Khazul wrote:beats me wrote:Since Steve lived in this area his whole life and Apple HQ is here I expected a lot of local media coverage of his passing and as much of a fanboy as I am, am still shocked at how much national and international coverage it is getting. And the overwhelming theme is that everybody from the common man/woman on the street to executives and celebrities are deeply and sincerely saddened by his passing.
I was listening to talk radio last night and Steve’s passing was the subject and people were calling in to voice their feelings or stories about Steve and Apple. The very first person to call in was some asshole who chose to use Steve’s passing as an opportunity for a generic rant about CEOs’ overcompensation, he hoped that the government would swoop in and seize all his assets and money, and that Apple’s employees were probably miserable and way undercompensated. Wow, what a clueless and insensitive cunt.
Agree on the insensitive. As for corps and having spent 15 years in apples main rival I have to say that while the original visionary is at the reins, they can be great places to work. Its middle management bean counters that makes corps hell, especially the mordern pure line management style - not the techy visionary at the top - Obviously I cant talk for steve as Ive never worked in apple and certainly never met him, but having worked with billg (directly for a while) I have to say if he is anything to go by, then such people are the most inspiring and motivating people you could ever wish to meet, argue with or work for/with. Those around them tend to pale into insigificance by comparision (steve blamer for eg - pure business, sure, great energy, but never found him motivating beyond the moment of one of his staged rants, I should think Tim Cook would be similar in that respect). Corps runnign by business men OTOH are (or evenualloy become) pure hell on earth eventually - utterly souless places - as MS quickly became after bill left. The problem is simple - when the business is in charge, then business take focus. When the techy/visionary is in charge, innovation and technology gets the attension.
Anyway - back to topic - My brushes with apple were few and far between until recently - used an Apple IIgs back in the 80s in a studio for a while (came out just after Steve left I think, but wouldnt be suprised if he laid the foundations for it - great machine in its day). Used a next cube for a while and an apple newton. Had a couple of iPods. It was eventually the iPhone 3gs that made me take notice of apple again - working in a company where even the apple name is nearly banned tends to isolate you from some good things, though have to say, you didnt hear bad things, perhaps mostly a grudging respect once they found their feet after steve was brough back in again and nextstep was on the cards for apple's computers.
Finally got an MBP at the start of this year and have to confess to now being a total convert and even a bit of a fanboy (have ipad2, apple tv as well) and only found out about his passing when I went to apple to check on the iPhone 4gs availability date.
I like what Apple did on their site - main page, loose the commercial stuff and a simple tribute. Have to say I was shocked at his passing even though we all knew he was ill. The computer industry, media production industries and indeed the world has trully lost one of the greatest (if not the greatest?) innovators and visionaries to come out of the start of the late 70s personal computer world.
I think we shall all miss his driving influence in the software and hardware that powers our lives and studios in the future. Ive no doubt apple is in competant hands, and we shall continue to see great new products based upon the ideas that steve has left for them, but from my experience within ms, I dont think it will ever be the same, so without a doubt I think he is a great loss to us all for so many reasons.
I was slowly coming around to the idea of looking for a dev job with apple (such is the level if being impressed with their gear and software and looking for an inspiring place to work now that ms is out of my system at last) - not sure I fancy that now he is gone - sad day.
