
Apple's tribute to Steve Jobs, one year on. - sjtgraham
http://www.apple.com/?hn
======
JoeCortopassi
_Yesterday_ : "Apple is a worthless patent troll. All of their 'inventions'
are things that were invented somewhere else. The only thing they did was
patent other people's work, then charge twice as much for it to a bunch of
worthless fan-boys."

 _Today_ : "R.I.P. Steve Jobs. He did so much to change the face of technology
forever."

`

Sometimes you have to sit back and appreciate the fickleness of a crowd...

~~~
firefoxman1
If other HNers are like me, this might explain it: I'm not a big fan of Apple.
And lately I think they've become the "Big Brother" they were fighting in the
1984 commercial. However, I'm a _huge_ Steve Jobs fan. He's right up there
with Henry Ford and Fred Harvey on my list.

Just watch this little clip and you can see why I like one and not the other:
<http://www.wimp.com/stevemoment/>

~~~
enjo
I think that Henry Ford is a really good comparison. I _admire_ Henry Ford. He
was a true innovator. He was everything an entrepreneur should strive to be.

Yet he was also incredibly flawed. His shortcomings are well documented. I
still admire, and attempt to emulate, Henry Ford the entrepreneur even if I
don't love the man as a whole.

In the same way I admire Apple (and their embodiment in Steve Jovs) for what
they've done, and in many ways emulate their approach and passion for making
delightful products. Yet I'm wary, and extremely critical, of much of what
they're doing.

I can definitely be both. I want to promote the Apple that makes amazing
products, while quashing the Apple that wants to exert utter control over
everything.

~~~
shinratdr
> I want to promote the Apple that makes amazing products, while quashing the
> Apple that wants to exert utter control over everything.

Which is kind of like wanting to promote water without promoting getting wet.

~~~
pm90
not necessarily. e.g Nokia's Meego platform was open, yet it was extremely
well designed

------
vicapow
People say "Steve wouldn't have done this to maps." but they're wrong. Apple
still has it because they're still willing to piss off their users in the
short term, but for the benefit of the long term. They're the only major
company that sees and understands the innovator's dilemma.

~~~
jonathansizz
No, they're the only major company that has a huge and scarily-loyal fan-base
who are willing to rationalize major screw-ups as some kind of visionary
strategic decision.

And they didn't innovate - they replaced a nicely-functioning product with a
broken imitation.

~~~
endemic
As pointed out by others, the screw-up was not admitting that Apple Maps
launched as an inferior product. The long-term benefits of a homegrown mapping
product were very obvious, such as turn-by-turn and vector tiles.

~~~
clockstrikesten
I see this implied repeatedly by everyone, so could someone explain how
customers on the ground using Apple Maps are somehow providing Apple with any
data that could improve the maps?

~~~
onedognight
For example if you find lots of People driving in a consistent manner on what
is not already a road on your map then it needs to become one. You can do this
ordered by number the number of people per unmapped road segment to have the
most effect.

Another example, if you find that everyone drives off the road in a certain
area then comes back on a little farther down and that no one drives the
intervening segment, then the road probably needs to be adjusted.

------
rodly
A moving tribute and wonderful video in and of itself. I'm far too young (21)
to fully appreciate everything he embodied. His early death really makes you
appreciate the luck of being alive. From the normal to the billionaire
magicians, remember this:

"The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is
prepared to die at any time." - Mark Twain

------
digitalengineer
Music by Yo-Yo Ma I think: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZn_VBgkPNY>

~~~
thaumaturgy
Yes; it's Bach's Cello Suite #1. You've probably also heard it in Master and
Commander, where it was performed by Yo-yo Ma. It's one of my favorite pieces
of string music.

~~~
philip1209
The piece is the prelude of Bach's first cello suite. The thirty-five other
movements in the Bach cello suites are equally beautiful, but it is mainly
this movement that is played.

While my cello playing was originally inspired by Ma's interpretation of the
cello suites, I now find his rendition of them a bit insipid. I suggest
checking out Pablo Casals' interpretation - he popularized the Bach suites,
and the recordings are beautiful. Rostropovich also played them fairly well.

