my field.

An iPhone baseband engineer is not "just starting to make [his] way."
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