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What this article means to me: absolutely nothing. What the author's bitter, misguided opinion means to me: absolutely nothing. Steve Jobs is easily the most e

by Bud 15y ago

What this article means to me: absolutely nothing. What the author's bitter, misguided opinion means to me: absolutely nothing. Steve Jobs is easily the most extraordinary business leader of our time, by virtually any measure imaginable. He built a computer company that was declared thoroughly marginalized in the late 90s into the world's largest company of any kind. And that's not counting what he did at Pixar. Some people can't handle that that kind of achievement garners a lot of admiration, so they characterize it as a "cult" and then attack it.

DrCatbox 15y ago
Do you know who built TCP/IP? Where is the suckuping for Linus Torvalds? Where is the love for Richard Stallman without wich the IT industry, and Apple would not have been the same.
- jinushaun 15y ago
  They haven't retired/died yet. Everyone assumes Steve Jobs left because he's dying. That's why every article about Jobs reads like a eulogy.
- Bud 15y ago
  Yeah, I do know that. Regarding Linus, he actually gets a lot of hero-worship...and rightly so. But did Linus (or Richard Stallman) have the overall impact of Jobs? Not by a longshot. So in my mind, the admiration for Jobs is deserved. Some disagree and I respect that, but calling it a "cult" is ludicrous.
- doctoboggan 15y ago
  I am not sure if you meant it sarcastically, but the two people you mentioned have obtained somewhat of a cult status. And if you are wondering why Steve Jobs gets so much attention around here, it is probably because this is a forum for entrepreneurs, and he is arguably the best, taking Apple from the brink of collapse to the world's largest public company.
shriphani 15y ago
>> What this article means to me: absolutely nothing. What the author's bitter, misguided opinion means to me: absolutely nothing. Then why did you post that comment ? BTW I have seen people struggle to get package management working cleanly on OS X and then claim with a straight face that OS X is the greatest OS ever so I am not too hesitant in calling Apple's user-base a cult. There just seems to be an underdog mentality there - a need to defend everything apple does.
- Turing_Machine 15y ago
  Clean package management? Right, like no one ever winds up in RPM Hell on Linux. :-) The very concept of Linux-style package management is somewhat foreign to OS X, where, to a first approximation, apps are expected to carry their dependencies along with them in the application bundle. It made sense to worry about the overhead of an extra copy of a library 20 years ago, much less so now. In most cases the inconvenience to the end user vastly outweighs the trivial overhead of having multiple copies of a library hanging around. I like being able to "uninstall" an application by simply dragging it to the trash, or "installing" it by just putting it in the Applications folder (or any other folder, for that matter -- want to run your application on another machine? Just drag it to a network-accessible folder and run the sucker). This is an odd criticism, to say the least -- it's like saying that Linux sucks because getting Windows apps to (sort of) run in WINE is a little dodgy. Yes, it's nice that you can use things like fink and MacPorts to do a cheap port of software that was originally written for Linux, but it's still a nasty hack that's not the way things are normally handled on the platform.
coderdude 15y ago
Apple is like a cult and their fanboys are usually unbearably lame. Steve Jobs is a cool guy and he's done some awesome things. I don't see why 'Apple being a cult of lamers' and 'Steve Jobs is a brilliant man who accomplished many things' are mutually exclusive. I feel really bad for Steve Jobs because he is good at what he does and he did some amazing things to the industry (and is now dying), but I would not at all feel bad if Apple fell back into irrelevance. Edit: Wow, with so many votes after only 45 minutes this article should be in the top 3 and not #17+. You flaggers really shouldn't let yourselves get so upset over someone being negative towards a man who might as well be a mythical historical figure from your point of view.
xibernetik 15y ago
This article is fairly evenhanded in that it says "you're entitled to your opinion, I find it weird, here's a possible explanation for how you feel and here's why I don't feel the same way" while your comment makes it out to be a bitter attack -- I can't detect any bitterness in the article, only a commentary that worshiping this man seems strange, while there's considerable vitriol in your description of the article. The use of "The Cult of Apple" is common enough it's not so much a judgement by an individual as a way to sum up the group, especially when he only references it in passing once. How else could you describe all the people who do admire the company/Jobs with such passion in a succinct and understandable manner? He even goes so far as to say Jobs is a brilliant man and deserving of praise... But points out since he is just a man, he's not deserving of worship. He's not attacking, he's saying he has trouble relating to the unadulterated adoration/worship of certain (vocal) fans.

