

Jobs has lighted our way - yalimgerger
http://gerger.co/yalimslodge/2011/08/25/jobs-has-lighted-our-way/

======
dereg
Your title totally mis-characterizes your own post (which doesn't even mention
Gates[edit:I guess it does]). I'm tired of the comparison between Jobs and
Gates. Can't you recognize the achievements of one without belittling the
other in your flamebait title?

Jobs: "We have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of the notion
that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose."

~~~
yalimgerger
The point I tried to make is that Steve Jobs touched people lives in a way no
other can, sometimes at a very personal level and his only instrument was
technology. Previously, this privilege used to belong to writers, poets,
politicians.

~~~
trezor
_Steve Jobs touched people lives in a way no other can, sometimes at a very
personal level_

Can we please stop the Steve Jobs and Apple suck-up here on HN please? This is
getting as embarrassing to read as it is getting sickening.

I realize the Sanfran wannebe hipster-crowd here like their shiny iGadgets and
want to reaffirm their own worth by appraising the company which they have
attached their identity to, but this is getting a little bit out of hand and
quite frankly, rather silly.

~~~
erikpukinskis
I love computers. I am a Computer Nerd. I think computers are an _important_
technology, not just a fun one.

You, and others here, who dislike the sentiment that something like the iPad
could profoundly change someone's life, seem like you want to keep the magic
of computation to yourselves. You denigrate design for humans as "marketing"
and you demand to categorize the iPad as just another in a long line of Von
Neumann machines.

It's not. And the Mission hipsters taking photos of their MacBooks with
digital SLRs make me want to vomit. This is not about them.

It's about an old man who was cut off from computation--something I think is
immensely valuable--and now has access to it.

Computation is important. Access to computation is important. You're right
that talking about some new bullshit gadget as a religious miracle is
embarrassing. I get that.

But you know what? Turing completeness is a miracle. Interactive computing is
a religious miracle. The mouse is a religious miracle.

And this guy's dad being able to use a computer for the first time, after
decades of being unable? Kind of a miracle in my book.

I'm sorry if that embarrasses you.

~~~
sciurus
"It's about an old man who was cut off from computation [snip] and now has
access to it... And this guy's dad being able to use a computer for the first
time, after decades of being unable"

You have to read a lot into the post to come up with that interpretation.

~~~
yalimgerger
Actually, this is the interpretation of the post.

~~~
sciurus
We don't know why the father refused to interact with a computer before.
There's no evidence in the blog post that he was "unable". That he decided to
use an iPad doesn't mean that Steve Jobs gave him the miracle of computation.

If the father had been nearsighted but refused to wear glasses for many years,
then saw his brother wearing a new style of frames and decided to finally get
some himself, would we idolize the frame designer in this way?

~~~
yalimgerger
Yes, Actually I would.

------
technoslut
It's amazing how many times I hear this same story about the iPad. When Jobs
first introduced it I was skeptical. After seeing how adults and children
alike have taken to this device, it yet again proves that Jobs can see what
others do not.

~~~
yalimgerger
Indeed. He not only envision thinks but executes incredibly well. Microsoft's
attempts to create tablet computers in the pre-iPad world look pretty
embarrassing from where we are today.

~~~
sjwright
Agreed. Gates had been pushing the tablet concept for 10 years, and it went
nowhere. In contrast, the iPad smashed its way onto the marketplace within
months of release.

The only thing more astonishing than the iPad's success is that it comes off
the heels of a dozen astonishing successes prior. The iPod was the first
volley. The iTunes Store then revolutionised the entire freaking music
industry. The iPhone then revolutionised the entire mobile marketplace.

And how the #$*! is Apple dominating the laptop computer segment? Why is Apple
the only ones making a compelling notebook that doesn't have a product name
ripped from pages of a lawnmower parts supply catalogue?!?

~~~
yalimgerger
I am wondering the same. I actually wrote a blog about that as well, which
outlines several way too obvious issues with laptops. :-)
[http://gerger.co/yalimslodge/2011/08/19/free-advice-to-
the-r...](http://gerger.co/yalimslodge/2011/08/19/free-advice-to-the-
remaining-pc-makers/)

------
josephcooney
Not to sound mean-spirited but I don't think Bill Gates needs a penny from
your father. For the last decade his focus has been the eradication of malaria
and other charitable works of the Gates Foundation that bares his name.

