by Is Apple’s Original Boy Genius, Steve Jobs, dying? He looked purely awful and wan and bony during yesterday’s WWDC conference as he presented the new, and rather bland, iPhone 2.0.
Steve Jobs has a history of ill health — in 2003 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and kept that fact a secret from the public and shareholders for nine months — and yesterday’s vision of him, and the lack of anything really interesting being announced from Apple, makes one wonder if everything is alright in the Apple core.
Jobs left Apple once and the company did not do well:
He was also the force behind the Macintosh, another of Apple’s
groundbreaking personal computers, only to be ousted from the company
in an in-house power struggle in 1985.But Jobs returned to Apple in late 1996, and began the process that restored the company to profitability.
I was disappointed yesterday in what was not announced:
- No video iChat for iPhone 2.0
- No new MacBook
- No new MacBook Air
- No new MacBook Pro
- No Beatles on iTunes
- No new anything else but an updated iPhone
- However, there was, A Brand New hassle introduced in buying an iPhone 2.0: Instead of having the pleasure of activating your iPhone at home, you now have to go to an AT&T or Apple Store and stand in line. BIG UGH!
Sure, WWDC is a show for developers, but the world doesn’t care about the who of an Apple get together – we only care about the what of the spin when new products send us around.
Yesterday, we got not twirl.
I am a recent convert to Mac from a life of Windows misery, and I became such a FanBoi that I recently wrote two books about Leopard and Mac Office — but I do not want to be abandoned as a common user in the second, eventual, permanent, demise of Steve Jobs.
Yes, we’re all dying a little bit each day — but some find their end in horrifying leaps and not in steady footsteps — and I want to make sure the love of Apple is strong enough to be requited in the final leaving of Steve Jobs from the company in situ.
Is there an established and public second in line at Apple?
Who is the anointed Prince or Princess waiting to take over the Apple Throne from King Steve?
Death warned over on low. Wonder if everyone sell stock or not. I’m Windows so doesn’t matter much to me.
Move over to a Mac, Karvain! You’ll feel so much better. Yes, Steve doesn’t look well to me but I certainly hope he is okay and feeling good.
Mac is slick – no questions asked.
So is Steve Jobs – thisimage makes me feel sad…he certainly doesn’t look good…
Mac is great, Katha! Do you have one? I was really hoping for a slightly tweaked MacBook Air but it was not to be.
The images of him are sad. I checked images of him a year ago and his body was thin, but his face was a little fuller. He looked happier. Yesterday’s images seem so forlorn.
Hi David,
I used a Mac in USA but it was not mine. The experience was just heavenly.
An image is such a powerful speaker, he does look a little less enthusiastic – seems he has lost hope.
I’m so glad you were able to experience a Mac, Katha. Most of the people I have known and loved over the years were diehard Mac folks — I was just too Windows entrenched to make a change. Now I’m so glad I made the move to Apple!
Yes… that’s it… he looks forlorn a bit… as if something inevitable is just beyond his horizon…
Hi David,
I didn’t like Mac in the first shot – it’s an acquired taste I guess!
I was a Windows freak for long…I still use Windows.
But Mac is of a different plane – it’s just sublime!
That’s a fine way of saying it, Katha. Mac does take a moment to learn and then once you master it, you have the whole thing in your heart and hand.
Hi David!
Steve does look like he is wearing himself out. hope it’s nothing serious.
i love the macbook. it’s faster than any windows box i’ve ever used and has crashed only once since i first powered it up. it’s a completely different computing experience.
Hi Dananjay!
The Apple PR corps said something yesterday about Steve not feeling well. I found that a little strange because it seems you’d announce that in some way before you had to deal with the “Steve is dying!” rumor mill taking over the web.
I agree Macs are much more friendly than those ugly and awful Windows boxes. I run Windows on my Mac and it is super fast and fun to use. What a notion!
David,
i’m planning to give dualboot a try. might just experiment with ubuntu a while before i do that though. what do you do on windows that you can’t do on osx?
Dananjay!
You can’t write the Bootcamp “Windows Chapter” for your book on Mac Leopard unless you actually install Windows on your Mac box. Harr!
Seriously… I don’t really use Windows at all on my Mac… there are some digital cameras and video cams that have good bundled software that only works on Windows… but I find the Mac defaults work just fine.
I really can’t think of a good reason to run Windows on a Mac except if you have some legacy software you want to use, or if you want to see how a website looks and performs for your Windows clients and readers.
David!
Whoops! I have my windows pc for all that then.
I have my ThinkPad T43P still around here for emergencies. I can’t think of a reason to ever really fire it up except for the fact that it runs XP. I wouldn’t have bothered to “Bootcamp” my Mac with Windows unless I had to in order to write the book chapter.
I am forever grateful for the opportunity you gave me to learn the Mac so intimately – I’m not sure if I would have gotten a Mac at all had the opportunity not been there. I am still amused when I think of the woman that worked for Apple who said that she would want me to come to their offices and show them what I knew after going over the book word by word. 🙂
From what I understand, the whole brick and mortar thing is a strategy to undermine people who want to hack into iphones and then use them on their own mobile phone networks. I’m sure people will find a way around it – maybe even outright theft.
Gordon —
What woman at Apple wanted you to do what? You lost me…
Yes, I get the want for the “in store” harassment — but AT&T already said they will penalize you if you don’t activate your phone in 30 days. Why the double punishment? Let me buy my phone online and if I don’t activate it, then punish me… or make me come in and buy it but then don’t push the 30 day window.
I called Apple to make sure that I was getting Leopard sooner and not later – and the woman wondered, why the rush? I said that I was involved in a project related to helping people learn Leopard and I was going to go over the guide with a fine tooth comb. She said she wished she would know Leopard that well so she could have the answers for people with questions! I didn’t mean to be so vague! 🙂
I think the double punishment comes from a want to avoid scammers – how much easier is it to tell them “I didn’t get a phone!” if you buy it online.
Ha! Love that story, Gordon! So much fun!
I agree the double punishment punishes us for the bad behavior of others. Daft!
As a technician for a high school, i can say macs are OKAY, if anything, dealing with the hoards of retarded teachers with their compatability problems makes me think – if we all used the same technology, life would be so much easier. If apple made their technology a bit more user friendly in a world full of microsoft products, i might consider switching. But for now, i’m a windows boy. sorry guys!
You make an excellent point, jonny. It’s too bad that Macs and Windows machines don’t get along better and it does seem to be either one camp or the other when it comes to campus computing. I guess schools do that to try to minimize incompatibility and communication issues.