Steve Jobs: A Mega, Meta Appreciation

Adam Penenberg at Fast Company: Everything that needs to be said about Steve Jobs has already been said.

(Image: No Apple @ MacWorld?, a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No-Derivative-Works (2.0) image from macwagen's photostream)

• [Guest]

  agreed

• [Fernando Montelbon]

  “ Everything that needs to be said about Steve Jobs has already been said.”

  But that won’t stop people blogging about it for the next three weeks. 

• [nosehat]

  I detect a certain degree of meta snarkiness in this mega meta appreciation.  In stitching all of these together, the piece becomes a demonstration of the sameness of the almost unanimous feudal veneration Steve Jobs engendered in his serfs adherents.  Well done, Adam Penenberg!

• [ZikZak]

  Every religion needs a messiah.  Consumerism is no exception.

  • [Cowicide]

    Every religion needs a messiah.  Consumerism is no exception.

    I clicked “Like” on your post because it’s a clever quip and thought provoking.

    At the same time, I think if you look at Apple’s entire history you can see where it has enabled many consumers to jettison the role and become creators.  Over the years, Apple has brought so many tools (that previously were only within the domain of the very wealthy) to the masses it’s incredible.

    I think with the success of the iPod, iPhone, etc. many people have forgotten this fact and that’s unfortunate.  Desktop publishing was a revolution for the masses with far reaching consequences that’s actually changed the world we live in today (for the better).

    The tools are out there to create… and Apple has contributed greatly to that pool through its innovation.  The choice to be a creator and take advantage of the tools or merely consume toys and the creative endeavors of others is up to each and every one of us.

    • [Chip]

      “I think if you look at Apple’s entire history you can see where it has
      enabled many consumers to jettison the role and become creators.”

      Absolutely.  Apple is big on creation… With a few caveats.

      If you want to create content to run on one of their products, you better be creating it on another one of their products.

      If you want to create content to run on other products, you better not be using an apple product.

      If you create software for an apple product, you better be willing to let apple sell it for you so they get a cut.

      If you create hardware for an apple product, you better be ready to pay the licensing fees for their proprietary everything.

      If you want to express your creativity by modding/hacking/upgrading your apple product, then tough noogies.

      You can create whatever you want, as long as you do it exactly how apple wants you to do it.

      And just to make this semi-on-topic, all of this is Jobs’ fault.  He may
      be a great businessman and a master of design, but he is a control
      freak.  I don’t want to buy things that somebody else controls.  I don’t want to pay money to be told how to use the things I purchase.

      I am continuously amazed by the fawning adoration of everything apple on boingboing.  They violate every single item on the owner’s manifesto which boingboing purports to champion: http://makezine.com/04/ownyourown/

      • [Antinous / Moderator]

        I am continuously amazed by the fawning adoration of everything apple on boingboing. They violate every single item on the owner’s manifesto which boingboing purports to champion:

        I’m sorry. I’ve never met this Boing Boing person. Is it a lady or a gentleman?

        Or is it possibly a group of bloggers who have different opinions?

• [Reed Millar]

  All hail out likable and creative corporate overlord!

• [wylkyn]

  iQuit

• [Robert Rossney]

  Hmm, this doesn’t play any video on my machine, it just displays a black frame with a white Apple logo. That *is* meta.

• [Brent Kirkham]

  Whaaaaaaaaaat?  No more shiny-shiny?   :(

• [petsounds]

  Weird. The moderators deleted the comment I had replied to earlier. I think I liked the de-voweled moderation better than comments being disappeared by suits in a black Suburban…

  • [mattcornell]

    Was it the link I posted to Saletan’s piece on Slate? Cause yeah, I noticed that was gone. Feel free to tweet me your reply. 

  • [Guest]

    you probably were not as logged in as you thought you were. Sometimes commenting is a 2 click process. Its hard to get deleted here.

    • [Antinous / Moderator]

      I took out a repugnant comment way up the line, so I took out the response, which was what petsounds was responding to. If a response has substance, I generally leave it, even if it’s orphaned.

• [Toxa]

  The guy may be a jerk (and a genius), but still is inhumane to publish all these obituaries before he’s gone.

• [petsounds]

  I remember the keynote for the iPhone reveal pretty well. We all had heard the rumors, and it seemed likely some sort of phone would be introduced. I was expecting something lackluster after the disappointment that was the ROKR (remember that?). What Steve revealed instead was science-fiction. Not that most of the iPhone’s features weren’t available in other devices, but it acted like a sci-fi film gadget would: intuitive, elegant, and a user interface that was leagues beyond the klunky real-world. It *felt* like the future that all of us wanted (ok, most of us).

  But fast-forward to today, and I have to wonder at your comment that Steve is responsible for much that we love in our modern life. I like the iPhone. It’s a sweet device, no question. But did it transform my life? Am I really any better off with Apple products? Not really. Sometimes I wish I just had a $50 phone again, or maybe just a landline with an answering machine. Now if we had flying cars…