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Apple doesn't have a One True Way -- they have a relatively-simple and relatively-uniform product line that represents their interpretation of human-computer in

Apple doesn't have a One True Way -- they have a relatively-simple and relatively-uniform product line that represents their interpretation of human-computer interaction. They focused on building systems that everyone could use and love immediately, and it turns out that a lot of people appreciate that emphatic commitment to the human over the machine. Jobs insisted on elegance and simplicity throughout, creating products that were instantly loved and admired, products that people would be proud to own and display. Technobabble was worthless to him and he did everything possible to keep it away from his customers. He expected his engineers to deliver something decent and real and trusted them to figure out the details, focusing exclusively on the vision of shipping usable, beautiful products that provided immediate value to every user, regardless of technical background. Steve Jobs's devotion to elegance resulted in products so appealing and downright seductive that they fundamentally changed the public's expectations from computers and consumer electronics generally -- not just once (Mac), not just twice (iPod), but at least three times (iPhone; honorable mention: NeXT/OS X). We lost him too soon. Meanwhile, in Yarvin via Urbit, we are offered a ground-floor rate of only $512 per placard in The One True E-fief. Urbit is here to show us that they know best. That we'd be better off if we'd just raise our eyes out of the mud long enough to recognize our obvious inferiority, take our oaths of fealty, pay our taxes, and some day, when They've decided the time is Right, They'll bestow upon us The One True Network. There could not be a starker contrast.

asjw 7y ago
We haven't lost him out of misfortune, as many other things he made horribly wrong and nobody talks about anymore, because, you know, survival bias, he also thought cancer could be cured with diets. He was man that even his daughter despise for being inhuman with his own flesh and blood, for denying she was her child for years. Having interacted with Apple users since 1984, the only common trait they have is exactly believing there is only one true way, not that their way is better thanks to the sum of well though technical factors, but because it's a faith, that, as any other faith, is impenetrable to critics and doubts. The fact that the failure of Next is still told as a great success speaks volumes. Another famous example is the Apple III, costed a fortune to build, sold poorly and the people who worked at it remember that "The Apple III was designed by a committee headed by Steve Jobs, who would demand one thing one day then the opposite the next." Jobs built a cult, not a technical revolution.
- robenkleene 7y ago
  > The fact that the failure of Next is still told as a great success speaks volumes. NeXT resulted in the web browser and the iPhone.

asjw 7y ago

We haven't lost him out of misfortune, as many other things he made horribly wrong and nobody talks about anymore, because, you know, survival bias, he also thought cancer could be cured with diets. He was man that even his daughter despise for being inhuman with his own flesh and blood, for denying she was her child for years. Having interacted with Apple users since 1984, the only common trait they have is exactly believing there is only one true way, not that their way is better thanks to the sum of well though technical factors, but because it's a faith, that, as any other faith, is impenetrable to critics and doubts. The fact that the failure of Next is still told as a great success speaks volumes. Another famous example is the Apple III, costed a fortune to build, sold poorly and the people who worked at it remember that "The Apple III was designed by a committee headed by Steve Jobs, who would demand one thing one day then the opposite the next." Jobs built a cult, not a technical revolution.

robenkleene 7y ago
> The fact that the failure of Next is still told as a great success speaks volumes. NeXT resulted in the web browser and the iPhone.