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Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

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Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#81

Post by sampsonjs »

rbanffy wrote: post #48
andrewljohnson wrote: post #18

My mom sometimes talks about how she felt when John Lennon died, and I always sort of scoffed at the notion of being overwhelmed by the death of a celebrity stranger. I understood what she meant when Steve Jobs died - I was really overwhelmed, I think because I derived such a big part of my life, livelihood, and identity from iOS over the last 3-4 years.

> overwhelmed by the death of a celebrity stranger Jobs, like Lennon, was not just a celebrity. Both stood for what they believed and, by doing so, inspired countless others to do better. I know working with him was impossibly painful, but I wouldn't have thought twice at the possibility. For some, that may sound masochistic, but, when my muscles hurt after a workout, I remind myself the next time I'll be running lon…

The Apple II looked like a piece of grey plastic to me. So did the NES, but at least it was a lot more fun than the Apple II. Steve Jobs: the man who made purchasing consumer electronics a revolutionary act.

Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#83

Post by prodigal_erik »

kyro wrote: post #41
huhtenberg wrote: post #3

That's when I had my flag option taken away by mods, because I flagged all of these except for the top one.

And rightly so. If your reaction to his death here was to go into flag-mode and just not let the front page be filled for one day with a story that so clearly affected the community, then I've got no problems with your flag rights being taken away. It's an odd reaction that's honestly somewhat puzzling.

Jobs wasn't a hacker; I don't think he ever saw or portrayed himself as one of us. The appliances he was best known for were (and are) more and more actively hostile to hackers. I don't revel in his absence but it did dial back the biggest current threat to the independence of our profession.

I don't understand why we're saddled with a few hundred people who conspired to kick this community in the nuts for a day and a night as some kind of self-flagellating tribute, but I don't consider them my peers. If I were pg for a day I'd stop counting votes from anyone who upvoted three dozen clones of the same wire story with almost no accompanying discussion.

Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#84

Post by lachyg »

angersock wrote: post #78
singular wrote: post #15

It's funny to see this as I (and I suspect probably many others) felt compelled to take a screenshot when this happened, because it was so bizarre to see the front page consist of a single story - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/140966/hn_jobs.png I also did the same when Dennis Ritchie died, though not every story was about that - http://dl.dropbox.com/u/140966/hn_ritchie.png RIP to both of them.

That's so unfortunate. I'm kind of bummed that (at least in your sample) the HN community seems to spam more about a businessman than an engineer. I'm curious what will happen when Woz passes.

Cmon, man. Why should a businessman be respected any less than an engineer?

Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#85

Post by sampsonjs »

thornofmight wrote: post #79
markmm wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Jobs was a good business man and decent presenter, to compare him to John Lennon is utterly inappropriate.

Also, humans have spent a lot more time on computers and iPhones than they have listening to the Beatles.

Or going to the bathroom, driving their cars, sleeping... For example, I've only seen the Godfather once. My electric toothbrush, on the other hand? I use that every day! Take that Coppola! I think Jobs himself proved that software isn't art, and "hackers" are not artistes. I submit the following conjecture: The complaints about the app store approval process would be nothing compared to the shitstorm if Apple started blocking songs and films from iTunes. Remember, Jobs is the one who, if he had gotten his way, would make all software go through a central committee before you could use it. ¡Viva la Revolución! Also, eff the Beatles. Put on some Wilson Pickett or Motown, or your pick of their better contemporaries.

Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#86

Post by achompas »

lowboy wrote: post #80
andrewljohnson wrote: post #18

My mom sometimes talks about how she felt when John Lennon died, and I always sort of scoffed at the notion of being overwhelmed by the death of a celebrity stranger. I understood what she meant when Steve Jobs died - I was really overwhelmed, I think because I derived such a big part of my life, livelihood, and identity from iOS over the last 3-4 years.

> I derived such a big part of my ... identity from iOS I don't think that iOS would ever qualify as a cornerstone of my life. Why does it for you? Just curious.

It might be the part you cut out. GP mentions "life and livelihood," so its possible he's had success as an iOS developer.

Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#87

Post by thornofmight »

sampsonjs wrote: post #85
thornofmight wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, humans have spent a lot more time on computers and iPhones than they have listening to the Beatles.

Or going to the bathroom, driving their cars, sleeping... For example, I've only seen the Godfather once. My electric toothbrush, on the other hand? I use that every day! Take that Coppola! I think Jobs himself proved that software isn't art, and "hackers" are not artistes. I submit the following conjecture: The complaints about the app store approval process would be nothing compared to the shitstorm if Apple starte…

"I think Jobs himself proved that software isn't art"

How so?

Also, I don't think it's too crazy to say that the toothbrush has had a larger effect on mankind than The Godfather.

Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#88

Post by rbanffy »

sampsonjs wrote: post #81
rbanffy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> overwhelmed by the death of a celebrity stranger Jobs, like Lennon, was not just a celebrity. Both stood for what they believed and, by doing so, inspired countless others to do better. I know working with him was impossibly painful, but I wouldn't have thought twice at the possibility. For some, that may sound masochistic, but, when my muscles hurt after a workout, I remind myself the next time I'll be running lon…

The Apple II looked like a piece of grey plastic to me. So did the NES, but at least it was a lot more fun than the Apple II. Steve Jobs: the man who made purchasing consumer electronics a revolutionary act.

It depends on when you were born. If your first contact with the II was in the mid-90's, I would understand someone finding it underwhelming. It's also an understandable feeling if you were never curious enough to peek under the easily removable hood.

If, however, you compared it to its contemporaries, the S-100 machines with serial terminals, the TRS-80 and the PET, "revolutionary" would be the only possible word.

And, if you had the curiosity to peek under the hood of a II after taking a look inside an IMSAI, you'd understand what an elegant electronic design looks like. Every time I think that the computer in front of me is a not significantly evolved descendant of the original IBM PC, I despair a little. This triumph of the mediocre is not what I studied for.

Re: Steve Jobs passed away one year ago - HN Frontpage

#90

Post by tatsuke95 »

davidw wrote: post #40
swombat wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you mods! Though I suspect that was an automatic script detecting your egregious over-flagging.

Maybe, maybe not. They got rid of my 'flag' button when I wrote that I flag global warming stories as being off topic, a position I still maintain: very few people here know much about the actual science, so it mostly ends up being a debate ranging between people convinced that it's all a communist plot to interfere with the Free Market to those who'd like to shut down all industrial activity, and everything between;…

>"very few people here know much about the actual science"

It's the same scenario with finance and economics, in every corner of the internet, including here. It can be incredibly frustrating.

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