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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Steve Jobs...

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Mark Phelan said:
Elsie, your post is sort of a backhanded compliment, i.e. "Gee for a fat lady, you sure don't sweat very much".
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You get it Mark. I'm not disrespecting Steve Jobs at all. He is a business genius. A business visionary. And a pied-piper of a salesman. Nothing wrong with any of that.

I'm just saying that he should be a level just below Jim Jannard on the Greek God pedestal.
 
Elsie N said:
Antoine, you make a good point... that there is a cohesion among Apple users for the products. I was just comparing Steve Jobs's "sold vision" to Jim Jannard's "shared vision".
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Although I'm not quite sure what you mean by "sold vision", I'm still pretty sure your assessment is off the mark. The single most valuable thing Steve Jobs contributed to the world is the user experience. Forget about individual products - some were game-changers, some were duds. Forget about cost.

Since you've never been a user, it's somewhat understandable why all you see is an astute businessman, which he most definitely is. But Apple, particularly under Steve Jobs, has always been about the user. As it turns out, making things easier to use is not so easy to do. If it were, more companies would do it. "Easier" takes insight and knowledge and talent and those things are commodities, so it also takes money and resources.

Apple zealots and fanboys are those things precisely for the reason that Apple does care about the user and always has, especially compared to the rest of the computer industry at any given time. This concern for the user experience has permeated the computer (and electronics, recently) industry and you're a beneficiary as well, whether you know it or not.

Unless I misunderstood, Jim implied that, to some degree, Jim is Jim because Steve is Steve.
 
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I've been using apple ever since my parents would let me get on a computer, which was around 1981. Brian Boyer I think hit it on the head.

Steve has created and pushed the user experience with Apple over the years and driven certain industries who just wouldn't change to rethink how they do business. Example being the music industry. Yes I know napster took it into a small chaos but Steve was able to bring that business model to a new height, just look at all the digital sales records that are breaking records recently. How we use most computers today with any kind of GUI interface is because Steve pushed to get it in the users hands. If you have used a mouse it's because Steve brought it to market when no one else saw the potential.

Steve has always had a vision for something better whether anyone was able to see it or not, in the end he has always been able to show us what he was striving for. I hope him all the best in his new endeavors and good health.
 
Tablet something like a new upcoming iPad 3 with 1080p lcd will drive the future of movie online distribution.

Watch newest or old movies anywhere you go is the new future movie distribution credo.

Keep in mind this!!!!

Steve started music online distribution with iPod, continued with iPhone and the job will be finished

with new iPad 3 capable of the full online movie distribution at iTunes Store that protected in a similar way like music before.
 
It implies that life is short.
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That was my first thought. Yesterday it was Pat Summitt. Living in Tennessee, it had a similar feel. Even the greats are mortal.

Businesses need visionaries. They don't need bean counters or "businessmen". Visionaries see beyond "what is". They envision what "can be" or "will be"
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Perfectly put. When I ordered my R1 I was on my third PC. Now I have a Mac Pro, Mac Book Pro, itouch, ipad and iphone and deeply understand the unique love for the company Steve started. I know he will fight like the competitor he is.
 
I sure have great respect for Steve Jobs, but I think true visionaries really don't care about patents and stock shares too much.
True visionaries like Nikola Tesla (radio, radar, alternate current AC, AC motor, plasma lamp) and Santos Dumont (first dirigible and first airplane - not the Wright Brothers - please research) left EVERYTHING for humankind. Tesla wanted that electricity should be free to everybody, and Dumont never had a patent, he left a letter stating that his inventions was not for him to profit, but for humankind.
 
Eduardo Ruiz said:
I sure have great respect for Steve Jobs, but I think true visionaries really don't care about patents and stock shares too much.
True visionaries like Nikola Tesla (radio, radar, alternate current AC, AC motor, plasma lamp) and Santos Dumont (first dirigible and first airplane - not the Wright Brothers - please research) left EVERYTHING for humankind. Tesla wanted that electricity should be free to everybody, and Dumont never had a patent, he left a letter stating that his inventions was not for him to profit, but for humankind.
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I think you're confusing visionary with philanthropist. ;-)
 
Mark Phelan said:
No, I don't agree with what you're saying. You just did it again, "a pied-piper of a salesman". And that other line about Jim on a pedestal, puhleez. Do you want a kleenex?
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How else would you describe someone who convinces the masses that they "need" some electronic gadget to be cool? As for Jim on a pedestal? Only if you are trying to put Jobs on a pedestal, then Jim should be one notch higher on the platform... due to the way he conducts business with his customers.
 
So many reminders lately that life is short - I hope that's a message we're all able to take to heart. I'm working on it, but it's surprisingly hard to act on.

On a human level, I sincerely wish Jobs the best with whatever medical challenges he's facing.

While I admire his tremendous drive for innovative design, his perseverance as an underdog, and ultimately his outstanding success in business, I always felt that there was a subtext of control, ego, and greed behind Apple and its products. This is a reaction to restrictive polices and general litigiousness, a reaction to many stories from friends who did business with Jobs, and a reaction to business practices that frequently benefit no one besides Apple.

I acknowledge that whatever Jobs' faults, he has undeniably earned the label "visionary". Ultimately, even though Red will sell less cameras than Apple sells iPods or iPhones, I have greater appreciation for Jim as a person and Red as a company, than I do for Jobs and Apple. In my experience, Red is minimally restrictive, shows admirable humility, and is remarkably generous to its customers.

Not looking to start a flame war, or to undermine Jim's message in any way -- just putting some words to why I am a such a big fan of Red, and prefer not to do business with Apple.

