TheSteve is Dead, Long Live TheSteve
So as anyone who has not been living under a rock knows, The man I affectionately refer to as TheSteve (Steven Paul Jobs of Apple, Inc. fame) has died. He leaves behind a legacy that includes one of the most remarkable corporate turnarounds in modern American history, catapulting what was a foundering Apple Computer into what we know today as Apple, Inc. - Maker of the iEverything.
TheSteve was an iconic figure - Famous (infamous) for his perfectionism and capricious nature, and gifted with the ability to know what the masses wanted before they knew themselves. Products like the iPod and iPhone stand as a testament to that vision.
I'm not going to further eulogize the man - Hundreds of people have done so far better than I ever could - Instead I'm going to re-open this blog by commenting on some of the commentary.
This entry may grow, or it may just remain the big two that caused me to write it - as always my blogging is totally mood-dependent.
The Westboro Baptist Church
So, Margie J. Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church (yeah, the "God Hates Fags" people) will be picketing TheSteve's funeral. I love that she tweeted it from her iPhone - If TheSteve's life was one of wickedness and he taught sin why are you using a device that sprung from his mind?
Don't worry - I'll save ya a spot in Hell Margie, but you're not getting into my condo by the lake of fire after this shining example of hypocracy. And I hope that when I finally croak I've done enough good for the world that Westboro Baptist Church sends people to picket MY funeral.
Richard M. "Batshit Motherfucking Crazy" Stallman
"Batshit Motherfucking Crazy" is my personal descriptor of Stallman. We're talking the guy who ate something off his foot at a conference, and thinks that we should all give up freedom (as afforded by licenses like the BSD license, or numerous others) in the name of GNU/Freedom (as contracted by association with the GPL). It should be no surprise that since Apple didn't put everything they ever did under the GPL his words weren't flattering:
Steve Jobs, the pioneer of the computer as a jail made cool, designed to sever fools from their freedom, has died.
As Chicago Mayor Harold Washington said of the corrupt former Mayor Daley, "I'm not glad he's dead, but I'm glad he's gone." Nobody deserves to have to die - not Jobs, not Mr. Bill, not even people guilty of bigger evils than theirs. But we all deserve the end of Jobs' malign influence on people's computing.
Unfortunately, that influence continues despite his absence. We can only hope his successors, as they attempt to carry on his legacy, will be less effective.
What can I say? Yeah - TheSteve was a dick, and he didn't like the idea of open platforms. Ya know what? I DON'T FUCKING CARE. Yes, the iPhone is a jail cell with a radio, and Apple's software reviwers guard the walled garden like there are Vestial Virgins inside. That's fine. You have ALTERNATIVE CHOICES - Android, BlackBerry, a Dumb Phone, etc.
Once again RMS misses the point of REAL freedom - The freedom to chose to use an iPhone, or not. He also misses the fact that TheSteve's return to Apple did something remarkable: It took two completely disparate worlds - Apple Computer and the Macintosh OS, and the POSIX-loving Unix world - and mashed them together. Successfully, for the first time ever.
By bringing Unix to the masses (with a pretty GUI so they never have to see its underpinnings, and real-world capable applications from major vendors) TheSteve has done more for the Linux and BSD community than anyone else could possibly have done. How many people are now dabbling with Linux because they were exposed to a FRIENDLY Unix with a slick UI and a truly capable suite of desktop applications that can actually be used for real work? (I hasten to point out that this is something neither the Linux camps nor the BSDs have managed, despite considerable effort and improvement over the years. Even Sun, IBM and SGI never managed to capture the market OS X has - Real People at home and work doing everyday tasks.).
That's really all I have - As more stuff pops up this entry may get updated,
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