Comment by kybernetikos | Hacker News Reader

Comment by kybernetikos | Hacker News Reader

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This linked article is one of the first things that has made me think of Steve in a positive light.

I'm generally fairly negative about him because 1. I have a natural aversion to cults of personality and all that goes with them and 2. the Apple vision of the world is about consumer products. I think this is exactly the wrong direction for all of society (producer products are the future), and I worry that if they ever 'won' or even came as close to winning as Microsoft did for a while that there would be no place for me in such a world. No plausible endgame for Apple is good for me (although they've done a lot of good in breaking the stranglehold of windows and making the concept of other OS more mainstream).

There's a little bit of 3. too, which is that most of what I've read of him makes him come across as a bit of a nightmare as a person.

Anyway, this article felt very real, and just talked about a guy with passion who left the CEO hat at the door. That would be a guy I could potentially respect.

> the Apple vision of the world is about consumer products. I think this is exactly the wrong direction for all of society (producer products are the future),

I think iMovie and the iMac DV phase was a period where Apple actually aspired to this, though. They obsessed over making the best possible computers and software for people to make great home movies, just as they were obsessing over Final Cut and the Power Mac for the professional market. The Mac used to have a reputation as the platform for creative people in all fields, and the "think different" campaign was an effort to reinforce that.

Unfortunately, most people don't want to be creative and Apple had an opportunity to pursue the consumer market. They still try, with Garageband and iPhoto and iMovie, but it's less of a focus.

> #2 the Apple vision of the world is about consumer products (...) producer products are the future.

In one sense, Apple has encourage people to be producers by making it easier to produce financially-viable software. Are you comparing Apple's vision with Microsoft's, or do you have something else in mind?

> I have a natural aversion to cults of personality and all that goes with them and 2. the Apple vision of the world is about consumer products. I think this is exactly the wrong direction for all of society (producer products are the future)

But producers produce products for consumers to consume. You can't just eliminate the consumer side of the equation. Without one there isn't the other.

> But producers produce products for consumers to consume.

Not necessarily. You can be a producer for yourself. I think the GP is arguing that technologies like 3D printing and practices like home gardening will flourish in the near future. Rather than buy stuff per se, people will buy equipment and tools that allow them to produce for themselves the stuff they would have bought.

Sure, but in that case, you're a consumer for the printer, and the more useful it is, the more it will cost.

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