Re: Steven P. Jobs 1955-2011: Here's to the crazy one who inspired us all...

[Gerold Rupprecht]

Hello,

Despite the bluntness, I welcome the opening of the conversation.

I live here in Switzerland. When NeXT computers was shut down by Steve
Jobs, he left the staff "jobless" without paying their salaries. The
abandoned employees siezed the equipment in order to receive some form
of compensation. Other persons were unceremoniously dumped...

The way NeXT Switzerland was closed down was in my opinion, a disgrace.
I never heard of any compensation being offered or paid to any of the
persons I knew there. If any one has information to add I would be
interested to hear it. 

My investments in software for NeXT computers was a write-off. It was
this bitter experience that led me to become a supporter of the FSF and
particularly the GNUstep project, sponsoring, aiding and assisting at
numerous events, in particular FOSDEM and Alpenstep.

My children appreciate their iPod, iTouch and iPhone (paid with their
pocket money). Technically they are wonderful devices and I thank the
team of dedicated persons that brought them into being. 

Like Richard, I believe the lock-in and lack of freedom is impoverishing
our society. Great wisdom, design, art and culture needs to be shared
otherwise these memes are lost to future society. On this measure Steve
Jobs, despite the technical brilliance falls short.

I am glad that Steve despite his failings, and what I saw as almost
psychopathic behavior was able to go on after NeXT to create other
successful businesses and found a family.

I hope we all can continue to contribute to GNUstep. I believe it it
also a way for us to leave behind a positive legacy to Steve Jobs, his
team, family and friends. This is far better than to donate my
NeXTstations to a museum that will no longer be used by anyone.

Thanks,

Gerold Rupprecht


This may have been 
On Sun, 2011-10-09 at 15:52 +0200, Ivan Vučica wrote:
> On Sat, Oct 8, 2011 at 22:45, Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
>            I don't think Richard's statement is completely ignorant or
>         wrong; I just
>            feel it's stated in a completely inappropriate way.
>         
>         
>         I don't see anything wrong with it, but if you have an idea
>         for how to
>         do it better, please go ahead.
> 
> 
> First, if I were in your highly esteemed and respected position as a
> leader of FSF, with an essentially correct message, I would write a
> message a month later.
> 
> 
> I would directly reflect upon Jobs' positive contributions, as well as
> bad ones.
> 
> 
> I would reflect upon the positive contributions: Apple's contributions
> to GCC, contributions to LLVM and Clang, expansion of LGPLed KHTML
> into WebKit.
> 
> 
> I would then reflect upon the negative sides, and ask the readers not
> to forget the good nor the bad contributions he made to the industry.
> That way, your message would be heard, would not elicit negative
> reactions, while scoring points by pointing out to people that locked
> down systems are bad. 
> 
> 
> The message could include the negative view of Android, which, despite
> claiming openness, does not result in devices easily unlockable in a
> manufacturer supported way.
> 
> 
> The message could also include the positive view of Maemo/MeeGo, and
> perhaps include a disappointment in Nokia CEO's abandonment of what
> seems to me the most free mobile device system currently on the market
> that could actually get end users to use it. (It does have binary
> blobs, but for the most part, it's free. More so than Android.)
> 
> 
> That's what I would write. Not exactly an application of De mortuis
> nil nisi bonum, but close enough. 
> -- 
> Ivan Vučica - ivan@vucica.net 
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-- 
Gerold Rupprecht <geroldr@bluewin.ch>
10, rue Louis-Curval
CH-1206 Genève, Suisse
Mobile: +41 (0) 79 914 29 52
PGP Key ID DFA0A4D4 I prefer encrypted mail.

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