Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth • Hacker News Board

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#191

Post by jackvalentine » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:33 PM UTC

mikepurvis wrote: post #155

Qz wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect this is more of a branding issue. Macbook Pro is a relatively memorable name; U36Jc took me longer to type than the rest of this sentence, let alone remember (I won't). Apple is better at being the original-design-brand, even if they're not the only brand doing awesome original design.

"I suspect this is more of a branding issue." It's a choice issue, too. If my next laptop is a MacBook, I know that I have basically one choice to make: how big I want the screen. If I'm a penny-pincher, I can check out the refurb section of the Apple Store, but in general, I really only have one choice. If I want to get an Asus, where do I even start? Screen size, resolution, weight, price, processor, presence or no…

The following is a list of every ASUS laptop offering. This is far too many models.

http://www.asus.com/AllProducts.aspx?PG_ID=1quIC6RvvlvcvNbn

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#192

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:40 PM UTC

nowarninglabel wrote: post #173

tvon wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The truth is calling someone a "fanboy" is childish and virtually guaranteed to send the discussion in a bad direction.

What are we supposed to say? I don't think I'm the only one who is tired of what basically amounts to Apple marketing being posted constantly on HN (and sure maybe the rate of those posts is lower than sites like Techmeme but it's still quite high, see for example Ipad 2 posts http://www.google.com/search?q=site:news.ycombinator.com+%22... ) There has to be some way to identify this group of people, and say, look it'…

[deleted]

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#193

Post by raganwald » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:43 PM UTC

runjake wrote: post #104

Link bait. I'm tempted to label the author a "socialist", keeping with recent trends. Apple markets well. Other people market and make similar claims. Your soap, your window cleaner, your vitamins, your TV set. It's the nature of our culture, our marketing, and our capitalism. Why is this a me vs. you thing? Corporations selling Android devices do it, too. Check out any Android-based "4G" device on AT&T: 1) virtually…

When did "Socialist" become an insult? I don't admit to it, I boast of it!!

http://raganwald.posterous.com/hello-my-name-is-reginald-and...

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#194

Post by evo_9 » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:44 PM UTC

corin_ wrote: post #8

Completely agree. I'm not exactly an apple fanboy, but I do love my iPad, and there isn't yet a competitor's device I'd want to replace it with (although I'm hoping BlackBerry's will change that). If he had come out and given all the ways that the iPad 2 is better than the iPad, I'd have been impressed. But spending half the time criticising competitors just came across as the kind of tacky tactic that really shouldn…

Yeah God forbid Apple conducts business like Microsoft and everyone else. I know we hold Apple to a higher moral standard for some reason, but come on, when has Jobs ever held back what he thought of his competitors?

I do agree the misquote was silly and unnecessary. I wonder if Jobs himself personally knew it was a complete deception or did he rely on fact checkers and speech writers to do his due diligence and simply wasn't aware the quote was wrong.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#195

Post by corin_ » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:47 PM UTC

evo_9 wrote: post #194

corin_ wrote: post #8

Completely agree. I'm not exactly an apple fanboy, but I do love my iPad, and there isn't yet a competitor's device I'd want to replace it with (although I'm hoping BlackBerry's will change that). If he had come out and given all the ways that the iPad 2 is better than the iPad, I'd have been impressed. But spending half the time criticising competitors just came across as the kind of tacky tactic that really shouldn…

Yeah God forbid Apple conducts business like Microsoft and everyone else. I know we hold Apple to a higher moral standard for some reason, but come on, when has Jobs ever held back what he thought of his competitors? I do agree the misquote was silly and unnecessary. I wonder if Jobs himself personally knew it was a complete deception or did he rely on fact checkers and speech writers to do his due diligence and simp…

It's nothing about holding Apple to any higher standards, I made exactly the same comment about RIM a couple of months back, and in that instance all they were doing was putting their rivals down, not making up shit. And I'm a huge RIM fanboy.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#196

Post by Sakes » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:48 PM UTC

rbarooah wrote: post #125

billmcneale wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You have a strange definition of "respect". Maybe behind closed doors and in board meetings, Jobs will admit that Android is a very fierce competitor that is taking market share away from Apple. But on the public front, he shows nothing but disdain for competitors and he spends much more time on stage disparaging them than he used to. Bashing competitors is not just poor form, it's usually the sign of a business losi…

By that measure, all of the major players are losing steam.

I think he means that when a company switches from ignoring competitors to acknowledging them by ridiculing them, then they are not as far ahead as they used to be.

So it does imply losing steam in this case.

Phases: 1) Ignore 2) Ridicule 3) Fight 4) Lose

If a company was in phase 2 last year, and phase 2 this year they are not losing steam. A company is losing steam when it moves down the above phase ladder.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#197

Post by lwhi » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:55 PM UTC

raganwald wrote: post #193

runjake wrote: post #104

Link bait. I'm tempted to label the author a "socialist", keeping with recent trends. Apple markets well. Other people market and make similar claims. Your soap, your window cleaner, your vitamins, your TV set. It's the nature of our culture, our marketing, and our capitalism. Why is this a me vs. you thing? Corporations selling Android devices do it, too. Check out any Android-based "4G" device on AT&T: 1) virtually…

When did "Socialist" become an insult? I don't admit to it, I boast of it!! http://raganwald.posterous.com/hello-my-name-is-reginald-and...

I completely agree. It seems that there's a (mostly right-wing American) view that socialism somehow equates with communism and / or fascism (and even Nazism!). Fox News seems to play a part in ensuring that the view propagates, and lives on.

Socialism is simply about placing people before profits.

Unregulated capitalism isn't something that generally leads to positive outcomes - just look at the (cluster-fk) that was last couple of years for proof. Socialism can provide a useful counter to capitalism because it provides an alternative method of assessing worth.

Ideally we need balance - we need both.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#198

Post by dasil003 » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 9:59 PM UTC

burgerbrain wrote: post #119

kgermino wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't speak for design, I know most people think that Thinkpads look ugly, however regarding build quality I own a Thinkpad T500 I bought 2 years ago and I have: +Dropped it way more times than I can count, usually while closed and turned off but also while it was running, and while it was open (both running and not). +Totally stood on it, putting my full weight on the closed lid many times. +Left it running in my…

I once slipped on ice and dropped my running T60p 4 feet onto a steel manhole cover. 3 years later, it's still running like a dream.

These stories of people running across streets frantically computing with their open laptop during the dead of winter invite so many more questions than just the survival of the device.

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#199

Post by nachteilig » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 10:01 PM UTC

When did CNN start hiring Dvorak-style Apple trolls to generate traffic?

Re: Steve Jobs' reality distortion takes its toll on truth

#200

Post by nika » Thu, Mar 03, 2011, 10:14 PM UTC

kill-9 wrote: post #114

How does a link like this make it to the top of HN? It's nothing more than petty, spiteful Apple bashing by a Google guy.

You answered your own question. This article is exactly the kind of thing the people on this site upvote, and that tells you exactly the nature of the people on this site.