Steve Jobs

[randolph]

Originally Posted by aw9725

Someone at our university asked me what I thought of Steve Jobs. I replied that ?he made technology fun.? His contribution was as a marketing genius not a technologist. Recall that it was Steve Wozniak who was in fact the ?brains? behind the original Apple computer. From all accounts I?ve ever read, ?Woz? didn?t have a clue what to do with the thing. Jobs said: ?let?s sell it.? The rest is history?

Yes, Apparently Wozniak also "invented" the spreadsheet, one of the most useful aspects of computer technology.

[MayDay]

I think Jobs main contribution was to create 'accessible' technology. That is to say, he tried to make easy interfaces that anticipated the needs of a novice user.

For a more tech heavy person, it's actually a bit of a pain, because it takes more effect to get to the 'guts' of configurations. E.g. I don't want IPhoto to always pop up when I insert a memory card, but it takes a devil of a long time to figure out how to disable this 'feature' on a Mac.

I know a lot of people idolize him - I can't quite get worked up to that level, but to each his or her own opinion. I won't demonize him either.