Comment by JKCalhoun
5 years ago
Interesting deep dive on switching power supplies. I didn't see the need to frame it by attacking Apple.
5 years ago
Interesting deep dive on switching power supplies. I didn't see the need to frame it by attacking Apple.
At the time, "Apple invented the switching power supply" was a notion going around in bad tech/sci reporting circles, so it deserved dismantling along with the power supplies.
> I didn't see the need to frame it by attacking Apple.
Other posters have already pointed out that this article seeks to clarify the history around Steve Jobs' (not entirely accurate) claims.
I want to focus on the fact that people find a need to protect Apple.
Apple is a 2T+ market cap corporation. It is not a friend, it is not a family member, and it is certainly not beyond reproach. It doesn't care about you -- it just wants you to spend more money on its products and services.
Don't feel bad for Apple when people call it out for bad behavior or historical inaccuracies. People should do this.
While there are people that work at Apple that legitimately care about making good products, in the macro the predominant factor is still money. It drives the whole enterprise. The very shape of Apple's solutions and good will are fit by an optimization function to obtain money.
Brand, supply chain, innovation, fierce competition, fostering loyalty, building a moat. These are the things Apple does. It's a machine that makes money selling products.
You might like Tim Cook, Steve Jobs, or many of the other product people and engineers there. That's fine. But don't form a fond bond with the company. And also realize the motivations of the leadership. They're humans -- they can do good, but they can also make mistakes and tell lies to serve their own needs.
If Apple makes products you like and enjoy, buy them, appreciate them, and leave it at that. Don't let Apple create a sense of nostalgia, closeness, or loyalty. This is artificial. The company doesn't care about you at all. It can't.
>"I want to focus on the fact that people find a need to protect Apple."
I do not think they're trying to protect Apple. They are protecting their choice. Same as people "protecting" Python, Rust etc.
The motivation for the article was to investigate Steve Jobs' claim, so it would be strange to remove that.
I do wish your blog articles had the published date at the top.
It's my subtle protest against the HN belief that people need to be warned against articles from previous years. That said, it's a bit alarming to realize I wrote the article 9 years ago.
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The article is debunking this claim by Steve Jobs:
"That switching power supply was as revolutionary as the Apple II logic board was," Jobs later said. "Rod doesn't get a lot of credit for this in the history books but he should. Every computer now uses switching power supplies, and they all rip off Rod Holt's design."’
Which like the GUI was ripped off from someone else: The GUI was stolen from Xerox, and the switching power supplies were ripped of from an oscilloscope company, Hewlett-Packard. Didn't Woz work for them. Hmmmm...
> The GUI was stolen from Xerox
Stolen...right. Xerox invited Apple's engineers to tour PARC and then Apple gave them millions of dollars of shares which Xerox later sold for a hefty profit. IIRC they made more off the Apple stock sale then sales of the Alto and Star.
The GUI wasn’t stolen. It was licensed. That it was stolen is completely false.
And on switching power — did any other computer company think to use it? Apple did. And borrowing that tech did revolutionize computer power supplies.
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It's only right to clear up a falsehood promoted by Steve Jobs himself. He's not above scrutiny.
Fake it till you make it.
Well, he’s dead and I’m still here. I don’t think he made it.
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Oh you're absolutely correct about that. Jobs in particular needs to be scrutinized.
But if that was the point of the article a few paragraphs under the section "History of switching power supplies to 1977" already accomplished that.
The article reads like it was written by a power supply enthusiast (who knew?), and the author did a good job of drawing me into the history, technology. It would have still been an interesting read without the "bookends".
A couple of good examples of (much) earlier switching supplies from Ken's site:
1) 1960s-era tech used in the Apollo Guidance Computer: https://www.righto.com/2019/08/reliable-after-50-years-apoll...
2) Mercury thyratons used in 1930s-era Teletype hardware: https://www.righto.com/2018/09/glowing-mercury-thyratrons-in...
Might be some other candidates as well, but those are a couple of the more interesting ones he's gone over.
Journalism doesn't become any less interesting by making connections to the greater outside world, especially when it's timely/contextually relevant.
the first sentence of the article:
> The new biography Steve Jobs
it was a response to the new biography.
Pushing false or unsubstantiated information is the attack. Investigating it and presenting facts and counter points is defense.
Totally agree, that aspect made me roll my eyes. Very unnecessary even if it provides a skeleton for the narrative.