5 ms·

Why does Jobs command such rabid adulation? He was an asshole, so vain that he would get a new car every X number of months just so that he could be the guy wi

by na85 5y ago

Why does Jobs command such rabid adulation? He was an asshole, so vain that he would get a new car every X number of months just so that he could be the guy without license plates, and so selfish he wouldn't give one of those dozens of cars to his daughter whom he refused to acknowledge. So he made popular products, big deal. What a disgusting human being he was.

gjhr 5y ago
I certainly don't adore him, but would probably read a good biography about him _because_ he is such a controversial figure.
- akie 5y ago
  I mean the officially authorized biography, which in my opinion shows Steve Jobs as a real asshole, is a good read.
colourgarden 5y ago
Where is the adulation in OP's question? A person doesn't have to be likeable to be worth reading or learning about.
switchstance 5y ago
It sounds like you need to read or reread Walter Isaacson's biography on Steve. Sure he was an asshole, but there is still a lot to be learned from the man.
- na85 5y ago
  I prefer to think about "Steve" as little as possible.
  - sunshinerag 5y ago
    Yet you are here pumping out comments. Surely you can’t get him out of your head. Such devotion.
imgabe 5y ago
He didn’t want a license plate so people wouldn’t know which car was his and it would be harder to stalk him. He didn’t give them away because they were leased and you have to return them at the end of the lease. There’s plenty to criticize about Jobs and no shortage of criticism, but at least get your facts right.
- na85 5y ago
  >He didn’t want a license plate so people wouldn’t know which car was his and it would be harder to stalk him. Then why did he always get the same model of Mercedes?
  - onion2k 5y ago
    Plenty of successful people drive a Mercedes SL55 AMG. It was common enough not to be worth following.
- ultrablack 5y ago
  If I recall correctly, he got a nee Mercedes every 6 months to avoid having any licenseplates which in turn allowed him to dodge parking tickets.
- 1cvmask 5y ago
  Everyone knew it was his car because he had the signature mark of NOT having a license plate. The ultimate vanity of vanity plates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_plate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_plate
  - imgabe 5y ago
    In California you have up to 6 months after buying a car to register it and get a plate. There are tons of cars driving around without license plates.
    - mschuster91 5y ago
      That means you effectively have six months of immunity against speed trap cameras?
jb1991 5y ago
There are a lot of legendary figures throughout all of history, who made enormous contributions to the world, and in many different ways, who were all assholes. That has nothing to do with it.
onion2k 5y ago
What a disgusting human being he was. The world is not black and white. There is no clear cut delineation between the 'good' and the 'bad'. We live in a world of subtly and nuance, where people can do good things while also doing immensely shitty things. Jobs was a fantastic business leader. He was instrumental in the founding and running of several wildly successful companies (Apple, Next, Pixar, and Apple again). His vision for Apple products shaped a decade of tech and continues to affect product design long after he passed away. He was the epitome of what makes a brilliant CEO. He was an asshole. No doubt. He was an asshole who got some amazing things done though. You don't have to like him to recognize that, and you don't have to like him to want to learn about, and even emulate, the admirable bits.
- blowski 5y ago
  I guess your opinion on Steve Jobs depends on whether you think being a great business leader is measured mostly by how much profit they generate, or some more vague metrics that also consider how they achieve those profits. There's no right answer there - people have been arguing about it for centuries.
colesantiago 5y ago
Don't forget the wannabe CEOs that borrow and mimic all of his persona and style that he created. I cringe every time someone turns up to me 'the engineer' to give their own 'Jobs lecture' of their 'new app idea'. Bonus points if they turn up a turtle neck.
sunshinerag 5y ago
Oh here comes the internet judge. Jobs was given away by his parents when he was a baby which affected his idea what parenting meant to be to his daughter. He later reconciled with her. Things are not so simple.
headShrinker 5y ago
Sorry. I glossed over reading your whiny complaints. > Why does Jobs command such rabid adulation? Why? Because he was interesting and strange. He tapped in to the zeitgeist and ran circles around all other tech hardware companies. He pushed his teams, other companies and society to bend to his influence. His company did things people didn’t think was possible. In fact, with the iPhone, the culmination of all of his projects, he made every other tech CEO look like complete assholes. All cellphones, all telcos, and everyone that didn’t have an iPhone all of the sudden looked slightly lame. Your comment has ‘woke’ undertones, and I am So Over It Not every historically significant person is nice or fair. Some of them were truly mean spirited, some did things in their past we now consider wrong. That doesn’t mean you get to cancel them from history. Stop trying to control everyone’s objectivity. I decide what is interesting, fascinating and bizarre for myself. Steve Jobs was interesting. There is something truly awful in everyone’s past. It’s just a matter of if we found out about it before we decide to cancel you, too.
- dang 5y ago
  Flamewar comments like this are not cool, regardless of how bad someone else's comments are or you feel they are. If you'd please review the rules and stick to them, we'd appreciate it: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Note this one: "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: it looks like you've unfortunately been in the habit of breaking the site guidelines, including egregiously, like here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774244 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774244 We ban accounts that post like that. I don't want to ban you, so please edit out any swipes, name-calling, and attacks that make it into your comments going forward. (You may find it helpful to set 'delay' in your profile to give you time to review them and edit them—that's what I do.)
  - headShrinker 5y ago
    Dang, you may remember I asked you to wipe out and delete my account months ago. [1] You didn't and wouldn't. Needless to say it left me disappointed in HN and you personally. You insist that a full deletion of my account would ruin the readability of HN, therefore you will not comply. This is my writing that you are reading. I should have the right to remove my creations if I so chose, or at least edit them one by one, including but not exclusive to name calling. I have no tolerance for garbage reasoning by some of the users you allow to exist here. I have no time for them either. My recent candor reflects that. I have lost faith in NH because of your administration choices. My rhetoric reflects that lost of faith. If you ban me, fine. I sleep well at night, but I demand you delete my comments as well. I demand it! Once you delete my comment and account, ban me, please. My words are mine. My comments are mine. If I chose to be forgotten and deleted, that should be and is my choice. My personal freedoms, my writing and my copyright are more important that your HN readability. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23622865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23622865
LinuxBender 5y ago
Not to mention an honest autobiography would have to mention his elevator interviews and how he interacted with his employees. I know quite a few of the people that worked for him and had nothing but bad things to say. Perhaps history favors the positive attributes of a person. I hope this is true for my sake.
dang 5y ago
Please don't post unsubstantive comments. This comment consists of fulmination, name-calling, and shallow dismissal, so it's unsubstantive in multiple ways. You may not owe Steve Jobs better, but you owe this community much better if you're participating in it. Please review the rules and stick to them: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

