ummm, excuse me?

Story: What Everyone Is Too Polite to Say About Steve JobsTotal Replies: 31
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olefowdie

Oct 08, 2011
1:25 PM EDT
The rest of us do not speak ill of the dead. I think you should follow this practice.
gus3

Oct 08, 2011
1:52 PM EDT
I'll speak ill of them, alive or dead, if I believe my statements to be factual.

I don't know how much of Apple's innovation came from Jobs, but I will credit him with this much: his understanding of the market was uncanny. It's said that marketing is getting people to spend money they don't have, for something they don't need, and today's Apple shows how good he was at that.

When OS X came out, with Unix under the hood, I LMAO'd. It was the same Unix vs. VMS battle, fought by new generals, Jobs and Gates.
2briancox

Oct 08, 2011
2:37 PM EDT
There is a concept of speaking the truth in love. In other words, not everything true should be said by people who want to be good.

Would you tell your wife that she's fat and ugly if it were so, _gus3?

Right now people are remembering the good in Steve Jobs because they understand that a lot of people are saddened and hurt to see him go. And they are being considerate and respectful for the dead. I think that's a good thing.
gus3

Oct 08, 2011
4:22 PM EDT
Fat and ugly are not facts; they are matters of taste. Furthermore, they don't speak to character the way one's words and actions do (together and separately).
Scott_Ruecker

Oct 08, 2011
5:54 PM EDT
I will say this much, I refused (for the most part) to post articles to the LXer newswire about his death because it had nothing to do with FOSS news. That was my choice as E-i-C, I didn't see it as relevant to our readers knowing that it would be all over the regular news anyway. One..or the dozen plus articles that were submitted to us were not going to serve our audience and I stand by that decision.

I have never had any beef with Steve Jobs personally. I may not like that he took a BSD kernel and made it proprietary, which is one of the major reasons Mac software is so solid now, but that is what the BSD license allows and he took advantage of it..because he could. I may not like it, but he didn't do anything 'wrong'. And whose to say that any of us wouldn't have made the same decision if we were in his place?

I found the quote Stallman used distasteful and his comment about "..Jobs' malign influence on people's computing." inaccurate at best. He may not have been a supporter of FOSS, but in my mind he certainly was not an outright adversary like others we could name here. He was a technological innovator in many ways, and like Apple or not there is no denying that. Not being a supporter of Free and Open Source Software doesn't make you inherently evil, it just means your not as cool as you could be.

;-) I re-posted this to

http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/32314/

and

http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/32308/
Grishnakh

Oct 10, 2011
6:16 PM EDT
olefowdie wrote:The rest of us do not speak ill of the dead. I think you should follow this practice.


You don't have anything bad to say about Genghis Khan, Nero, Caligula, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Saddam Hussein, or Lyndon B Johnson? Most people wouldn't have any reservations about speaking ill about these people. Just because someone's dead doesn't mean they get a pass on all the evilness they did during their life.

Now granted, Jobs is certainly not nearly as horrible as any of the above wretched examples of humanity, and had some definitely great points along with his not-so-great attributes, but in principle, I think your statement is ridiculous.
fewt

Oct 10, 2011
6:41 PM EDT
Quoting:You don't have anything bad to say about Genghis Khan, Nero, Caligula, Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Mao, Saddam Hussein, or Lyndon B Johnson? Most people wouldn't have any reservations about speaking ill about these people. Just because someone's dead doesn't mean they get a pass on all the evilness they did during their life.

Now granted, Jobs is certainly not nearly as horrible as any of the above wretched examples of humanity, and had some definitely great points along with his not-so-great attributes, but in principle, I think your statement is ridiculous.


Seems appropriate to invoke Godwins Law. Sorry.
jacog

Oct 11, 2011
4:05 AM EDT
@Grishnakh - As a connoisseur of truly bad cinema I have only good things to say about John Wayne as Genghis Khan in that dreadful movie. :)
JaseP

Oct 11, 2011
9:30 AM EDT
I wouldn't put LBJ in the company of those others you mentioned. Viet Nam was an unpopular war, but not nearly so much so at the time he escalated it. He made the mistake of making a poor decision, not in being evil. The others mentioned were truly evil.

ComputerBob

Oct 11, 2011
9:43 AM EDT
@jacog, Here's another one:

"Truly, this man was the son of God."

-- John Wayne, delivering his one and only line, as the centurian in "The Greatest Story Ever Told."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059245/trivia
Grishnakh

Oct 11, 2011
11:26 AM EDT
fewt wrote:Seems appropriate to invoke Godwins Law. Sorry.


