3 ms·

Steve Jobs, Superman

19 points by razin 15y ago

tzs 15y ago
Blog is hosted at Wordpress.com, so iPad users be warned: It has OnSwipe.
- fjarlq 15y ago
  I'm unfamiliar with OnSwipe...what's wrong with it?
  - savramescu 15y ago
    See this discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2699610 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2699610
- davepeck 15y ago
  OnSwipe. Thank you. I now have a name for the evil I've seen. OnSwipe. It's so miserably executed, so misunderstanding of the iPad's fundamental interaction metaphors, so... unutterably awful. OnSwipe. Alas, there does not seem to be a way for end-users to disable it across all blogs?
- navs 15y ago
  This is my first time witnessing onswipe. Since I don't have an iPad (or any tablet device) I opened it up in the simulator. At first glance, I felt it was fine. Clean, readable. Don't see a problem. But viewing the homepage and navigating onward was a real 'ugh' moment. I understand why wordpress bloggers install plugins like wptouch. Small screens and all that but why the iPad?
  - tzs 15y ago
    > I understand why wordpress bloggers install plugins like wptouch. Small screens and all that but why the iPad? The bloggers typically don't install OnSwipe, or even know that it is there. That's Wordpress.com's doing. By default on all Wordpress.com blogs, if your visitor is on an iPad then the OnSwipe theme replaces the theme you chose for your blog. As far as I can see, there's nothing that makes it obvious to the blog owner when they pick their theme that it is being overridden on iPad. If the blog owner somehow becomes aware of it, there is a setting in their blog control panel that lets them turn it off.
michaelpinto 15y ago
Akio Morita is as close as I've seen to a Steve Jobs in my lifetime - I was into his work in the 80s thanks to the Walkman, but that was the last big notch on his belt that he'd been working on since just after WWII. Even if you think about a Nolan Bushnell -- he did some amazing work, but he did have the hit after hit that Jobs did. My guess is that like a moon landing I'll be lucky to see that again before I die. PS For those of you who don't know about Mr. Morita and the story of Sony I recommend the book "Made in Japan" which inspired me very much back in the 80s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Japan_(biography) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Japan_(biography) http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpinto/sets/72157626821983693/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpinto/sets/7215762682198...
guillaume_a 15y ago
"There are two broad philosophical approaches to explaining the forces that drive world events. The first one is sometimes called the Great man theory, neatly summarized by the quote ”the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” This view was famously espoused by the philosopher Hegel and later Nietzche, who called such great people Ubermenchen (“supermen”)." This is such a gross misunderstanding of Nietzsche and his übermensch construct that it gives little credibility to the rest of the article...
nirvana 15y ago
One of the greatest projects Steve Jobs undertook, after coming back to Apple, was to ensure Apple wouldn't need Steve Jobs. Apple University was created to perpetuate the culture he created, and perpetuate the company by keeping its executives operating according to his standards. I'm sure these efforts accelerated after he was diagnosed with cancer, but they existed before that time, and even to some extend before he was pushed out the first time. Steve Jobs last product was to Bottle Steve Jobs. I think that this is the most proprietary product Apple will ever make. I don't think anyone outside of Apple will ever see it, and it will be closely guarded. We'll see how successful he is. In a way this is a test of the great man theory. I don't think that any other point in history can you have a great man die, and leave behind such a set of capable, intelligent executives, who are also absolutely aligned with the beliefs of the dear leader. No corporate turnaround or technology story can compare to Apple over the last decade, and Tim Cook has been at Apple for 14 years, much of that mentored by Jobs. Let's hope the project was successful, and Apple is able to keep operating as the singular source of innovation in our industry. But even if it doesn't, it won't be for lack of effort on Steve's part. People credit him with a lot of products, and while all of them were more the result of others under his guidance than his inventions, he did create one great machine... and that is Apple. Apple is his legacy. He has tried to preserve it.