by na85 5y ago

gjhr 5y ago

I certainly don't adore him, but would probably read a good biography about him _because_ he is such a controversial figure.

akie 5y ago
I mean the officially authorized biography, which in my opinion shows Steve Jobs as a real asshole, is a good read.

colourgarden 5y ago

Where is the adulation in OP's question? A person doesn't have to be likeable to be worth reading or learning about.

switchstance 5y ago

It sounds like you need to read or reread Walter Isaacson's biography on Steve. Sure he was an asshole, but there is still a lot to be learned from the man.

na85 5y ago
I prefer to think about "Steve" as little as possible.
- sunshinerag 5y ago
  Yet you are here pumping out comments. Surely you can’t get him out of your head. Such devotion.

imgabe 5y ago

He didn’t want a license plate so people wouldn’t know which car was his and it would be harder to stalk him. He didn’t give them away because they were leased and you have to return them at the end of the lease. There’s plenty to criticize about Jobs and no shortage of criticism, but at least get your facts right.

na85 5y ago
>He didn’t want a license plate so people wouldn’t know which car was his and it would be harder to stalk him. Then why did he always get the same model of Mercedes?
- onion2k 5y ago
  Plenty of successful people drive a Mercedes SL55 AMG. It was common enough not to be worth following.
ultrablack 5y ago
If I recall correctly, he got a nee Mercedes every 6 months to avoid having any licenseplates which in turn allowed him to dodge parking tickets.
1cvmask 5y ago
Everyone knew it was his car because he had the signature mark of NOT having a license plate. The ultimate vanity of vanity plates. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_plate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanity_plate
- imgabe 5y ago
  In California you have up to 6 months after buying a car to register it and get a plate. There are tons of cars driving around without license plates.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    That means you effectively have six months of immunity against speed trap cameras?

jb1991 5y ago

There are a lot of legendary figures throughout all of history, who made enormous contributions to the world, and in many different ways, who were all assholes. That has nothing to do with it.

