Ask Me Help Desk - What do you consider Steve Jobs's greatest accomplishment?

What do you consider Steve Jobs's greatest accomplishment?

As an Apple consumer (both work and home), I have come to admire and respect much of their products - for their amazing quality, design and service. I have to believe that a lot of that can be attributed to someone like Steve Jobs who co-founded but also managed the company until recently. Now that he has passed away, I want to commemorate his live by understand how others feel about his contributions to our world.

Some of his greatest accomplishments for me, was how personalized the computing experience. Prior to Apple, computers were simply work horses, Apple turned your computer into a pet that you cared for and loved - you anthropomorphized them to a certain degree. To me, this was his greatest achievement.

What are your?

I liked how he could always bounce back and reinvent himself and his inventions. I love people who positively reframe!

Very innovative although his early products lacked the concept of real people, I would say the Ipad

Well this completes a pretty lousy day.

I think he was a throwback to the days when you could be a start up innovator working from a garage . I admire his spirt. He worked to the end.

Here is an Apple ad that could very well be his eulogy.
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. - Apple Inc.

Forgot to add his best product

Macbookpro

Let me start by saying I have great respect for Mr Jobs.

There is no denying the impact he has had on the world. For me, however, his genius came with gauging his market and timing things right.

His so-called innovations are not as innovative when one looks behind the scenes. The first Apple for example was simply a kit computer that that was sold assembled. But it hit the market at just the time when people were ready for it. The first Mac was mostly copied from things he learned at visits to Xerox's near legendary Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Xerox, pioneered much of what we use in computing today and they just gave it away to Jobs. Even the iPhone wasn't the first SmartPhone, Apple just made improvements on the concept.

But that is where his genius comes into play. He understood what people wanted and what would sell.

He will be missed and he will go down in history as one of the most influential people at least in the 20th and 21st centuries.

He was a good man. But his greatest achievement was actually his greatest loss. If it wasn't for him losing in court (apple) then we wouldn't have windows. Strange the trails left behind by actions we do.

I don't own any Apple products and I have no desire to get any. But I also have a lot of respect for Steve Jobs, for what he accomplished. Step back for a sec and just think about how many people received the news of his death via one of his products.

Quote:

Originally Posted by califdadof3

He was a good man. But his greatest achievement was actually his greatest loss. If it wasnt for him losing in court (apple) then we wouldnt have windows. Strange the trails left behind by actions we do.

Particularly since Xerox invented the mouse and object oriented navigation nearly a decade earlier.

The only Apple product I have is an Ipod. (if you don't count a Hackintoshn where only the OS is Apple).. but being a Degreed electronic Engineer I have been a technology geek for most of my life. And I can appreciate and understand his vision better than many. And the man did have vision. Apple wouldn't be the company it is today had he not returned to it.

Yeah but he helped make the computer a consumer friendly devise. Lets face it... he was an innovator like Edison . No one said he invented it.

He wrote a program that changed the capital E to a lower case e. It's something we can't seem to do here.

Steve Jobs greatest accomplishment was fooling everyone into thinking mediocre devices are magical. Brilliant marketing much like PT Barnum. My Nokia N96 from 2006 is better then the Iphone that isn't even out yet.

Yeah that's it... he fooled everyone into making his brand the most popular in consumer computing products. What a gullible group of people we are !

Dummies walking around with iphones instead of Nokia... with ipods instead of Walkmans with ipads instead of Gateway notebooks .
Here's what he did... he made these products fun. You know why there are lines at the Apple store when new Apple products are introduced ? Obviously because it's an inferior product.

He made everyone else look like followers instead of leaders. I've never owned an Apple product, but I've owned some of imitators. With a Macbook starting at $999 when I can buy a Windows 7 laptop for about $300, or buy an iPhone and a limited plan as opposed to a free Android device and an unlimited plan, the choice is easy for me.

In the Iphone the antenna's suck and the batteries. He let you see what he wanted you to see. How come in 2006 I could make video calls on my Nokia? When did the Iphone start to do that?

I had a MP3 player in 1999 called the RIO PMP300. What the Ipod shuffle come out in 2001.

He was a greater marketing no BRILLIANT marketing guy. He knew how to take an existing product and make it seem so revolutionary when really it wasn't anything new.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

yeah that's it ... he fooled everyone into making his brand the most popular in consumer computing products. What a gullible group of people we are !

