[Discuss] (OT) Steve Jobs 1955-2011

[Jerry Feldman]

On 10/06/2011 11:49 PM, David Kramer wrote:
> On 10/06/2011 10:19 AM, Matthew Gillen wrote:
>> On 10/06/2011 09:23 AM, Dan O'Donovan wrote:
>>>> My next cell phone will be an openmoko
>>> I remember saying that five years ago - kinda glad I got an iPhone now...
>> I will never buy one of those.  The way they treat jailbreakers (sue
>> them for copyright infringement, brick their phones) says a lot to me
>> about what they think of their customers.  For one, I don't want to
>> contribute to financing that kind of activity.
> But that's you.  Everyone has different priorities.  I can just as
> easily say (and have in the past) about Android: "I will never buy one
> of those.  The way they treat my data (making me share all of my
> valuable data with them in order to back it up or sync it) says a lot to
> me about what they think of their customers.  For one, I don't want them
> making money off my data.
>
> As someone else said, I have not heard about them suing jailbreakers,
> but Apple is very consistent in the way they treat their customers.
> Anyone who is surprised when their Apple device isn't as flexible as its
> competitors or becomes obsolete in months is not paying attention.  But
> if that mindset doesn't work for you, don't buy an Apple.
My first home computer was an Apple II (1978). What Jobs saw back then
was that a desktop computer could be useful to real people. At the time,
there were a few hobby computers. I almost bought a MITS Altair a few
years earlier. While I never met Jobs in person, I did attend a couple
of Apple meetings at the BCS where Steve Jobs was presenting. I was at
the meeting where he presented the Apple III. This was disappointing
because it was essentially an improved Apple II. Steve (and Billl Gates)
were visionaries who helped the desktop computer market immensely. I
would also include Dan Bricklin and Bob Franskton who developed
VisiCalc. I bought my first version of VisiCalc directly from Dan at a
Boston AppleTree meeting. Bob sometimes attends BLU meetings.

BTW: Thomas Edison was 100 worse than Jobs and Gates.

-- 
Jerry Feldman <gaf at blu.org>
Boston Linux and Unix
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