------
TamDenholm
Very misleading title but nice anecdote anyway. I also found the same kind of
thing with my Grandmother, although shes 80 now, her ability to use or want to
use computers is very low but she had a go on my iPad and managed to pick it
up quite quickly.

~~~
yalimgerger
It is not misleading at all. On a personal level, this is what Steve Jobs is
to me. I could not care less about anything else he accomplished.

------
bnegreve
>Jobs has lighted our way [...]

>He showed us the path [...]

I find this a bit too much.

~~~
brudgers
Yes, but Steve's resignation did move a major security problem with OSX Lion
off the front page yesterday. The cynic in me says that it is too much of a
coincidence.

------
mun2mun
I am grateful to Bill Gates because for his dream of computer in every home I
am typing this on a cheap laptop from a third world country. If Steve Jobs
vision of state of the art and stylish but pricey devices ruled I would not be
in this position.

------
loup-vaillant
What I'm wondering is, why did your father _refused_ to use computers? That's
way beyond a mere lack of interest. So, could you give us his stated reasons,
and your speculations regarding his _real_ reasons?

~~~
yalimgerger
Excellent comment/question. I thought about going into the details of the
refusal in the post but it was making the piece way too long. Also the reasons
deteriorated the post from its original purpose.

Let me try an analogy here. I hope I do not miss the point because of cultural
differences: I think he comes from a time where using typewriters at an office
was perceived as the job of a female secretary. :-). A computer looks much
like a typewriter from an outsider perceptive (a keyboard and monitor to look
at instead of paper).

------
daimyoyo
I call linkbait. Someone should change the title of this link.

~~~
yalimgerger
This is absurd. A title is meant to be catchy. At the end of the story you
learn what it is Steve Jobs did but gates could not.

~~~
hugh3
I'd rather learn that in the headline, thus knowing whether it's worth my
while to read the whole story.

~~~
yalimgerger
I understand your concern. But this is not how stories work in general. There
is always the risk of wasting time when you read a little story, watch a movie
etc...I apologize if the story wasn't worth your while. I tried my best to put
it as elegantly as I can.

~~~
hugh3
News stories work this way, putting the important information at the top.
Other styles of writing (e.g. fiction) needn't.

Fiction is designed to catch your attention at the beginning, and make you
want to read to the end. News is designed so that you can stop reading at any
point, or just read the headline, and have got the basic gist of what's going
on.

The attention-grabbing, mysterious headline on a "news" site, however, is a
lousy trick in the memetic marketplace, tunneling its way into the host's
brain to advantage itself at the cost of the reader.

~~~
yalimgerger
This blog post isn't a news story.

------
hugh3
I feel envious for the guy who lives as if it's 1975 and never touches a
computer. Must be nice.

~~~
yalimgerger
That's a rather nostalgic way of looking at life. :-). You are right it is
nice in some aspects. However there are disadvantages. The biggest one is that
you feel out of place and lonely. The rules of social engagement change. For
example, my father is not allowed to smoke in restaurant anymore which he
thinks is an abomination.

------
martythemaniak
I am guessing your father will not be using search, maps, youtube or gmail on
his new iPad?

~~~
yalimgerger
No, unfortunately he has not used anything else so far. Listening to music and
looking at beautiful paintings are the only ways he uses the iPad.

~~~
saturdaysaint
What a great way to use a computer. I'm truly fascinated by the way
technology-averse people actually use technology. I had a hippie roommate that
I'd constantly catch just listening to ambient music and spinning around the
world on Google Earth on his laptop. A pretty enlightening contrast to my
usual non-work mix of social networking and news blurb reading.

~~~
yalimgerger
:-). Amazing.

------
grigy
Some of us may deny but this is the reality

------
sid0
I don't think Bill Gates ever tried to sell toys. Calling an iPad a computer
is an insult to Alan Turing.

------
maheshs
If you comparing somebody with Jobs then also you are admiring him.

------
silverbax88
Yes, he just needed Gates' cash infusion to accomplish it.

I find it hilarious when people think Apple "won" and Microsoft "lost".
Microsoft "won" twice.

~~~
felipemnoa
It was part of a lawsuit settlement so Microsoft wasn't doing Apple any
favors. Microsoft wanted the lawsuit to go away.

~~~
silverbax88
That's not even remotely accurate.

~~~
felipemnoa
Read this <http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-202143.html>

From the article:

Both Apple and Microsoft executives denied that the Microsoft investment
represents a path to converging the companies' operating systems. However,
they said they had agreed to work out a settlement to a long-standing dispute
over whether Microsoft's Windows operating system infringes on any of Apple's
patents.

~~~
silverbax88
Yes, that does NOT state Microsoft just wanted the lawsuit to go away.