If I had to pick a Bach cello suite movement for such a video, it would be the
Sarabande from the 6th suite:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3dgACCAzwM>

Edit: I changed my mind, I would go with the Sarabande from the 1st suite:
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvOo0cS8w10>

~~~
telemachos
I was lucky enough to hear Rostropovich play the 5th cello suite live once. I
would rank his performance a lot better than "fairly well", but tastes vary.
Another favorite performance of mine for those suites is Anner Bylsma[1]. He
uses a more historically accurate instrument than most modern versions. I
don't necessarily think that makes other versions _bad_ , but it does make his
(or one like it) worth trying.

[1]: [http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Suites-Cello-
BWV-1007-1012/dp/B00...](http://www.amazon.com/Bach-Suites-Cello-
BWV-1007-1012/dp/B0000027TV/)

------
amartya916
Scrolling through all the comments, I find that it is impossible to not
encounter cynicism - e.g. Apple is trying to divert from the Maps folly etc. -
in this forum.

This is Apple paying respect and taking a moment to reminisce about Steve ...
it's just a nice, human thing to do.

~~~
Zariel
Even I am a staunch anti Apple proponent but I have to sit back and applaud
what Steve has achieved and what an incredibly visionary and accomplished man
he was, I wish I could live like he had.

The video was a frank reminder that we had lost a great man.

------
seivan
Removing their products from the landing page to pay tribute to Steve.

Would Dell or Samsung do this? Genuine question.

~~~
joering2
First and foremost - they know that it wont stop one person from buying --
eventually, even if, arguendo, it would temporarily stop someone, if they
watch Steve's message they will get the company DNA so sooner or later they
will convert them.

Second, money is not always everything. You know H&N the biggest New York tech
shop -- multiple stores high, automated baskets flying everywhere, a product's
catalog of 1,500 pages, things you can buy there that you didnt know exist.
They always full easily making half a mil in profit a day. You know they close
their doors every single Friday for religious purposes, regardless of what
their customers think.

~~~
tfe
I think you mean B&H?

------
skeptik
You know, I opened Safari this morning and, while I was startled by the music
suddenly blasting through my speakers with no warning, I watched the video
through to the end. It was nice, I enjoyed it.

But EVERY TIME I OPEN A NEW SAFARI WINDOW IT STARTS PLAYING AGAIN. Sound and
everything. Couldn't they have set a cookie for "already watched"?

The annoyance this occasioned was the final push I needed to go into the
preferences and reset my Safari home page from the default Apple page --
actually, I just chose to have new windows open empty -- but Apple has now
lost the chance to advertise to me every time I open a new browser window.

~~~
sswezey
Or you know, you could change your home page...

~~~
aeturnum
I think his point is that apple makes the safari homepage apple.com . They
know that every mac they sell will start there. Despite knowing that, they
don't seem to have thought that users might be annoyed by the video playing
every time. I don't think that really matters, but it's interesting to talk
about.

------
logn
Well, I don't think it's the most fitting tribute to Jobs. It sounds more like
an Apple commercial. Granted, Apple is the sum of his life's work. But a
tribute to someone should be more than that person explaining the greatness of
Apple, it should be someone explaining the greatness of Jobs, IMHO.

~~~
lurker14
It's perfect. What could be a more fitting tribute to Steve Jobs than to put
an elegant facade on someone else's work?

------
codesuela
Direct link to video: [http://movies.apple.com/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-
memoria...](http://movies.apple.com/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-memorial-
us-20121005_r848-9dwc.mov?width=848&height=480)

I used Movie Player to open it (Movie -> open location)

~~~
pooriaazimi
Direct download link: [http://www.apple.com/105/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-
memori...](http://www.apple.com/105/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-memorial-
us-20121005_848x480.mp4) \- 41 MB

(hint: I always download Apple videos (for future reference, and because my
internet connection is really slow) and the trick is to replace
"_r848-9dwc.mov" at the end to "_848x480.mov")

------
netvarun
Page miserably fails to load on Chrome running on Ubuntu

<http://imgur.com/eWREY>

~~~
thejosh
Try the mp4's posted above -
[http://www.apple.com/105/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-
memori...](http://www.apple.com/105/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-memorial-
us-20121005_848x480.mp4).

~~~
hadem
Thank you. The video would not play for me in the browser.

------
TechNewb
Beautiful video. Well made, well executed, and showed how Jobs was a visionary
for Apple and the brand. Love the minimalist presentation of the video, how
the entire homepage is 'whited out' with just a simple video. Amazing
experience, and made me remember some of my favorite Job quotes. Well done
Apple.

------
yanofsky
There's irony in the page using a plug in for the video and SVG to render the
text of Tim Cook's letter, right?

~~~
flatline3
In chrome, I'm seeing a <video> tag, not a plugin.

