But that would not fit Steve Jobs – he would always want something constructive to do (to achieve).

Jobs was an utter tyrant; I wouldnt work for him. But he’s made our lives immeasurably better. I will therefore cut him a great deal of slack as to his turtleneck fetish.

He liked his work.

My understanding is that this is fairly common among “computer people”. I’m one and cannot for the life of me understand the idea of retirement (for me, the living dead). I can’t even conceive of not doing what I’m doing now. I know I’m not unique in this regard.

He was a brilliant marketeer who managed to get the maximum return out of his very cool and stylish devices. But was he such a great innovator?

Most of what Apple produces is selling people stuff that already exists, but in supercool boxes, and at much inflated prices. The brand sell almost on a Cult basis.

The iPod is what really turned the company around, but that was no in house invention of Apple’s but a rip off of an earlier patent that had lapsed. The iPod was invented by a Brit in the 70s…

http://www.daniweb.com/hardware-and-software/apple/apple-hardware-and-devices/news/219601

But the poor sod had managed to invent the motor car before someone invented petrol, in that the maximum memory chip available to him was three minutes worth or so. Bloody expensive single eh?

I also find the Apple org kinda Fascist. You have to pay them for every damn thing, whether you use them or not, and they are becoming increasingly liable to sue rivals over infringing their so called patents just to knock out the competition with injunctions and other legal threats.

I hope the new Amazon Kindle colour takes them down a peg or two.

That said, Jobs worked 150% for his vision and his company, and 56 in no age to die. He raised the bar that others must jump in order to stay in business. Can’t say fairer than that.

Surely even someone as savvy as V.P would understand that money is neither the beginning nor the end. What matters most is what we do in the time we are allowed on this planet … and Jobs changed all our lives in the short time he was here. We should concentrate on what he achieved here, not on what his personal gain was.

Oh, Bill Gates is a pretty flawed man too. He would do almost anything to beat the competition. Steve Jobs on the other hand was more interested in making the best possible products, so I prefer Steve on that score too.

Oh, I am sure it is genuine. Bill genuinely wants to make the world a better place through his charitable giving. As to how useful it is, I don’t really know. Third world aid by management consultant is almost certainly better than third world aid by government, but I am still not sure how far above noise it actually is. (On the other hand, the Blair government was such a big client of McKinsey & Co that the cynic in me wonders how different the two things actually are). The truth is that Bill did far more good for the third world through what he did at Microsoft than anything he has and will do subsequently. And I think that Steve Jobs did far more good at Apple than Bill Gates ever did at Microsoft.

And, in truth, I think that Jeff Bezos’ clear intentions to use his money to put a man on Mars will ultimately do more good than Gates’ altruism, also.

Sure, Bill has been doing some pretty targetted charitable spending on getting as much charitable bang-for-the-buck as possible, but I’m not sure how genuine that is.

It has been suggested (as the song goes) that Bill Gates is “buying a stairway to heaven”, but I think it’s more likely that he’s trying to buy himself a Nobel prize.

Steve Jobs was a very flawed personality, but by far the better man.

I think that Steve Jobs probably was underpaid, but that was only because he chose to be. The Apple board would have paid him a lot more if he had wanted them to, but he asked them not to. I don’t seriously think he was underappreciated though, given the reaction to his death this morning.

Not all of it has been directly attributable to Steve Jobs, but a good portion of it has.

Through this he has become a low level billionaire with a net worth of around $5.5 Billion US.

I’m sorry, but I see that as fully justified. In actual fact, Mr. Jobs was probably underpaid and undervalued, however he made it quite clear that it was Apple which was his lifes work and his outstanding achievement not the money he earned doing this.

As a libertarian, free market capitalist, I have no problem with any of this.