- Tim
 
I had the opportunity to shoot for Apple last fall. I was on the Apple campus for 3 1/2 weeks, of which I was lucky enough to see Steve in his element. It's amazing how people acted around him when he was walking through the Apple campus...everyone was afraid to look in his direction. He'd have lunch with Jony Ive and eat all natural foods.

Being an outsider at the time I couldn't help BUT look. The guy has a presence to him that seems to be unmatched. I consider his reign as CEO of Apple from 1996 to yesterday as the best in history. He brought Apple out of near bankruptcy to be the most valuable technology company in the world. In 15 years. That's quiet amazing.

He is a great man, that's for sure. I wish he could bottle up his business charisma and presentation skills and ship it to me.
 
I think any guy that can take the business that he jointly started, develop that business, only to be ousted, then to come back when that same business was on the verge of bankruptcy and turn it around to the most valuable technological company in the world, deserves the respect that I think so many people give him. Like Apple or hate it, you have got to respect that the leadership that Steve Jobs has shown has been a masterclass in business.

I've never met him, nor will I probably ever meet him, but the company he has steered has guided my own business in what we do, how we do it and what we use - for that I am eternally grateful.

Let's not forget, that he is moving position to Chairman of the Board, and he will still be involved in product design and inspire the Apple teams to do their best. But I can only imagine the stubble he has gone through these past years dealing with all the illnesses.

Think different...
Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.
 
Elsie N said:
How else would you describe someone who convinces the masses that they "need" some electronic gadget to be cool? As for Jim on a pedestal? Only if you are trying to put Jobs on a pedestal, then Jim should be one notch higher on the platform... due to the way he conducts business with his customers.
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Elsie, if some benefactor (yes, I used the word correctly this time) gave you unlimited funds and resources to come out with one product that would be an "Apple XYZ-Product" killer, I think you might find it nearly impossible to do. This is not meant to be an insult or personal attack. On the contrary, it seems to be true for most, if not all, companies of late. The reason for the failure, in my opinion, is because you don't really understand Apple or its products or its customers. All you see is the "whiz-bang" without the substance, individual features and functions and not the product and its philosophy as a whole.

For example, everyone and his brother thought they could make an iPod killer simply by increasing hard drive capacity or making a bigger screen or putting more buttons on it, etc, while bundling them with crap jukebox players as an afterthought. What everyone failed to realize was the iPod was only half the product. iTunes was the part everyone ignored. It was the deceptively simple and easy to use front-end portal that made the iPod a revolutionary device. To paraphrase "Raiders", everyone was digging in the wrong spot.

Now, it seems you've put yourself in a position where you believe to buy and use an Apple product would mean giving in to marketing prowess for the sake of appearance. You underestimate the true value of the products and chalk their success up to frivolity and vanity. Undoubtedly and unfortunately, some people do buy Apple products because they think it makes them cool. The same can (and will) be said of RED products. What RED and Apple have in common, however, is that their products actually ARE cooler and better overall than the competition.

Your comment seems to be focused on the post-iPod Apple that became a consumer electronics powerhouse, which is another reason I think you may never get the contribution Steve Jobs had on the computer industry (and then the world). But, for those of us who were users prior to that, we have a completely different perspective.

When that first Mac 128k machine came out, some people looked at it and saw a toy and some people looked at it and saw the future. Even Bill gates was one of the latter. It was like the first time I heard Parliament-Funkadelic or Kate Bush, the first time I heard a synthesizer, the first time I saw "Star Wars" or the first time I saw CGI, to name a few. It blew my mind. If I could sum that experience up in one word it would be, "YES!" and you knew they were on to something. The fact is, the computer experience today is more like that first 128k Mac than it is like any other computer or operating system that came before it.

I'm not trying to convince you to like or use Apple products but to dismiss Steve Jobs' impact and contributions to innovation and ease of use across multiple platforms and industries as simply marketing genius and hype comes off as plain uninformed.
 
I'm quite sure that the best product companies were founded by benevolent dictator/visionaries. What tends to happen is that committees and focus groups somehow take over after time. That happened at Apple under Sculley's rule. Fortunately, Jobs was able to step back in and do it all over again 14 years ago.

Jim
 
@ Brian

I think we have to recognize that you and I view the world through different filters. If indeed a benefactor gave me unlimited funds to come out with an Apple XYZ product killer, I would spend it on ways to trigger an X-30 class sunspot when in direct alignment with earth. It would take years to get even the power grid back up and running after such an event, much less all the satellites that would be knocked out of low earth orbit, or just knocked out in general. Of course, there would be collateral damage for other technology.

But back to the real world. You speak of other companies not being able to "outdo" Apple. So what? If I don't need to read a tweet from a famous person saying "I just farted ;)" and reading thousands of tweet backs "Oh, if you would only let me I would stick my nose in that hallowed place!", then what deprivation has my not being able to read that caused me?

It seems you are arguing that Apple is the best technology company of all time, therefore they must be important and Steve Jobs has saved mankind!

Ask the children of the jobless that are living in shelters or cheap motels because their family lost their homes. Ask them how Apple has made their lives better?

To be fair the same could be said of Red Digital Cinema. The only reason I put more importance on this company is because it has transformed (at least in my experience) the relationship between customer and company.
 
Justin Kirchhoff said:
Being an outsider at the time I couldn't help BUT look. The guy has a presence to him that seems to be unmatched.
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ONe of my greatest acting teachers used to say, "there is a reason they call them stars, they shine."

I think that is what you are describing.

David
 
Jannard said:
Fortunately, Jobs was able to step back in and do it all over again 14 years ago.

Jim
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Yes. and he built NEXT and PIXAR in the meantime. His return to Apple was like him executing a 14 year todo list while he was not there. It's pretty incredible. He never stopped nurturing the baby.

David
 
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