~~~
yanofsky
I'm getting a quicktime plugin in chrome

------
francov88
Has it already been a year? Jesus...

------
rbanffy
For those having trouble with the video,
[http://www.apple.com/105/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-
memori...](http://www.apple.com/105/media/us/stevejobs/stevejobs-memorial-
us-20121005_848x480.mp4)

------
ashishb4u
just curious, why is the link "apple.com/?hn" ?

~~~
mparlane
Because the link has been posted before, to get around the duplicate detection
you append meaningless GET params.

~~~
ashishb4u
More because <http://www.apple.com/> did not opened the Tim's note, while
<http://www.apple.com/?hn> did. It seems any random GET param is indeed
meaningful in this case :)

~~~
kalleboo
Works for me without the GET param. Maybe it's just because you're returning
to the page?

------
thebigkick
I'd hate to be the guy to do this but...

I agree, to some extent, with Malcolm Gladwell's take on the Steve Jobs
legacy.

<http://tinyurl.com/br6rl7b>

Still, RIP Steve and thanks for inspiring us.

Sent from my iPhone.

~~~
philwelch
Who's going to remember Malcolm Gladwell in 50 years?

~~~
MartinCron
Unless I'm too senile, I will.

Gladwell's writings are (if nothing else) extremely popular and extremely
enjoyable to read. We remember content from 50 years ago that wasn't half as
good.

------
gcr
Why is there a ?hn link referral tag at the end of the URL?

------
stevewilhelm
There are few founders that are remembered as fondly as Steve after they
retire or pass away: Grove, Gates, Hewlett, Packard come to mind.

Something to think different about.

------
alex1
I think I just found an easter egg in Siri in tribute to Steve:
<http://i.imgur.com/Ptz47.png>

~~~
acangiano
I got it too a while ago. I asked "Is Steve Jobs your father?" and Siri
prompted me with the same page.

------
tlrobinson
How do you fullscreen videos on apple.com?

~~~
jrbj
On OS X or iOS there should be a full-screen button in the upper right corner
of the video player controls.

------
saurabhpalan
Its not about the idea, about the product or about the technology. It was
Steve's unique way to change the way a product is made, to make it intuitive,
elegant and simple which set him apart.

Its not the idea, but implementation of the idea, in the most creative and
beautiful manner, that matters.

------
philip1209
If you click the "x" in the upper-left, there is a message from Tim Cook about
Steve's passing.

------
bborud
To me that was a bit of a special day: on the one-year anniversary of Steve
Jobs' death I get the official notification that I am on the transplant list
for a new kidney. (I also spent that morning on the operating table having a
PD-catheter installed).

------
kine
We miss you, Steve.

------
thejosh
How different will this be from the Kim Jun Il tribute?

~~~
jrockway
Very different. North Korea actually has nuclear weapons for use in their
random "thermonuclear wars".

~~~
CountHackulus
But didn't Steve Jobs threaten to "Go Nuclear" with patents?

~~~
krypes
"Nuclear patent winter is coming" -- House Stallman words

------
pervycreeper
Technology and a focus on the future go hand in hand. I wonder whether Jobs
(at his best) would be dwelling on the past like this (over any event)? What
happens when an army of sheep loses its lion?

Also, while the hockey puck quote in the video could be interpreted as a
hedge/ preemptive rebuttal of the above observation, I don't think it was
meant that way. The tremendous irony there must have escaped quite a few
people, since they ended up running with it.

------
iambvk
I think this is the first time Apple posted a non QuickTime video on their
site. As a Linux user, it felt different :)

~~~
kalininalex
Still QuickTime for me (Chrome on Mac/Lion) and it doesn't work by default
(something with permissions).

------
Zenst
Tasteful, elequent and respectfuly well designed tribute. I'm sure even the
late great Steve Jobs would of approved.

------
jason_slack
I like the way they show the video, "Exit out" In the upper left corner,
anyone know what they use to do this?

------
henna
Why must I watch the tribute every time i open safari? I miss him less each
time...

------
desaiguddu
If you like this video you would like our creation Steve Jobs Timeline as well
- www.nuskhalabs.com and <http://tmblr.co/Zpw4yxUgp9Mi>

------
macarthy12
If you reset safari you get the video. Interesting

~~~
k1ds3ns4t10n
Isn't that just because the default homepage in safari is apple.com?

------
mogrim
Jobs, meh. Hardly up there with Ford or Rolls & Royce, for example. Far more
inspiring, far greater creations, and much more interesting companies.

Still, his products were ever so pretty.

