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Comment by varunsrin | Hacker News Reader

Jobs is relevant to this discussion, because the article is based around the following quote:

"Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he’s more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology"

I've always considered charity to be a personal thing, and if Jobs didn't want to give it away, well that was his money, and his decision. However, attacking Gates for helping eradicate polio / malaria is simply unnecessary, and comes off as a childish retort.

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Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything

If Bill never invented anything, I'm not sure Jobs did either. Sure, Jobs dreamt up the iPod and the iPhone, but telling engineers what to do is not the same as inventing.

Exactly. This is why I'm irritated every time I see a comment comparing Jobs to Edison. He wasn't an Engineer. Even from the beginning.

agree. he really knew how to market products..

Are you summing the article up as an attack on one quote? Okay, if you like Bill, you can say that Jobs once said something that was wrong. Great. Next question.

Or you can agree with Jobs but say that the world is still a better place for what Bill has done. Also great, next question.

Either way, why waste time worrying about something a dead man said? Jobs is maggot-food now. Gates is here with us.

Decide for yourself whether you like or dislike Gates. I can easily do so without worrying whether Jobs liked him or not. And I can easily decide to admire what Jobs did or didn’t accomplish without worrying whether he had anything of value to say outside of his field of expertise.

Anyways, like I said, I’m supportive of people admiring what Mr. Gates is doing with his life today. And really, what he did with his life (past tense) is done, finished, no way to unwind it, so why worry about it. All I’m saying is, worrying about how it compares to Jobs or what Jobs said... This is not the best way to think about Mr. Gates, who deserves to be judged for his contribution just the way it is.

No, I don't think the article is an attack on just one quote (and quite didn't say that). I agree with you about almost all your points - its just that in your original post, you basically said 'leave Jobs out of this', and I'm merely pointing out why Jobs is relevant to this discussion - because a part of the article discussed Steve's attack on Bill.

"Either way, why waste time worrying about something a dead man said? Jobs is maggot-food now. Gates is here with us."

While I usually don't care for the Gates vs. Jobs arguments that particular statement irked me, because its not just a slight against Gates, its an indirect attack on the field of philanthropy itself. And Jobs' words have the power to influence many.

I don’t dispute your ire at the statement. And it’s inevitable that people will idolize other people, especially when they’re dead. That’s unfortunate in so many ways, especially if given all of the things he said in his life, someone would pick one of his less exemplary utterances to carry around in their brain.

It turns out people are... People. So I get why you are dismayed at the thought of people carrying Jobs’ statement around in their heads, just as I am dismayed at the thought of looking at Mr. Gates’s choices in comparison with Mr. Jobs choices.

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