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Comment by mathisfun123

12 hours ago

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What a crappy thing to say to someone speaking honestly and passionately . I don’t worship the guy but I sure as hell consider myself lucky to have watched the iPhone announcement live on a webstream. It’s inarguably one of the most important products in human history. It changed all of our lives whether you own one or not.

You can argue that someone else would have got there eventually, but Apple did it first and it amazed everyone who used it. And if it didn’t amaze you, I think you’re bitter and cynical. I’m not the person you responded to, but Apple nerds can throw insults too.

I think it would have taken many years for other companies to get to the 1.0 version of the iPhone and they would have done it worse. Steve’s incredible demand for “just works” when it came to stuff like that wrangled employees to do what was considered impossible at the time.

I was on the team that delivered the first iPad and you wouldn’t believe how excited we were for the announcement as other companies introduced tablets that weren’t anywhere near as good during the months leading up to it. It was a magical thing to be a part of and I think the hardware and software engineers responsible for the first iPhone genuinely accomplished the impossible.

Steve Jobs was one the only people who could have steered a company to do what Apple did during his second time there. He resuscitated a dying company and made it the cool brand for young people and a veritable juggernaut. I can’t do that. I doubt you could either.

  • > one of the most important products in human history

    the pill (birth control) and the washing machine were the two single most significant products of the 20th century due to their role in liberating women. i can think of others (the light bulb, the car, the television). do you really believe the iphone compares (in terms of historical significance) to these products?

    > And if it didn’t amaze you, I think you’re bitter and cynical.

    it didn't amaze me because consumer electronics don't amaze me. sorry.

    > I was on the team that delivered the first iPad and you wouldn’t believe how excited we were for the announcement as other companies introduced tablets that weren’t anywhere near as good during the months leading up to it.

    being proud of your work is fine. assuming it is of historical importance is arrogant. sorry again.

You know many words can be used colloquially and not literally? Language is contextual and ever evolving.

I’d also be hesitant to call people out for sloppy language when you can’t be bothered to even capitalize stuff.

  • > language when you can’t be bothered to even capitalize stuff

    language and orthography are two very different things (language preceded orthography by hundreds of thousands of years).

    • You must be a hoot at parties. Getting to pick and choose what you and everyone else around you should care about and how they define terms to fit exactly what’s important to just you.

      Orthography may be independent of language, but shockingly in society, it’s part of written language.

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