onion2k 5y ago

What a disgusting human being he was. The world is not black and white. There is no clear cut delineation between the 'good' and the 'bad'. We live in a world of subtly and nuance, where people can do good things while also doing immensely shitty things. Jobs was a fantastic business leader. He was instrumental in the founding and running of several wildly successful companies (Apple, Next, Pixar, and Apple again). His vision for Apple products shaped a decade of tech and continues to affect product design long after he passed away. He was the epitome of what makes a brilliant CEO. He was an asshole. No doubt. He was an asshole who got some amazing things done though. You don't have to like him to recognize that, and you don't have to like him to want to learn about, and even emulate, the admirable bits.

blowski 5y ago
I guess your opinion on Steve Jobs depends on whether you think being a great business leader is measured mostly by how much profit they generate, or some more vague metrics that also consider how they achieve those profits. There's no right answer there - people have been arguing about it for centuries.

colesantiago 5y ago

Don't forget the wannabe CEOs that borrow and mimic all of his persona and style that he created. I cringe every time someone turns up to me 'the engineer' to give their own 'Jobs lecture' of their 'new app idea'. Bonus points if they turn up a turtle neck.

sunshinerag 5y ago

Oh here comes the internet judge. Jobs was given away by his parents when he was a baby which affected his idea what parenting meant to be to his daughter. He later reconciled with her. Things are not so simple.

headShrinker 5y ago

Sorry. I glossed over reading your whiny complaints. > Why does Jobs command such rabid adulation? Why? Because he was interesting and strange. He tapped in to the zeitgeist and ran circles around all other tech hardware companies. He pushed his teams, other companies and society to bend to his influence. His company did things people didn’t think was possible. In fact, with the iPhone, the culmination of all of his projects, he made every other tech CEO look like complete assholes. All cellphones, all telcos, and everyone that didn’t have an iPhone all of the sudden looked slightly lame. Your comment has ‘woke’ undertones, and I am So Over It Not every historically significant person is nice or fair. Some of them were truly mean spirited, some did things in their past we now consider wrong. That doesn’t mean you get to cancel them from history. Stop trying to control everyone’s objectivity. I decide what is interesting, fascinating and bizarre for myself. Steve Jobs was interesting. There is something truly awful in everyone’s past. It’s just a matter of if we found out about it before we decide to cancel you, too.

dang 5y ago
Flamewar comments like this are not cool, regardless of how bad someone else's comments are or you feel they are. If you'd please review the rules and stick to them, we'd appreciate it: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Note this one: "Don't feed egregious comments by replying; flag them instead." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html Edit: it looks like you've unfortunately been in the habit of breaking the site guidelines, including egregiously, like here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774298 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774244 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28774244 We ban accounts that post like that. I don't want to ban you, so please edit out any swipes, name-calling, and attacks that make it into your comments going forward. (You may find it helpful to set 'delay' in your profile to give you time to review them and edit them—that's what I do.)
- headShrinker 5y ago
  Dang, you may remember I asked you to wipe out and delete my account months ago. [1] You didn't and wouldn't. Needless to say it left me disappointed in HN and you personally. You insist that a full deletion of my account would ruin the readability of HN, therefore you will not comply. This is my writing that you are reading. I should have the right to remove my creations if I so chose, or at least edit them one by one, including but not exclusive to name calling. I have no tolerance for garbage reasoning by some of the users you allow to exist here. I have no time for them either. My recent candor reflects that. I have lost faith in NH because of your administration choices. My rhetoric reflects that lost of faith. If you ban me, fine. I sleep well at night, but I demand you delete my comments as well. I demand it! Once you delete my comment and account, ban me, please. My words are mine. My comments are mine. If I chose to be forgotten and deleted, that should be and is my choice. My personal freedoms, my writing and my copyright are more important that your HN readability. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23622865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23622865

LinuxBender 5y ago

Not to mention an honest autobiography would have to mention his elevator interviews and how he interacted with his employees. I know quite a few of the people that worked for him and had nothing but bad things to say. Perhaps history favors the positive attributes of a person. I hope this is true for my sake.

dang 5y ago

Please don't post unsubstantive comments. This comment consists of fulmination, name-calling, and shallow dismissal, so it's unsubstantive in multiple ways. You may not owe Steve Jobs better, but you owe this community much better if you're participating in it. Please review the rules and stick to them: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html