Hacker News Reader

Comment by donw | Hacker News Reader

I think that it would be stupid not to have him on stage as part of the introduction of the new iPhone. It's not like everybody doesn't know about it, and it would generate a lot of goodwill among developers and Apple employees.

It's like the story of the Air Force commander and the mechanic: One day, a military big-wig took off in an Air Force transport, which almost crashed, and was forced to land due to mechanical failure shortly after take-off. Upon inspection, it became obvious that the mechanic in charge of the plane's engines had screwed up and been sloppy.

Rather than berating him, the commander looked at him and said, "I trust that you won't screw up again. In fact, I trust you so much, that I'm putting you in charge of fixing it."

View on HN

If I were this guy I'd wouldnt want this joke to be dragged on for eternity, I'd want people to forget about it as soon as possible.

I've watched a lot of Steve Jobs presentations, and I can't recall any direct humor (aside from John Mayer and maybe Sam Altman rocking the popped collars).

It just doesn't seem that they'd do something like this. It's not vaudeville night, it's the Reality Distortion Field.

There is some humor (Remember the reference to the tablet rumors when the iPad was introduced?) but hardly any self deprecating humor. I can‘t think of anything. Bringing him in would be a great thing to do but not something Apple does. Probably. He might at most get a spot in the first row or something like that :)

Nevertheless I’m really looking forward to that Keynote. It will be really interesting to see how they handle that. We had the situation where blurry photos of new iPods leaked, Jobs only acknowledged that by saying something like “I think you may have seen that one before” and carried on like nothing happened. I don’t know whether Jobs can do that this time. That would be pretty ridiculous.

How about this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIClAanU7Os

Or this one? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cl7xQ8i3fc0

I actually LOLed when he did this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1p4j0CODBX8

OK. There is humor. I stand corrected, and I still think they won't highlight Graw Powell.

Macworld 1997 Boston Bill Gates (1984 ad reference) ~33:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEHNrqPkefI

Here's a video of Jobs reacting to leaked PowerMac G5 specifications

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8c92rhiOepI

That would be pretty cool having him introduce it, then Jobs comes out and takes over, shaking his head and doing the chastising father thing. PR gold, right?

The iPhone accounts for five point four billion-with-a-B dollars of Apple's revenue.

They don't have 30 different iPhone models. The iPhone they "launch" this year is probably going to be The iPhone.

Why do you think this Gizmodo debacle is a joke? Am I crazy? Because from where I stand, there is exactly one situation where this is funny: if Apple planted a fake iPhone prototype to screw with Gizmodo. That seems vanishingly unlikely.

Its funny because shit happens, and I'd rather a promising young man not be destroyed over it. Better to address the problem and roll with it rather than crucify the guy. The gravity of the situation, and how simple a mistake it was to make is the reason to forgive.

Woz got it. Why don't you?

On the spectrum of "shit happens" running from getting too drunk and throwing up on your best friend's shoes all the way to having your house bombed by an F18 because you have the wrong President, this event, while nowhere near the "epic tragedy" end of the scale, doesn't land anywhere near "funny" for me.

We agree on how we'd like things to work out for the engineer. Maybe, let's stop turning him into a punch line.

Everyone gets the gravity. Its tragicomedy.

Is your point, "don't let some random guy's reputation get in the way of our Internet joke"?

Sir, I suggest that your sense of humor is challenged in this matter and I decline to discuss it further. Woz has a big heart, I take this as a sign the kid is ok. Have a nice day.

Argh. Will you guys please stop?

The point is that it would be morally better if the people involved treated it as something capable of being laughed off, and so we should all treat it that way to encourage such an atmosphere in our culture. It is similar to how we discourage people from making a big deal over interracial, or more recently gay, marriages—if we treat it like nothing happened (and that those that insist something did are on the wrong end of a bad joke), then nothing did happen, and everyone—including Mr. Gray—can get on with their lives.

The thing to do is to have the chief mechanic along for the check ride.

Or just bring along the mechanic responsible for keeping the plane from becoming a twisted pile of metal and death.

That would be great and it would show Apple has a sense of humour. Powell could walk out in a black turtle neck and Levis and talk about magical devices...

Short-term, it's a PR win. Long-term, what kind of message would it send to the employees?

"This is the reason you want to still work here helping us make great stuff, instead of jumping ship because of perceived morale/culture death," for starters.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com