tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514589635991570772.post4420569869798887308..comments2024-03-16T04:19:22.484-04:00Comments on Urban Simplicity: The Theology of Steve JobsJoe Georgehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04896010205120222575noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514589635991570772.post-38639597944916366842011-10-07T20:32:49.406-04:002011-10-07T20:32:49.406-04:00Hi Guys (kfg, I've always assumed you are a gu...Hi Guys (kfg, I've always assumed you are a guy, but on this invisible and miraculous thing through which we find ourselves communicating one can never tell, so if you're not...my apologies). Anyhow, thanks to both of you for your comments and insight. I don't know if Steve Jobs invented the computer, the Internet, or anything for that matter (what I do know is that I don't really know). But also, I know that he was very instrumental--be it marketing, physical labor, whatever--in making them (computers and all the toys that come with them) accessible to the "average person" (whatever that is). And for that I thank him. And yes, like the media I tend to exaggerate sometimes...I of course wrote before I owned a computer, but they just made it exceedingly easier for me (though somehow I have less time because of them). My first machine, back in '93 I think, was a used IBM 8088...no hard-drive, just two huge floppies; one ran the program (off a gigantic floppy) and the other recorded the data (sometimes if the wind blew in the wrong direction data was erased). Initially I didn't trust computers...I didn't think they were "creative enough;" real artists wrote by hand, I thought. I would write in pencil and transcribe it onto a floppy; not sure if I had spellcheck...talk about tedious. When I would write for publication I would print it out on an old dot matrix printer (can still hear it...chicka, chicka, chicka) and either send it in the mail or hand deliver it on a bicycle. As we all know things--many things--have changed in the last 20 years; some good and some not-so-good. But because of the more advanced development of both the computer and the internet it has made my writing and getting published more efficient as well. I guess that's more specific what I was originally trying to say. Thanks again guys. Peace.Joehttp://citysimplicity.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514589635991570772.post-32821921946509114442011-10-07T16:36:14.615-04:002011-10-07T16:36:14.615-04:00"I think Obama was referring not to the "..."I think Obama was referring not to the "internets", but to the iPads and iPhones"<br /><br />Certainly. If I didn't understand that I wouldn't have written what I did.<br /><br />"Jobs did not invent the internet, but he and his team changed how we use it."<br /><br />Yes, that's what I gave credit for.<br /><br />"Sent via carrier pidgeon"<br /><br />Cher Ami, we are here!kfgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514589635991570772.post-17071922951540524762011-10-07T13:06:45.573-04:002011-10-07T13:06:45.573-04:00Hi Joe, That is one of my favorite quotes. I only ...Hi Joe, That is one of my favorite quotes. I only wish I could consistently maintain that mentality.<br /><br />As far as the comparatively trivial topic of computer history, KFG I think you are inaccurate in dismissing him to being a "marketer". At the very least he was an innovative designer who bridged the world of computer engineering with the day-to-day world of everyone else. Of course he was not the only one doing that, but he did it really well. Enough so that it motivated/ inspired/ forced other manufacturers to think in new ways. <br /><br />I also don't think Jobs deserves to be blamed for all the "chippies" driving "Escalades" (or Prius', etc). I think the problem isn't the device, but the driver/user, and the rolling living room they are sitting in. Text messaging was around before the iPhone. So was the Walkman, the 8 track tape, the newspaper, lipstick. Come to think of it, foolish people predate all of those things. He didn't design/create a weapon, he designed communication devices. <br /><br />And KFG, something tells me that Joe, the guy who grows his own food, bakes his own bread, cooks food for a living, uses a wood burning stove, also happens to know about the properties and use of paper and pen. Hell, I can even remember PENCILS! I know for me, as a photographer for 30 years, that digital does not necessarily equate to better, but I also know that I have a far more interesting world out there in terms of publishing, if I choose to do so. Jobs did not invent the internet, but he and his team changed how we use it. <br /><br />Finally, I think Obama was referring not to the "internets", but to the iPads and iPhones, and all their inspired equivalents.<br /><br />Sent via carrier pidgeonMaxnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2514589635991570772.post-75207530093958895962011-10-06T23:20:45.567-04:002011-10-06T23:20:45.567-04:00Nice quote by Jobs. I find it necessary, however, ...Nice quote by Jobs. I find it necessary, however, to point out that he didn't invent the microchip based computer, or the desktop computer, or the home computer. He didn't even invent the Apple computer.<br /><br />Jobs was not an inventor. He was a marketer.<br /><br />What he did is to push the development of computer <i>products</i> in the direction of things he wished to market. In that sense he <i>was</i> a visionary and his vision was somewhat different from that of others in the field.<br /><br />The device that much of the world learned about his death on is called The Internet. That was written by Bill Joy in his "spare time" as a grad student. His famous motto is "The network is the computer," and so it is coming to pass. His company, Sun, built the computers to run The Internet.<br /><br />What Jobs's vision gave us was an "end user delivery" device for The Internet that could be put in your pocket, not rest on a table.<br /><br />In other words, what Jobs has done for <i>your</i> life is to fill it full of chippies driving around in Cadillac Escalades with their heads down busy texting instead of, ya know, looking where the hell they are going.<br /><br />As for how we wrote back in the day, I once wrote a children's novel in a blue school notebook, with a ball point pen . . . while sitting on a reasonably isolated beach on the Pacific coast of Mexico.<br /><br />While I wouldn't necessarily want to do that every day, I'm willing to at least give it another go. It weren't torture.kfgnoreply@blogger.com