

Stephen Fry: Steve Jobs - apu
http://www.stephenfry.com/2011/10/06/steve-jobs/single-page/

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pigbucket
This is a rare and wonderful eulogy. We can nitpick over the details of Fry's
grasp of the Apple way, but today it is probably better just to appreciate
what Fry gets right about the phenomenon of Steve Jobs. I think one thing he
gets right, the thing in any case of most importance to me, is the attitude
that Jobs brought to the things he did. The phrase "insanely great" has been
knocking about in my brain as a kind of touchstone for that attitude since I
first heard it used of the Mac in 84. I was a kid, but the phrase stuck with
me, like the voice of conscience, becoming a constant challenge to do better.
Beyond the macs and the pods and the phones and the pads, what I feel most
grateful to Jobs for is the fact that he supplanted the old clarion cry "good
is not good enough" with the much more powerful idea: "great is not great
enough." There are other powerful ideas, including the antonymous "Just ship
it!" Perhaps the challenge of living well and doing good is to somehow respond
to the imperatives implied by both ideas. "Just ship it!" is a useful antidote
for the procrastinating and hesitating conscience, but the romantic in me
appreciates more the restraints placed on whatever forces lead us to accept
mediocrity by having the ideal of the insanely great held before us the proper
measure of human achievement.

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scott_s
Make sure you read the anecdote about Tim Berners-Lee at the bottom.

~~~
nazgulnarsil
easily the best part.

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elmomalmo
Stephen Fry has a talent with the written word that rarely disappoints. Of the
many articles, obituaries and anecdotes about Steve Jobs I've read today, that
one is the most compelling read.

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redthrowaway
You know, I'm generally a huge fan of Fry's, but this article left much to be
desired. He was simply factually wrong on a great many points.

"If different companies are making the firmware, software, chips, screens,
operating system, radios and cases the results will always be far less
coherent and usable devices."

I hope he's just being sloppy with his language (unlikely for Fry) and not
_actually_ suggesting that Apple makes all of these components. The latter
would suggest an insufficient level of familiarity with the products he extols
to be taken seriously. He sounds very much like the ignorant "fanboi" he
laments that some will call him.

"The frustratingly silly patent wars that are raging around the world between
Google, Samsung, Apple and dozens of other companies would be a sad obsequy to
Jobs’s colossal achievements, but with such gigantic sums of money in so huge
a market at stake it is little wonder that others will do all they can to
“crack” Apple."

What? He seems to think that Apple is the _defensive_ party in the patent
mess? Again, a disconnect from reality that is disappointing from someone I
hold in such high regard.

I usually quite enjoy Fry's writing, but this piece was sloppy and poorly-
researched, if indeed it was researched at all. Disappointing.

~~~
patrickas
That's not how I read the second point.

As I understood it, he is saying the fact that Apple is the offensive party in
the patent mess is a sad obsequy to Jobs’s otherwise colossal achievements.

~~~
redthrowaway
Read the second part of the second point again.

"but with such gigantic sums of money in so huge a market at stake it is
little wonder that _others will do all they can to “crack” Apple._ "

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gridspy
Steven Fry's point seems to be that others are copying Apple. Apple then
asserting its patents is seen as a expected result.

~~~
redthrowaway
I think that's a reasonable, if extremely generous reading of his words.

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revorad
What a fitting tribute from the only other artist whose death is certain to
make me cry. I hope it never happens.

~~~
TheSOB88
It may, some day.

~~~
scorpion032
It will. Some day.

~~~
TheSOB88
Perhaps.

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navs
Amazing piece.

I've always had this mental image of all the tech greats knowing each other
personally. I presumed Tim Berners-Lee and Steve Jobs had long discussions
over a cup of coffee or beer. I'm somewhat bummed that's not the case.

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raju
_The quality I especially revered in him was his refusal to show contempt for
his customers by fobbing them off with something that was “good enough”.
Whether it was the packaging, the cabling, the use of screen space, the human
interfaces, the colours, the flow, the feel, the graphical or textural
features, everything had to be improved upon and improved upon until it was,
to use the favourite phrase of the early Mac pioneers “insanely great”. It had
to be so cool that you gasped. It had to feel good in the hand, look good to
the eye and it had to change things. It changed things because it made users
want to use the devices as they had never been used before._

Steve Jobs once said

 _When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not
going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and
nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a
beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the
aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through._

The fact that the customer agrees with that is a testament of how deeply Jobs
spirit is entrenched in Apple's approach and philosophy.

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michaelf
“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating.
It’s the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be
further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-
made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the
product or service.” -- Steve Jobs

I desperately wish I was capable of seeing deeply into the meaning of that
statement. I appreciate design, design thinking, human factors, etc..., but
not nearly enough to understand it as the "fundamental soul," or how _it_
(what?) _expresses_ (how?) _itself_ (who?).

If anyone here can provide a few words, or a pointer to some great
communicator of design, I would very much appreciate it.

~~~
Tycho
Well I suppose he could just mean he has some principles in mind about what a
device should feel like to own. For instance the iPod, it was such a leap in
usefulness of pocket music players, and this was reflected in not just the
technology (1000 mp3s) but also the UI and the physical controls and the build
quality and the stylishness. I say stylishness because I think that kind of is
part of 'usefulness'... it looked cool to be seen with an iPod, esp. with the
white headphones.

In contrast they could have just been like 'oh, great, we have a harddrive
that can hold 1000 songs and still fit in your pocket easily!' and put out
something that looked and handled like a brick.

But going back to what he wrote, he mentioned interior design, so he was
probabaly thinking about architecture. You could have a boring building and
make it look nice inside, but isn't it so much better when the architecture
itself is amazing and then everything else just builds on that or compliments
that.

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sgt
I used his quote in the short remembrance video of Steve Jobs I made using
iMovie last night...

If anyone's interested: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edaQyINe5oQ>

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hackermom
I like the "awful prophets/awesome profits" contrast. Cleverly phrased. It
really underlines the truth about the tremendous success Apple has with all
kinds of people, all over the world, no matter what all the "haters" say.

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leandrod
Wasn’t ðis ðe guy who has recently advertised for ðe Free Software Foundation?
Woman, ðy name is inconstancy…

~~~
cromulent
Maybe, but for such an entertaining and productive bipolar technology
enthusiast, I'm happy to drop the normal consistency requirement.

