[Info-vax] Steve Jobes [was: Apple says ...]

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 10/8/2011 9:34 AM, Paul Sture wrote:
> In article<TulLAcOeekse at eisner.encompasserve.org>,
>   cornelius at eisner.decus.org (George Cornelius) wrote:
>
>> In article<4e8e0bd4$0$2477$e4fe514c at news2.news.xs4all.nl>, MG
>> <marcogbNO at SPAMxs4all.nl>  writes:
>>> Unlike Ken Olsen, Steve Jobs is often deified and gets media coverage
>>> all the time; or else his registered trademarks and logos.  Only some
>>> online publications, along with a few institutions (like one American
>>> university) made mention of Olsen's death, in terms recognition in
>>> the mass-media and overall mention in general.  Even DEC 'inheritor'
>>> HP barely made mention of Ken Olsen's passing away.  So, yes, there
>>> is definitely a difference alright.
>>
>> Well, Jobs was a national figure.  Olson, even in Digital's heyday,
>> was known to few.  Both attempted to market premium products at
>> premium prices.  But Olson is well known for disdaining marketing,
>> and disdaining the consumer market as well.
>
> To be honest the whole of Digital kept quite a low profile.  I had never
> heard of them when I applied for a job which involved PDPs and was
> surprised to be told that they were the second largest importer of
> computer kit into the UK after IBM.
>
>> I have never purchased an Apple product.  But it is clear that
>> Jobs made his mark in the consumer marketplace, and he did it by
>> selling technology to a select group of consumers.  I will not
>> belittle that - it was something that worked for him, and something
>> that kept him in the public eye year after year.
>
> A couple of less famous achievements spring to mind:
>
> o - Time Machine - Apple brought easy to use full system backups
>      to the masses. No more wipe and reinstall.
>
> o - Truly multilingual operating systems and applications.
>      MS have finally got nearly there with the most expensive version
>      of Windows 7.  With a lesser version you have to buy it again to
>      use a different language.  Ditto for many Windows apps.
>

Way back in the Dark Ages of Computing, Apple announced a Personal 
Computer.  There were some problems getting RAM for it.  You could buy a 
new car for what Apple charged.  A relative few, especially those 
interested in graphics and typesetting adopted it.  Most of the rest of 
the world waited for the "X86 PC" which came along a little later and 
cost FAR less the the Apple product.

The X86 based PC hit the market.  The O/S was crap but it was cheap.  It 
proceeded to conquer the world.  Apple has hung onto its niche market. 
If you want to do typography and graphics you probably do it with an 
Apple MacIntosh.