Hacker News Reader

Comment by spxdcz | Hacker News Reader

The difference is that Princess Diana made very little difference to most of our lives. Steve Jobs made such a huge impact in all of our (technologists, programmers, consumers) lives. Do you remember what mobile phones used to be like before the iPhone? How OSX kick-started the style of graphic design that is still in-trend, with aqua? How ugly consumer devices generally were? How he made design matter again? How darn productive he made many of us, thanks to amazing tools.

We're sad because today the world of technology seems a little less exciting than it did yesterday. We owe that man a debt. If you don't like reading this stuff, come back in a couple of days.

View on HN

It's a fair comment. Perspective in terms of what Apple have actually positively contributed on a world scale is maybe slightly lacking. A great man and an impressive legacy .. but I think the world might eventually view the changes he instigated with a more critical eye in the future.

Rich people can buy apple products, lots of poor people have been killed and maimed by landmines. It's best not to be so glib about how important a god to consumers was when some people did important charitable things despite being a figure in the tabloids.

I apologise if this came off as glib, it certainly wasn't meant to be. I spent four weeks in Laos last December and visited the COPE center in Vientiane; the landmine issue is a horrible, real thing that people have to cope with (and get killed by) every day, and I didn't mean to imply that what Diana did wasn't amazing.

BUT, to most (lucky) people reading Hacker News, Steve Jobs has had more of an impact on our day-to-day lives. He was a hero to many of us, and I don't think it's correct for some people to decide who is and isn't a valid hero. It's all about context.

It is just too obvious that saving lives are more important than making a product prettier. However, I think the best way to less evil for this world is not always that sending your money to Africa, but rather that everybody should work hard for truth_good_beauty.

Apple makes beautiful product and provide nice educational resources to this world, Steve worked hard for this with all his life. So he is far more than "a god to consumers" to me.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com