from Hacker News

Resigned

by A-K on 8/25/11, 12:20 AM with 87 comments

• by ryandvm on 8/25/11, 2:13 AM

  I, apparently in agreement with Apple's investors today, have a little trouble with the notion that Steve Jobs stepping down will have no effect on Apple's success.

  I'm afraid the Apple faithful are playing a little fast and loose with logic on this one. Let me see if we have this straight...

  1) Steve Jobs was absolutely and almost singularly responsible for Apple's meteoric rise over the last 14 years. His vision, his taste, his standards, his business acumen, all of it - has driven Apple past competitor after competitor to become the most valuable company in the world. [By the way, I agree.]

  2) Steve Jobs is also completely unnecessary for Apple's continued success. [Hmmmm]

  I think I can agree with Gruber's wisdom in choosing to prognosticate no further than a month. What made Apple remarkable is going away today. From here on out Apple will be as likely as the next company to blunder in the marketplace by playing it safe. You will not see Tim Cook do anything half as insane/brilliant as Jobs was capable of.

• by Estragon on 8/25/11, 1:37 AM

  What an irritating post, basically saying nothing but, "Hey, look, I saw this coming!"

• by pooriaazimi on 8/25/11, 12:35 AM

  Jobs’s greatest creation isn’t any Apple product. It is Apple itself.

  True.

• by Tichy on 8/25/11, 9:27 AM

  I have to say, I am more concerned about Steve Jobs than about Apple. Today's news made me sad because the world will miss contributions from a genius.

  I am confident that we will have nice computing hardware in the future. Even today, Apple are not the only ones to deliver.

  But there is/was only one Steve Jobs.

  Guess I am one of the few on HN who doesn't own Apple stock, so I am free to just worry about the man and not the company.

• by A-K on 8/25/11, 12:32 AM

  Gruber at his best. I get the feeling that he's had large pieces of this particular post in the works for quite some time.

• by st3fan on 8/25/11, 12:59 AM

  The thing to keep in mind is this: Apple tomorrow, a week from now, and next month is the exact same Apple from yesterday, a week ago, and last month.

  Don't know about that. Apple, like all hi-tech companies, is constantly changing, adapting, finding new ways, dealing with change, innovation, etc.

• by MikeCapone on 8/25/11, 2:21 AM

  I thought that the Slaughterhouse-Five reference at the end was appropriate. Stuff happens, we need to deal with it as best as we can and keep looking ahead. That's what Steve always does.

• by aculver on 8/25/11, 12:46 AM

  One of the first tweets I read in the minutes after this news broke was "@gruber Well? Help us process this, John." I'm glad he didn't waste any time.

• by tonetheman on 8/25/11, 1:06 AM

  How exactly is a company a fractal design? What the hell does that mean really?

  Seriously how does this apple-ass-clown constantly make it to the front page?

  Apple is not a person it is a company. Steve might be full of humility, Apple is not.

• by Zakharov on 8/25/11, 1:10 PM

  After reading that I had to stop and remind myself that Jobs isn't dead yet; the article read like an obituary.

• by sigzero on 8/25/11, 12:17 PM

  It wasn't a surprise to anyone. Everyone knew it would happen eventually. He is still remaining the Chairman of the Board, so he will be around for a bit in that role. I see nothing changing for the immediate future but we will see.

• by rockmeamedee on 8/25/11, 8:31 AM

  I think he summed it very well with Vonnegut at the end.

  So it goes.

• by joppa_road on 8/25/11, 1:21 AM

  i just can't get the words of dennis hopper from apocalypse now out of my head: when he dies, it dies, man.