Did the economy collapse again? Everyone is saying there's no more Jobs.
The media has been full of adulation for this man Jobs. I find myself a bit underwhelmed. He may have been bright, inventive and very clever at getting his creations sold worldwide, but was he that important? Did people see his 'Mac' and 'iPod' as earth changing, or did his fans see him as the good one and Bill Gates as the bad perhaps? Gates certainly has not made friends by his attitudes and behaviour, but was Jobs any better? Gates at least is known to have given away masses of money, Jobs appears to have kept his £8 billion. This man has been almost worshipped in the media, several articles in all papers and histories of his life, his work and so on and on. He died from a horrible disease, and that is terrible, his active m,ind created some interesting machines (which I have never used) but does the hero worship not reveal the empty part of us that needs a God to look up to? Clever he may be, but surely the coverage is overblown?
This is the 'Swan' tavern. You can tell that by the name 'Swan' written on the front. I had a look through the web but in spite of this pub standing here since at least 1560, and some similar creation probably dates back for a thousand or two years before this, I could find no relevant information regarding this pubs history, except a list of names of landlords for some years back. How sad I thought. Mind you it is some years since swans were found around here, ugly ducklings yes, swans no!
Intellectual Political debate in the USA reaches new heights!
Is that you Max?...... Jerry?
I bet he's from the South!
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You might find that a local historian has somethhing to say about the Swan. There may be old photos of it too. Support your local history library collection - the philistines are closing them down!!!!
Actually, and I wonder if people kind of intuit this without really being able to put their finger on it but, in point of fact Jobs did accomplish something of a revolution in semiconductors engineering, and one that I'm studying right now here at Georgia Tech. The secret to making a device like the IPhone is making a computer board with Integrated Circuits, containing chips and RF components (what you use to send and receive calls) small enough to fit inside it.
Now up until Jobs, the focus in terms of miniaturization was on the Integrated Circuit, but this could only go so far because smaller IC's need smaller wires, or else your board is simply a tangle of wire emanating from a single IC instead of a slightly less tangled mess emanating from several. Jobs began using what had up until then been a minor part, the Substrate, to not only connect wires, but in some cases simplify them, include thermal components and inductors and capacitors and in some cases even tiny IC's to allow more frequent use of the same wire through controlling impedance, and thus how much time a particular signal takes up in the wire and how effective the clock is at controlling input and output, and also through controlling heat that wears away the board slowly when too great of demands are put on it.
Through use of a single technology, the integrated substrate, Apple was able to fundamentally improve the processing speed, processing capacity and (this one was totally unnecessary to the original problem, but still a lovely bonus) chip reliability through the control of heat.
It may also, by lowering the electrical demands of computers, allow for the development of computers that power themselves off of your own body heat, something Texas Instruments is already working on as I know from my uncle who works there.
I am with you about Jobs. Yes, many great and wonderful things were given through him, but while he had his minions screaming about how predatory Microsoft is, Apple is even worse. I found that out when it became clear to me that the only music one can put on an iPod is what is purchased through iTunes! Alas, that is not a picture of me, but after finding myself in agreement with the likes of you...
Jenny, Indeed! I have put in an application to volunteer for the small local museum. I wait to see.
Jeremy, Wot?
Another redneck smartass, as If two already were not enough!
Indeed he brought about some changes, but it is the amount of deification that irks.
Nice to hear from you!
Fish, You agree with me, then you are learning. You will have lots in common with Jeremy, a rebel like you!
I agree Adullamite, no one should be deified. We're all just men.
You know FishHawk, I was just thinking about this, you do know that Bill Gates made more then 10 times more money then Steve Jobs did, even though Jobs was the far more brilliant technologist? I almost wonder if the predatory behavior is precisely why.
You know, you look at history and the most predatory and despicable corporations (e.g. the Northern Pacific Railroad that destroyed towns out West to replace them with ones that the railroad owned) don't actually usually do that well. In fact, for all the NP's cruelty, and despite one of the largest land grants ever given by government to a railroad, they still ended up going bankrupt less then 10 years after their track from Duluth, MN to Tacoma, WA was completed. In fact, their failure was so absolute that many sections of their rail line no longer even exist, especially the section heading to Duluth through Minnesota. The Great Northern had no land grants or government assistance of any kind, but still rose to become both the most successful and the most beloved of all Americas Transcontinental railways, running from a small town at the junction of the US-Canadian border and Lake Superior in Minnesota (later on the route would be forked South to Chicago and North to Ontario at Minneapolis) to Seattle, WA. That railroad is still one of the most highly used in America, and in fact suffers serious congestion issues from about Spokane, WA all the way to Alexandria, MN.
Rednecks are always from the South, Adullamite. Essex and around there.
On the other hand, my dear Jeremy, perhaps it is because of Gates being more cooperative with outside interests than Jobs that made such a significant difference? Oh, but I not I am not all trying to suggest that one was not all that different from the other when it came to business decisions. For being more cooperative for self-serving purposes is still being self-serving, and I am including the whole of Microsoft in this definition of self-serving.
Jeremey, indeed!
Max, for some years lots of Essex men displayed confederate flags. It was remarkably common in southern England, although many of those were 'common' men! There are still some found.
Fish, You just like arguing, why can't you be nice, like me....?
@FishHawk: Nahhhh... Spreading computer literacy and helping the Third World actually helps computer hardware companies more then computer software companies - the proliferation of cell phones in Africa for instance. Oddly enough, he probably helped Steve Jobs more then himself there, as Jobs does have interest directly in the sector of hardware that benefitted the most (RF, or Radio Frequency, chips). If he had wanted to be self-serving with respect to his own company, he would've been more focused on education here in the US.
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