19 points by razin 15y ago

tzs 15y ago

Blog is hosted at Wordpress.com, so iPad users be warned: It has OnSwipe.

fjarlq 15y ago
I'm unfamiliar with OnSwipe...what's wrong with it?
- savramescu 15y ago
  See this discussion: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2699610 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2699610
davepeck 15y ago
OnSwipe. Thank you. I now have a name for the evil I've seen. OnSwipe. It's so miserably executed, so misunderstanding of the iPad's fundamental interaction metaphors, so... unutterably awful. OnSwipe. Alas, there does not seem to be a way for end-users to disable it across all blogs?
navs 15y ago
This is my first time witnessing onswipe. Since I don't have an iPad (or any tablet device) I opened it up in the simulator. At first glance, I felt it was fine. Clean, readable. Don't see a problem. But viewing the homepage and navigating onward was a real 'ugh' moment. I understand why wordpress bloggers install plugins like wptouch. Small screens and all that but why the iPad?
- tzs 15y ago
  > I understand why wordpress bloggers install plugins like wptouch. Small screens and all that but why the iPad? The bloggers typically don't install OnSwipe, or even know that it is there. That's Wordpress.com's doing. By default on all Wordpress.com blogs, if your visitor is on an iPad then the OnSwipe theme replaces the theme you chose for your blog. As far as I can see, there's nothing that makes it obvious to the blog owner when they pick their theme that it is being overridden on iPad. If the blog owner somehow becomes aware of it, there is a setting in their blog control panel that lets them turn it off.

michaelpinto 15y ago

Akio Morita is as close as I've seen to a Steve Jobs in my lifetime - I was into his work in the 80s thanks to the Walkman, but that was the last big notch on his belt that he'd been working on since just after WWII. Even if you think about a Nolan Bushnell -- he did some amazing work, but he did have the hit after hit that Jobs did. My guess is that like a moon landing I'll be lucky to see that again before I die. PS For those of you who don't know about Mr. Morita and the story of Sony I recommend the book "Made in Japan" which inspired me very much back in the 80s: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Japan_(biography) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Made_in_Japan_(biography) http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpinto/sets/72157626821983693/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/michaelpinto/sets/7215762682198...

guillaume_a 15y ago

"There are two broad philosophical approaches to explaining the forces that drive world events. The first one is sometimes called the Great man theory, neatly summarized by the quote ”the history of the world is but the biography of great men.” This view was famously espoused by the philosopher Hegel and later Nietzche, who called such great people Ubermenchen (“supermen”)." This is such a gross misunderstanding of Nietzsche and his übermensch construct that it gives little credibility to the rest of the article...

nirvana 15y ago

One of the greatest projects Steve Jobs undertook, after coming back to Apple, was to ensure Apple wouldn't need Steve Jobs. Apple University was created to perpetuate the culture he created, and perpetuate the company by keeping its executives operating according to his standards. I'm sure these efforts accelerated after he was diagnosed with cancer, but they existed before that time, and even to some extend before he was pushed out the first time. Steve Jobs last product was to Bottle Steve Jobs. I think that this is the most proprietary product Apple will ever make. I don't think anyone outside of Apple will ever see it, and it will be closely guarded. We'll see how successful he is. In a way this is a test of the great man theory. I don't think that any other point in history can you have a great man die, and leave behind such a set of capable, intelligent executives, who are also absolutely aligned with the beliefs of the dear leader. No corporate turnaround or technology story can compare to Apple over the last decade, and Tim Cook has been at Apple for 14 years, much of that mentored by Jobs. Let's hope the project was successful, and Apple is able to keep operating as the singular source of innovation in our industry. But even if it doesn't, it won't be for lack of effort on Steve's part. People credit him with a lot of products, and while all of them were more the result of others under his guidance than his inventions, he did create one great machine... and that is Apple. Apple is his legacy. He has tried to preserve it.