[ replies inline ] On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 6:54 AM, A. Mani <a.mani....@gmail.com> wrote: > by RMS > > 06 October 2011 (Steve Jobs) > > 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.
I never particularly liked Steve Jobs. I never liked RMS either. I always found both of them to be too arrogant (and please don't give me the crap about they-can-afford-to-be-arrogant-for-what-they-have-achieved). However, THIS is just shameful. We know what Apple has done. I know very well what freedoms have been curbed and how Apple functions, as a commercial organisation. But to say that they "dumbed" down the computer, is just stupid. I use OS X as my primary OS and it is my favourite OS. I don't like iOS and neither do I own any iOS devices, primarily because they don't give me the freedoms that Mac OS X or Android give me. > > Jobs was a marketing guru very good at selling you expensive crap and > taking away people's freedom to use software and even hardware. > Really, selling expensive crap? He must have possessed some sort of witchcraft to have sold billions of "expensive crap" devices to people everywhere. Or are you saying that EVERYONE in the world is so stupid that they don't realise the importance of what they buy? Show me other expensive crap products that have sold as much as Apple's products. People are not stupid. They have the brains to make choices. If they choose something, they know what advantage it gives them. Of course, I don't even need to tell anyone the number of Macbooks that are visible in every F/OSS conference as well. Oh, or maybe that means that we hackers (apparently the smarter, more aware section of society) are ALSO stupid enough to believe marketing crap? How sad. Let's insult and make fun of everyone doing any FOSS work on OS X. Let's ban them from all projects. > > Apple's vision is a conglomerate of everyone else's vision. It was > Jobs himself who said, "we have always been shameless about stealing > great ideas". What he has managed to do was dumb things down and make > people feel stupid. It's the only way I can explain things like the > one button mouse or those idiotic commercials (PC vs. Mac) featuring > simple characters, unconfusing white background, and nursery music, > not to mention all their other ads where people basically admit to > being morons and, "gee, isn't it great that *finally* someone makes a > computer for us!" Every single time I use my computer and Mac OS X, I feel empowered. I feel glad that I can work on whatever I want to. I feel glad when OS X gives me that extra two hours of battery life at the airport and I can quickly review that critical patch/bug report. I feel pleased when OS X connects to random wifi networks, always, without fail, so I can `git push` from a café. > People have never needed a science degree to use computers, this is > the lie that Apple has perpetuated. My parents use a PC. My little > nephews use a PC. Nerds use PCs, jocks use PCs, and so on and so on. > The fact that you would still be toeing the "computer science degree" > line says a lot more about how you see your own intelligence than what > the reality is. This is what Jobs wants, this is what he's gunning for > -- your insecurity, your lack of confidence, your belief that the > world is just too big and scary and those awful awful machines are > just way too complicated to figure out! And even if computers are > easier to use today than they were a few decades ago, something which > I will admit is true, Apple was merely riding on the bandwagon of > change, not the driver. The people who really pushed things forward > were companies like Xerox, Adobe, and Palm - graphical user interface, > usable / creative / beautiful software and design, touch and portable > devices. Apple simply brought it all together (they don't manufacture > any of their own components, their OS is "borrowed"), slapped an Apple > logo on it, doubled the price (their mobile unit sales are 4th on the > world, their profits are 1st - you do the math), and used their > brightest shill, Steve Jobs, to convince people that it was pure Apple > "genius". I don't think this person knows what he's talking about. If Apple brought together an amazing project (FreeBSD et al) and added their own work to it (the OS X GUI layer) and sold that combination to make money and significant technological advances, I *don't* see how it is wrong. In fact, it is PRECISELY what the BSD license allows. Or wait, so tomorrow, if my F/OSS project is taken by a commercial company and made better/more popular, I should make fun of them? I should demean their efforts? If all Apple did was "simply brought it all together", why on earth doesn't anyone else do that too? Do it, do it now. I promise I will be your very first and most loyal customer. > Mandatory : > Apple fans are the exemplars of "Stockholm syndrome" > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome > Mandatory? You sir, I believe, lack a basic sense of respect. This is a serious psychological syndrome that happens because of completely different reasons. I understand you have a strong viewpoint on what Apple has done over the years but do NOT say things that you have no idea about. If you knew someone who happened to have Stockholm's, you'd perhaps understand the gravity of what you said, even though in jest. I have strong viewpoints too, but I'm not inhuman. As for RMS, this is not the first time he has done something like this: http://edward.oconnor.cx/2005/04/rms I'm done here. Unsubscribing. -- dum vivimus, vivamus pratul == lut4rp http://pratul.in _______________________________________________ Ilugd mailing list Ilugd@lists.linux-delhi.org http://frodo.hserus.net/mailman/listinfo/ilugd