Godwin's Law is for morons. If you refuse to ever talk about an important period of modern history because of some dumbass who thought it was brought up too often, then you're a moron. If you think you've somehow "won" an argument because that period comes up, then you're truly a moron. The whole thing is moronic, and anyone who brings up Godwin's Law is a fool.

fewt

Oct 11, 2011
1:03 PM EDT
Quoting:Godwin's Law is for morons. If you refuse to ever talk about an important period of modern history because of some dumbass who thought it was brought up too often, then you're a moron. If you think you've somehow "won" an argument because that period comes up, then you're truly a moron. The whole thing is moronic, and anyone who brings up Godwin's Law is a fool.


u mad, bro?
Grishnakh

Oct 11, 2011
2:17 PM EDT
fewt wrote:u mad, bro?


Mad, no. Only calling out idiocy when I see it.
fewt

Oct 11, 2011
3:01 PM EDT
Quoting:Mad, no. Only calling out idiocy when I see it.


Well then, way to fail thar. ;)
Koriel

Oct 11, 2011
3:12 PM EDT
@Grish Dont worry your not the only one who thinks Godwins Law is pure crap and used to stifle legitimate argument. Please continue to point out idiocy wherever you see it, regardless of the opinions of others, their failings are not yours.
Grishnakh

Oct 11, 2011
4:45 PM EDT
@Koriel: Thanks!
DrGeoffrey

Oct 11, 2011
5:24 PM EDT
Hold on a moment everyone. If we start pointing out idiocy wherever we see it, when will we have time to get anything done?
Koriel

Oct 11, 2011
5:51 PM EDT
@DrGeoffrey

Good point :)
jezuch

Oct 12, 2011
1:37 AM EDT
Here's what Godwin himself thinks of Godwin's Law: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/09/no-nazi-comp...
Quoting:But Godwin never meant the law to cover all Nazi comparisons, only "glib comparisons," (...)
ComputerBob

Oct 12, 2011
9:22 AM EDT
I think that people who bring up Godwin's Law are acting just like Hitler.
fewt

Oct 12, 2011
9:33 AM EDT
Quoting:I think taht people who bring up Godwin's Law are acting just like Hitler.


I think that people who compare the business practices of one to the mass murdering of others are significantly mentally deficient.
ComputerBob

Oct 12, 2011
10:42 AM EDT
Quoting:I think that people who compare the business practices of one to the mass murdering of others are significantly mentally deficient.


As are those who can't understand sarcasm.
fewt

Oct 12, 2011
10:44 AM EDT
Quoting:As are those who can't understand sarcasm.


What's a sarcasm, and why are you implying I don't understand it?
ComputerBob

Oct 12, 2011
11:23 AM EDT
Maybe I'm not implying. Maybe you're inferring.
fewt

Oct 12, 2011
1:57 PM EDT
Quoting:Maybe I'm not implying. Maybe you're inferring.


Hold the Phone! Are you calling me a furry? I can assure you that you are incorrect, sir.
ComputerBob

Oct 12, 2011
4:21 PM EDT
Quoting:Hold the Phone! Are you calling me a furry? I can assure you that you are incorrect, sir.


I'll have to take your word on that.
fewt

Oct 12, 2011
4:42 PM EDT
Quoting:I'll have to take your word on that.


Please get out of my computer, and stay away from my words. They are mine, you can't have them.
ComputerBob

Oct 12, 2011
6:12 PM EDT
Quoting:Please get out of my computer, and stay away from my words. They are mine, you can't have them.


Without me, and the other voices in your head, you would be incredibly lonely.
fewt

Oct 12, 2011
6:26 PM EDT
Quoting:Without me, and the other voices in your head, you would be incredibly lonely.


You aren't in my head. You aren't in my head. You aren't in my head. You aren't in my head. GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!

;)
ComputerBob

Oct 12, 2011
9:01 PM EDT
Quoting:You aren't in my head. You aren't in my head. You aren't in my head. You aren't in my head. GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!


I'm in your head by invitation.
fewt

Oct 12, 2011
10:12 PM EDT
Quoting:I'm in your head by invitation.


Meh, you can't do anything fun with that reply.
ComputerBob

Oct 12, 2011
10:30 PM EDT
Quoting:Meh, you can't do anything fun with that reply.


No, apparently YOU can't do anything fun with that reply.

I can, but I'll wait until the next time you're in REM sleep.

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