Wright Chat

I can accept that comparison. I have compared Jobs to Edison and Ford, although on a somewhat lesser scale (to properly understand Edison and Ford, you have to look at their innovations beyond light bulbs and Model Ts). I can also accept the comparison to one of my personal favorites, Walt Disney. Think of the range of Apple products as a range of entertainment (Walt stretched beyond movies to television, World Fairs, and theme parks - oddly, a segment where he starts to intersect Ford's vision).

Since I have always put Wright onto these same pedestals of innovation and design, I can also put Jobs there.

Wright and Buckminster Fuller appeared in the 1997 "Think Different" TV ad ("Here's to the crazy ones..."). Unfortunately, neither made it to the poster campaign..... Olga?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX9GTUMh ... r_embedded

Two facts about Steve Jobs that I did not know before reading some of the tributes that have been recently published:

1) he was adopted and never knew his dad.
2) he had an out-of-wedlock child named: Lisa, which was also the name of his computer that preceded the Macintosh
3) he was awarded 338 patents

He was not a nice man by any definition of the word "nice".

He was a dead-beat Dad, never donated any of his money (unless it was done anonymously), was famous for his mis-treatment of employees, and while he started out correctly, with the "open platform" (a la Google) he totally destroyed what was a decent platform and closed it off.

This resulted in a bunch of consumer electronics which, while having superficial appeal and nice form factors in fact limited what people could do to what Steve said they could do (with no possibility of recourse), and raised the cost of doing business for consumers and business alike.

Personally I'm very glad he's gone. And I hope we don't see another like him for a long long time.

I too was dismayed to learn that Steve Jobs hadn't established any sort of philanthropic entity during his lifetime. In fact, upon his return to Apple, he actually closed the one the company had created during his exile. Apparently the man was all business.

I'm still hoping to see a well-endowed cancer charity to emerge with his name on it, but given what I've read, I don't think it will happen.

Like Wright, it seems the man was completely self-centered.

I don't think he was self-centered, but rather work-centered. He was, like Wright, a perfectionist and anything less frustrated him. I'm sure he felt, also like Wright, that his work was itself a kind of philanthropy for the betterment of humankind. Just imagine if he'd lived to be 92.

Deke

Mobius: I think you are way too harsh.

Apple products are superior to PCs because of his control over the hardware and the software, not in spite of it.

Thomas Edison was also known not to be a warm and cuddly person, but he contributed much to the advancement of civilization as did Steve Jobs.

Although Howard Hughes established the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, his purpose in doing so was to avoid taxes; he had no interest in charity work. Perhaps this is a common affliction?

Steve Jobs was an admitted 'bad parent' - ignoring family and parental responsibilities for the sake of a 'higher good'. Very similar, in that sense, to Frank Lloyd Wright, himself. But, neither of them were even close to being alone in this affliction - it has affected a great number of parents throughout history.


David

In which of the usonians did Joseph Eichler live? Anyone know?

Eichler rented the Bazett House for a time. More info here:
http://www.eichlernetwork.com/article/b ... llsborough