------
timpeterson
this makes me sad

(and that i'm the first one to use the word "sad" in this thread makes me even
more sad)

------
mongol
Is this the beginning of making a legend and a myth out of Steve Jobs? Yes
let's remember him but also let's move on.

------
nicetryguy
* Not using the HTML5 Video Tag

~~~
achal
It's using it on Chrome for me.

------
tambourine_man
No mention of the iPad or OS X.

~~~
podperson
If you had to boil Steve Jobs's biggest contributions down to a minimum, it's:

    
    
      * the first genuinely usable, affordable GUI (i.e. the Mac)
    
      * the iPod
    
      * the iPhone
    

I'd say the Apple ][ is debatably on that list (the first personal computer
than "just worked" or something). NeXTStep is a wonderful OS with a lot of
Good Stuff in it but it's a piece of a product. The iPod Touch and iPhone are
fairly obvious evolutions of the iPhone.

The other missing item isn't an Apple product: Pixar.

~~~
spinchange
No question about Apple ][ - That was the first computer schools across the
country (US) started buying en masse.

To my mind, that is the product that really touched off the personal computer
revolution. As you mention, the Mac paradigm shift was about the GUI, Mouse,
and taking what they started with the I and ][ to the next, more refined and
"product-ized" level.

~~~
podperson
I tend to agree with you. (I actually started writing a defense of my initial
position and realized that I was wrong!) I think some would like to dismiss
the Apple ][ as, say, merely being the luckiest of a bunch of similarly
conceived products that came out around the same time (e.g. the Commodore Pet
was announced earlier but delivered later, and the TRS-80 came out slightly
afterwards), but then not only was the Apple ][ more successful, it was also
dramatically superior technically (e.g. its expansion bus allowed for self-
configuring cards that could even slave the computer, which led to products
like the DTACK 68k board that turned a humble Apple ][ into a workstation-
class computer back in 1980.

<http://www.easy68k.com/paulrsm/dg/>

------
markmm
I bet they wish he could come back, Maps/Siri/lack of innovation on new
products.

~~~
SG-
Everything coming out now went through him, do you think it really takes a
year to develop products? The maps team had been working on the new maps for
years. I guess Apple should have invented warp drive in the last year too.

~~~
markmm
He wouldn't have released it, he will be spinning in his grave right now. They
need to ditch Cook and get someone with a pair of balls.

~~~
bratsche
I think they would have released it. It seems they had little choice. It was
either release it or renegotiate their contract with Google since it is almost
up.

------
eintr
Gross.

------
notlisted
Anything to detract from the disaster that is Apple Maps. If I could I would
undo two things, first revert to iOS5, then bring Jobs back. Ah, the good old
days.

~~~
mratzloff
You would bring back Steve Jobs _second_?

~~~
notlisted
Seriously, downvotes? I was gonna bring him back!

Yeah second, because my immediate problem is getting to my intended
destination tonight and since the upgrade which screwed with my WiFi tethering
and maps that's a problem.

It would take even him more than a couple of hours to fix this. A downgrade I
could do myself, if Apple allowed it that is...

~~~
MartinCron
_my immediate problem is getting to my intended destination tonight_

Just in case you hadn't noticed, complaining about your inability to get to
where you're going with your new maps app looks really whiny and entitled.

Go back just a few short years in human history and we didn't have _any_
smartphones with maps and GPS, and you know what? people actually managed to
find their destinations. Get some perspective.

~~~
notlisted
It worked three weeks ago, now it doesn't. So I miss Jobs.

FYI, I was a participant at the root of that development (drove with GPS on
the roof of a mini cooper in 1992, the company I worked for then, licensed
data to Google Maps for many years). The perspective I have is that there was
no reason to screw with something that worked at the expense of the user.

Still miss jobs.

My wife's Android navigation will do tonight. Her S3 Looks pretty nifty
suddenly.

~~~
MartinCron
I miss Jobs as well. On that we can absolutely agree.

------
bookwormAT
Am I the only one who finds it kind of sick that Apple is squeezing out as
much PR as possible of the death of their former CEO?

Let the man rest in peace.

~~~
recuter
The Apple website is one of the bigger ones - and yet they essentially removed
all of their products from the landing page, if anything I would guess that
there will be a small dip in revenue today for the online store. I disagree
that this is about PR, the people running the company lost their colleague and
probably genuinely miss Steve. A somewhat classy tribute.

It also reminds everybody of their mission, contrast with HP for example who
have lost their way.

