Smart enough to get very rich. Dumb enough to die for no reason

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
    642·
    4 days ago

    To be fair, he was never the smart one. Woz was the smart one, he was the opportunistic one.

    • jaaake@lemmy.world
      3611·
      4 days ago

      Woz was definitely smarter when it came to chip design and computer architecture. Jobs had a ton of flaws (the thread illustrates a major one), but to discount his overall intelligence and label him solely as an opportunist does a great disservice to him. He had a unique vision and passion that changed the direction of Apple and altered the course of several pivotal pieces of tech. From stealing the mouse from Xerox and using it to make a more approachable user experience, to harping on about font support in core operating system he directed the team at Apple in a way that genuinely did make personal computing more approachable. Similar stories about tyrannically obsessing over optimizing the size of the iPod and simple wheel interface made it more desirable than other options like the Nomad Jukebox. When he advocated for the acquisition of FingerWorks to bring multitouch to a device that was almost entirely touchscreen based, fit in your pocket and was a combination of a music player, an internet broswer, and a phone, he lead the industry in a direction towards consumers and away from the focus on business (like the market dominant BlackBerry).

      Jobs wasn’t a genius in the sense that he made all of these things himself. He was a genius in his focus on the user experience and ignoring contemporary wisdom about what a computer was. Again, tons of flaws, probably not a nice dude in a lot of ways, but he changed the world.

      • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
        273·
        4 days ago

        He literally washed his feet (which were constantly bare) in toilets. He smelled fucking awful. I’ll give you that he wasn’t stupid but he was gross and a huge asshole.

      • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
        51·
        4 days ago

        Also Woz was nothing more then an honorary employee when Jobs returned as CEO, he had nothing to do with Apple’s revival. While he is a smart engineer he isn’t a business man or marketeer. If Woz never met Jobs his hobby computer would have stayed a hobby.

  • iAvicenna@lemmy.world
    14·
    4 days ago

    Same story as the submarine guy, these people trust their own ideas so blindly they sometimes cant see the obvious. That is why they will easily blast the whole surface of earth flat if they think it is justified for some reason.

  • prions_for_pets@lemmy.world
    36·
    4 days ago

    ISAACSON: If you were listing the 1,000 adjectives for Steve, nice would not be [one of them]. Kindness would not be up there. I told him, “Why are you that way, Steve?” and he said, “This is who I am. This is the way I am.” People say, “Well, he didn’t put a license plate on there. He sometimes parked in the handicapped [spot], or he cut in line.” He actually seemed to live as if the normal rules didn’t apply to him.

    https://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/archive/transcript/walter-isaacson-talks-steve-jobs

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      15·
      4 days ago

      The 5 year survival rate for PNET is 53 percent overall with the worst rate being 23 percent if it’s spread further than just the surrounding area.

      Steve Jobs’ cancer was found early, with no spread yet giving him a 95 percent 5 year survival chance. People who do the treatment at this stage have a very high chance of a normal life expectancy as well.

      He specifically declined surgery at the early stage to attempt homeopathic treatment. So instead his cancer spread and his 5 year survival chance went down each year he delayed the surgery. By the time he had the surgery he was looking at far less of a chance and of course we know it wasn’t enough to save him at that point.

      I’m not a fan of making fun of people for effectively choosing death but we shouldn’t shy away from the truth either. He is dead because he did not follow medical advice.