Dummies walking around with iphones instead of Nokia... with ipods instead of Walkmans with ipads instead of Gateway notebooks .
Here's what he did .... he made these products fun. You know why there are lines at the Apple store when new Apple products are introduced ? Obviously because it's an inferior product.

Actually, to a certain extent that's true, at least In my opinion. Apple was never about market share. It was about having a boutique product with snob appeal. At least that was true about Apple computers. The thing is, that with iPods, iPhones and iPads, Apples came up with a boutique product that had mass appeal.

[QUOTE=spitvenom;2909010]

Quote:

He was a greater marketing no BRILLIANT marketing guy. He knew how to take an existing product and make it seem so revolutionary when really it wasn't anything new.

He had his ups and downs in the innovation area, but he really was good at taking a product and making it better. Music players were around for a long time before the iPod, PDAs long before the iPhone, etc. But his products do work and they've developed a loyal following. I call them "Apple bigots" because of the way they tend look down at the rest of us. :D

[QUOTE=speechlesstx;2909026]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spitvenom

I call them "Apple bigots" because of the way they tend look down at the rest of us. :D

Let them look down on you. Cause you know they have been suckered. Tal is right the ONLY reason people buy Apple is because of the name. Do you know how pissed these fan boys get when the hot new icrap comes out and it looks just like the last icrap, How oh how will anyone know I have the new expensive one when it looks like the old one.

There was also brilliant strategery in getting the Apple computer into the school room.
There is a whole millennial generation that is loyal to the brand because that is what they learned on (playing Oregon Trail) . Now they are the consumer class (they are even taking pix of themselves at these anti-capitalist protests with their iphones.)

This is the commencement address some of them listened to

Text of Steve Jobs' Commencement address (2005)

Yeah I learned on mac's in school and I learned then they were crap at an early age.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

there was also brilliant strategery in getting the Apple computer into the school room.

The problem is that Apples never made inroads in the "real" (corporate) world, because the business community wasn't suckered. So all those kids who learned on a MAC then got a job and found they had to learn Windows and Office. Plus many found themselves at a disadvantage because they didn't know Windows or Office.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

The problem is that Apples never made inroads in the "real" (corporate) world, because the business community wasn't suckered. So all those kids who learned on a MAC then got a job and found they had to learn Windows and Office. Plus many found themselves at a disadvantage because they didn't know Windows or Office.

Exactly... part of why I've always stuck with Microsoft stuff. Because I have been dealing with computers since Bill Gates was still in college before MS-DOS was released. Yeah, the First IBM PC wasn't even an MS-DOS machine... it ran on BASICA. A IBM flavor of Basic in firmware. I actually acquired a very early one in 1992 that still worked and had the original green monitor. But it got stolen out of a storage area not long after that.

I learned computers on the Commodore CBM. Which were displaced when the IBM PC's came out. My first personal Computer was an Ohio Scientific, so yea, I remember CP/M and a few others... I remember the Altair and others you have only seen in Museums for decades.

I worked on Digital Equipment Corporation VAX 11-780 and PDP series computers with VMS back before I even got my first IBM compatible in 1988. But since then its been Microsoft all the way except for piddling around with Linux on and off. And recently building a Hackintosh.

I'm awesome too.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NeedKarma

I'm awesome too.

Then don't die or we will all be saying negative things about you before you can be buried.

Quote:

Originally Posted by califdadof3

Then dont die or we will all be saying negative things about you before you can be buried.

Don't worry Calif I've been saying the truth about apple long before Jobs died. The biggest day I felt like a failure is when my wife came home with an Iphone. Three months later I was justified when she smashed it on the ground and called it a useless P.O.S

Quote:

Originally Posted by spitvenom

Don't worry Calif I've been saying the truth about apple long before Jobs died. The biggest day I felt like a failure is when my wife came home with an Iphone. Three months later I was justified when she smashed it on the ground and called it a useless P.O.S

Ive been spreading the truth also for many many moons. But I try not to say bad things about persons that have passed at least until they are buried. That's just me.

Yeah we keep a whole staff of IT people to keep our Microsoft and other networks functioning . I keep on telling them all we need to do is get the right ap or 2 and they'd be unemployed .