by Bud 15y ago

DrCatbox 15y ago

Do you know who built TCP/IP? Where is the suckuping for Linus Torvalds? Where is the love for Richard Stallman without wich the IT industry, and Apple would not have been the same.

jinushaun 15y ago
They haven't retired/died yet. Everyone assumes Steve Jobs left because he's dying. That's why every article about Jobs reads like a eulogy.
Bud 15y ago
Yeah, I do know that. Regarding Linus, he actually gets a lot of hero-worship...and rightly so. But did Linus (or Richard Stallman) have the overall impact of Jobs? Not by a longshot. So in my mind, the admiration for Jobs is deserved. Some disagree and I respect that, but calling it a "cult" is ludicrous.
doctoboggan 15y ago
I am not sure if you meant it sarcastically, but the two people you mentioned have obtained somewhat of a cult status. And if you are wondering why Steve Jobs gets so much attention around here, it is probably because this is a forum for entrepreneurs, and he is arguably the best, taking Apple from the brink of collapse to the world's largest public company.

shriphani 15y ago

>> What this article means to me: absolutely nothing. What the author's bitter, misguided opinion means to me: absolutely nothing. Then why did you post that comment ? BTW I have seen people struggle to get package management working cleanly on OS X and then claim with a straight face that OS X is the greatest OS ever so I am not too hesitant in calling Apple's user-base a cult. There just seems to be an underdog mentality there - a need to defend everything apple does.

Turing_Machine 15y ago
Clean package management? Right, like no one ever winds up in RPM Hell on Linux. :-) The very concept of Linux-style package management is somewhat foreign to OS X, where, to a first approximation, apps are expected to carry their dependencies along with them in the application bundle. It made sense to worry about the overhead of an extra copy of a library 20 years ago, much less so now. In most cases the inconvenience to the end user vastly outweighs the trivial overhead of having multiple copies of a library hanging around. I like being able to "uninstall" an application by simply dragging it to the trash, or "installing" it by just putting it in the Applications folder (or any other folder, for that matter -- want to run your application on another machine? Just drag it to a network-accessible folder and run the sucker). This is an odd criticism, to say the least -- it's like saying that Linux sucks because getting Windows apps to (sort of) run in WINE is a little dodgy. Yes, it's nice that you can use things like fink and MacPorts to do a cheap port of software that was originally written for Linux, but it's still a nasty hack that's not the way things are normally handled on the platform.

coderdude 15y ago

Apple is like a cult and their fanboys are usually unbearably lame. Steve Jobs is a cool guy and he's done some awesome things. I don't see why 'Apple being a cult of lamers' and 'Steve Jobs is a brilliant man who accomplished many things' are mutually exclusive. I feel really bad for Steve Jobs because he is good at what he does and he did some amazing things to the industry (and is now dying), but I would not at all feel bad if Apple fell back into irrelevance. Edit: Wow, with so many votes after only 45 minutes this article should be in the top 3 and not #17+. You flaggers really shouldn't let yourselves get so upset over someone being negative towards a man who might as well be a mythical historical figure from your point of view.

xibernetik 15y ago

This article is fairly evenhanded in that it says "you're entitled to your opinion, I find it weird, here's a possible explanation for how you feel and here's why I don't feel the same way" while your comment makes it out to be a bitter attack -- I can't detect any bitterness in the article, only a commentary that worshiping this man seems strange, while there's considerable vitriol in your description of the article. The use of "The Cult of Apple" is common enough it's not so much a judgement by an individual as a way to sum up the group, especially when he only references it in passing once. How else could you describe all the people who do admire the company/Jobs with such passion in a succinct and understandable manner? He even goes so far as to say Jobs is a brilliant man and deserving of praise... But points out since he is just a man, he's not deserving of worship. He's not attacking, he's saying he has trouble relating to the unadulterated adoration/worship of certain (vocal) fans.