As a FOSS supporter, I’ve often found myself POd by actions taken by Steve Jobs, especially in recent months as he’s pulled out his patent portfolio and declared war on Android. However, I’ve never viewed his actions through the same lens I’ve used to see the anti-FOSS moves made by the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer or Larry Ellison. Indeed, I’ve always viewed Jobs as something of a kindred spirit and have understood that his commitment to protecting Apple has been brought about because he knows what it’s like to be ripped off by the likes of Microsoft. It’s happened to him in the past and he’ll be damned if he’s going to let it happen to him again. I like Jobs. I admire him. But he still pisses me off sometimes.
I also have a love/hate relationship with Apple, the company he founded and the company he rescued from oblivion with his return to the helm in 1996. Under Jobs guidance, the company has risen to the top of U.S. corporate culture not by bullying but by honest and shrewd marketing and by offering products that represent quality and value. But now Jobs is gone as CEO, and the world wonders if Apple can continue to innovate and grow without his vision.
It’s a fair question. The last time Apple found itself Jobsless, the company nearly sank. Even his detractors will admit that in the high tech computer biz, Jobs is a visionary who seems to intuitively know what will ignite the imagination of the public. It’s not that he invents new things – but he takes existing products and brings them to new heights.
Take the iPod for example. Before it existed, numerous hand held MP3 players could be found in the electronics departments of stores like Target, but they were an “also ran” product, not much more than a novelty. Most of them didn’t sound all that great, they were clumsy to use, and they didn’t store that many tunes. The only thing they had going for them was that they were cheap. Most shoppers looking for a music player took a pass and stayed with portable CD or cassette players, which were the standard of the day.
Jobs changed that by marrying the MP3 player to high quality components producing high fidelity audio and to a hard drive that can store hundreds or thousands of songs. Suddenly the portable MP3 player, the iPod, became the standard for carry-it-with-you-anywhere music, and the previous standard, Sony’s Walkman, was history.
I think with 76B in the bank,
They have a bigger buffer zone and 1993 ish.
they should be fine people will be crossing over
for the next 5 years…
from McIntosh to Windows and back to OSX
what ever is the lastest and greatest
Canada
“However, I’ve never viewed his actions through the same lens I’ve used to see the anti-FOSS moves made by the likes of Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer or Larry Ellison. Indeed, I’ve always viewed Jobs as something of a kindred spirit”
Maybe you should be a bit less credulous – the guy is very much of the same mould as Ellison and Gates.
a) suing for ‘copying’ look and feel?
b) trying to undermine the gpl (gcc – objective c)
c) suing mac clone builders
d) screwing over the music publishing business with exploitative licensing deals for music
e) probably the same for flash memory manufacturers
f) and right from the start, screwing over consumers with over-priced, crappy hardware on which it made margins well above the norm.
etc.
Like all of these guys, he’s just a power-hungry sociopath.
Good on him for being what modern society considers successful – but him and that whole lot are hardly someone to admire as great examples of fellow-man.
People (and companies) don’t get to positions like that by competing fairly in the market and being nice guys. This is also why companies like that falter when the head knee-capper is removed. We’re already seeing a move to more aggressive litigation rather than innovation – a sure sign that they are having trouble coming up with new ideas already (he’s been too sick to run the company for some time).