Hacker News Reader

Comment by sliverstorm | Hacker News Reader

How did you feel about the news of Jobs's passing showing up high on HN?

For me, Steve Jobs passing had the opposite effect.

I had convinced myself that my comfortable lifestyle web dev business was all I really needed. That pursuing startup ideas were not worth sacrificing time with family, friends, and hobbies away from the computer.

When Steve Jobs passed, I took stock of his accomplishments, watched the Standford address, and was generally inspired. It loosened me from my comfortable rut just enough to start bootstrapping a startup I had on paper for about a year. So far, 4 months in, the sacrifice has been little to none. Who knows though, I still may regret this down the line.

There is absolutely no comparison between Steve Jobs -- a man who carved a sizable niche in a market, created another market that never existed before (app store), built a massive company, and whose direct oversight impacted all sorts of people -- dying, and Atwood simply leaving SO.

There is, by the logic you've set out here. Both were personal events that had no direct consequence to the HN crowd.

No, Steve Jobs dying had a very real potential effect on many parts of the industry. When the person generally credited with being the driving force behind Apple dies, it's got potential ramifications everywhere. When Atwood simply leaves a website which has already reached critical mass an matured, it doesn't.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com