So Jobs is gone but there has been just a little too much coverage, it is as though all innovation will now stop, a big bite taken out of the Apple which had a hard time surviving without Jobs

Now back to more important things, the bees have begun to buzz on the mountain

Quote:

Originally Posted by califdadof3

Then dont die or we will all be saying negative things about you before you can be buried.

Or do bad things with lipstick and sharpies when the undertaker isn't looking.:eek:

Quote:

Originally Posted by smoothy

My first personal Computer was an Ohio Scientific,

You too? I had one with dual 5.25" floppies and an X-10 interface with dreams of creating a "smart home".

While Apple are not utterly ground breaking when it comes to product, where they have succeeded is in making the mundane COOL.
A lot of FORM over FUNCTION.
Yes the iPhone isn't all that great, there are better smart phones available.
The iPad is good, but tablet PCs have been around longer than the iPad
The Mac and Macbooks look awesome, but are priced as a fashion item rather than mere commodity.
The Style of Cool is what Steve Jobs promoted and marketed and he did it very well indeed.
The number of fan's of Apple will bear testament to that.
The long queues waiting for shops to open when a new iPhone is launched confirm Steve's vision of Cool.

I think this piece from the BBC sums it up well: BBC News - The cult of Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs managed to bring Cool to the masses..

I'm by no means an expert in judging one operating system over another .

Marketing cool will only take you so far... If the product is garbage the word spreads quickly.

My own view is that the so called cult of Apple grew over the premise that it's user friendly.. I can confirm that on testimonial from the very loyal Apple users I know. I also have some experience using a Macbook pro and it is a good product for the users. I don't say it is the best... but the users love it and swear by it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

You too? I had one with dual 5.25" floppies and an X-10 interface with dreams of creating a "smart home".

You had Floppies with yours? You had one of the later models then (way out of my price range then)... I had a Cassette interface... This was in 1982. It was an Ohio Scientific Superboard. With a whopping 2k of static ram. I kept it for a lot of years until I finally got tired of moving it around and threw it out. Kind of wish I kept it to show some of the younger people what one of the earlier personal computers were like.

Of course the one I had was almost as useful as a Tickle me Elmo doll.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tomder55

I'm by no means an expert in judging one operating system over another .

Marketting cool will only take you so far ... If the product is garbage the word spreads quickly.

My own view is that the so called cult of Apple grew over the premise that it's user friendly .. I can confirm that on testimonial from the very loyal Apple users I know. I also have some experience using a Macbook pro and it is a good product for the users. I don't say it is the best ... but the users love it and swear by it.

Here's the thing when I heard the Iphone was first coming out my IT director and I would get into screaming matches about who was going to get it first. Then we read what it did or rather what it couldn't do. We both looked at our phones and said these are better then the iPhone. A lot of people swear that the Jersey Shore is great entertainment that doesn't mean it is true.

The 4S is scheduled to start sales tonight. Preorders were swamping demand before Jobs ' death. It will probably dominate 4th Q sales this year.

Bunch of dummies!

Sorry Tom all that says to me is there are millions of stupid people who believe that since they were told this is the best it must be the best. And even if it is a POS no one will ever admit it because of how much money they spent on it.

At what point do the consumers conclude a product is a pos and stop buying ? Sooner or later they'd have to realize they aren't getting a quality product... no ?

Never underestimate the stupidity or gullibility of the average consumer.

Hollywood, NPR, CBS, NBC, ABC all make their livings off that. Not to mention more than a few retailers.

Hell look at the 2008 election. And the fact truth in advertising laws don't apply to politicians.

The problem is they don't know what quality should be in a device. They have been told this is the best nothing is better. But hey the iPhone 4S can almost do everything my phone in 2006 could do.

But no it isn't a quality product my wife when she HAD an Iphone would say I hate AT&T I never have an bars. I would be standing right next to her same AT&T service and have full bars. So is that quality?

She would have to charge her battery every night I would charge my N95 every two days. IS that quality.

Battery dies in the iPhone you have to send it back to apple to get the battery changed. I still have the original battery in my N95 and it still holds a charge event though I haven't used it in years. Is that quality?

You can only do video chat on wifi my N95 could do video on 3g or wifi. Is that quality?