I see this opinion expressed so often when people talk about Steve Jobs and just how good he was at what he did. That second part is just it, by the way. He wa

I see this opinion expressed so often when people talk about Steve Jobs and just how good he was at what he did. That second part is just it, by the way. He was fantastic at what he did. Why does it matter that what he did was built off of things done by others? Dennis Ritchie, John McCarthy and Steve Jobs were all brilliant (and, by the way, am sure all of them used things also built by others while still being brilliant). The reason the world knows more about Steve Jobs than the other two is just obvious - he was the face of a company that build physical things people knew and recognised that they used every day. Steve Jobs was a brilliant marketer that orchestrated that a company be known by people and that he also be well know. That is why articles are published so often about him and not the other two. TL;DR Why does it matter that Steve Jobs wouldn't have been successful without also using things created by others? That is true for every successful person. Who here knows who invented the electric guitar? Unfortunately, I don't. But I do know who Jimi Hendrix was and know that he was fantastic at playing it. EDIT: Typo :)