
Thinking Different - krat0sprakhar
http://bradgessler.com/thinking-different.html
======
davidw
> Now almost every digital device I own is made by Apple, not because its
> perfect or the best on the market, but because it represents the virtues of
> craftsmanship in a world of mediocre, mass-produced products.

Err... their products are mostly mass-produced (not crafted) in the same
places most of the other products are mass-produced.

~~~
skyfex
Well, of course they are mass-produced. You, him, and everybode else here
knows that.

But there's craftmanship in design: Read something about how Jobs/Apple goes
about designing a product. There's an intense passion to get the look, feel
and functionality about a product _just_ right. Down to having several
iterations of design on the packaging alone.

There's also craftmanship in production. There was an article about how Apple
was buying up high powered lasers to puncture microscopic holes in the macbook
casings, so you have lights that are invisible when they're not on.

I wish more companies would care as much about the whole experience of a
product, rather than just getting more dots on the feature list.

~~~
davidw
Excellent points. I think if the original poster had written something more
like this we would all agree, but writing "mass produced" in the pejorative
sense when Apple is exactly that called for a bit of a rebuttal.

------
trotsky
It really is a testament to their marketing prowess when people un-ironically
title their brand love letters with the brand's marketing slogan.

~~~
tdavis
Especially when that slogan is grammatically incorrect.

~~~
SatvikBeri
According to Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs it's not-"think
different" is a command to think of something that is different, as opposed to
thinking of things differently.

------
cinquemb
marketing at its best, last time i checked apple wasn't the first company to
"think different" and soon another company will be disruptive and force apple
to move in a new direction or new markets, thats just how the world works.

~~~
coob
This is inevitable of course. However, Apple has a strong history of
continually disrupting itself.

------
da5e
Apple...Gandhi? Really? I thought the article was being ironic. The thing
about a big fail like Mike Daisey's is that it shuts down valid debate. Apple
ends, great. Means? Iffy.

------
farinasa
I'm sorry, but apple hasn't done anything innovative since the creation of the
iPhone. That was huge, don't get me wrong, but every one of their devices has
simply been a rehash of their previous model. That is also fine, business as
usual, safe, effective, and decent quality, but it isn't "thinking different."

Physical attractiveness is nice, but I want a tool that works for me, not that
I sit and stare at because it's pretty. I'll take an ugly thinkpad over the
sleek macs any day.

------
gducharme
I was hoping at least one comment would point out how the message and the form
of the web site are integrated.

------
icode
> We believe that people with passion can change the world for the better

Like putting nets in front of their manufacturing buildings so workers don't
resort to suicide:

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1357833/Apple-
respon...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1357833/Apple-responds-
suicides-Chinese-Foxconn-factory-hanging-nets.html)

~~~
raganwald
You may not mean to, but this is a perfect example of a trolling comment. It
has high emotional leverage, but is not actually on-topic for this particular
post about Apple. Think of it this way: Is there something about this comment
that can only make sense to this post? Or could it really be made on
practically _any_ post abaout Apple?

I suspect you could say this whenever Apple comes up. iPad 3 retina display?
"Amazing because you can clearly see the individual ropes in the nets on
buildings..."

This comment could easily end up generating 50% of the comments here, while
adding nothing new that hasn't been said before, just the same old accusations
and defences. Would that really be signal? Or noise?

There could be something here, perhaps instead of trotting out a sound bite,
you could present a theory of how ideals become corrupted by money, or how
idealism is blind to consequences. I'm still waiting for someone to unify the
way Google and Apple behave with a common narrative.

~~~
icode
The article refers to changing the world and is illustrated with a photo of
Ghandi. I don't know about you, but I get a strange feeling when Ghandi is
used to illustrate the values of a company that is exploiting poor people to
make toys for rich people.

~~~
raganwald
What you just said improves upon the original criticism immensely by being
much more specific and tying the ideas together.

------
twelvechairs
sorry for the grammar nitpick, but its a 'foreword' not a 'forward'

~~~
jonsen
Maybe he's referring to the last line: _We hope this book helps carry that
spirit forward._

------
irrationalfab
I love the recursion!

