Steve Jobs Crowned "Person of the Decade" 346
Posted
by
CmdrTaco
from the well-if-smartmoney-says-so dept.
from the well-if-smartmoney-says-so dept.
longacre writes "Apple CEO Steve Jobs won over 30% of the vote in an online poll published by personal finance and investing news site SmartMoney.com, enough to earn their 'Person of the Decade' title by a solid margin over luminaries such as Warren Buffett (17%), Ben Bernanke (13%) and Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page (12%). From the article: 'Certainly, Jobs accomplished more than probably any other CEO since he returned to Apple in the late 1990s: Not only did he revive sales at the failing computer company, he led the stock to a more than 700% increase in value, and forever changed the way people buy and listen to music.'"
Most ways are overrated or overstated. (Score:2, Interesting)
"...From the article, 'Certainly, Jobs accomplished more than probably any other CEO since he returned to Apple in the late 1990s:
So? What did he do in the LAST decade? Shouldn't that be what matters?
... and forever changed the way people buy and listen to music.
Really? I don't have an iPod. More Americans don't than do. What did he do exactly that change the way we listen to music? MP3 players were already coming into prominence. Perhaps he accelerated it, but he didn't change the way we do it.
Oh yea, he created the iTunes. Yup, he did indeed singlehandedly come up with a way to purchase music online, to put DRM into it, and was the first to do so. /end sarcasm.
If anything, he did convince many companies to forgo DRM, and for that, I do give him credit for. So in that way, he did change the way we listen to music.
I'd like to thank those gents (and ladies)... (Score:3, Interesting)
at the FreeBSD foundation and those among us that helped improve OS X's source via the OpenDarwin project. (And then Steve Jobs gets credit? Not in my book...)
Too dang bad Apple had to put it (the OpenDarwin project) down. As if over 90% of the kernel didn't come from the open source community...
Those guys/gals who did all that code and testing are the ones who really deserve to take a bow...
Oh, yeah, congrats Mr. Jobs.
Good job giving no credit to the grunts toiling for your profit margin...
Sorry to be a pessimist...
Just a thought, though...
--Stak
Re:Am I crazy... (Score:3, Interesting)
Did I miss the sarcasm tags? (Score:2, Interesting)
Gas was about $1.26 a gallon [doe.gov] when he took office and oil was under $20 per barrel.
So quadrupling the price to over $5.00 per gallon then getting it back 'back under $3 a gallon' is not much of an accomplishment. It started its trend upward in mid 2003.
The fact that G.W. stood up to the V.P. [truthout.org] and opposed the use of military force on U.S. soil surprised me and is something to remember Bush for.
Gas 'under $3'? We had that before he took office and well after 9/11.
If I missed your sarcasm tags, then I'm sorry
Re:Mohamed Atta or GW Bush (Score:2, Interesting)
Not if 7% said "No answer/don't know."
Eh, yeah (Score:3, Interesting)
I listen to mobile music from a walkman (Sony) to a minidisc(sony) to a CD(philips) that eventually could play MP3(Fraunhoffer) and then my first HD MP3 player (Creative) then expanding to OGG/FLAC capable players (iRiver) and finally settling on my current one (Cowon).
And I bought my music first on tape, then LP then CD then Mini-Disc and then got it via Usenet and then Napster and now via Torrents.
Where is Apples involvement? Now I would disguss further, but the RIAA wants a word with me.
Re:Mohamed Atta or GW Bush (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Big problem with online polls... (Score:3, Interesting)
Well, you're right, except it was Cheney.
Re:Exactly how did Bush sink the economy? (Score:3, Interesting)
He took the country into two wars while simultaneously lowering taxes.
Forgetting that one war was foisted on him, how does that actually break the economy. Are you saying that running a federal deficit is bad for the economy? Government spending is supposed to be stimulative, isn't it?
If the deficit is so terrible, and I agree that its bad, then, isn't Mr. Obama three times worse the President Bush was, just from the sheer weight of debt?
Re:Am I crazy... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Mohamed Atta or GW Bush (Score:3, Interesting)
Interesting pair of statements. In fact Americans already pay more per person for healthcare than any other country in the world. Your present system is the most expensive way of providing healthcare. The so called "socialized", universal, single payer system is far cheaper for people.
So why has America continued to have the system for so long? And why do you erroneously think the current system is the inexpensive way? Because your opinions have also been formed by "special interest, lobyists, and other bogus groups" paid for by the people who profit out of the current system.
That would be China - a country that has a "socialized", universal, single payer healthcare system. If such a system is so disastrous, how exactly are they going to "own" you?
Re:Yes, you are a bit nuts (Score:2, Interesting)
If you were a geek in the early 2000's you surely would have owned or coveted a personal mp3 player.
Right, if you were a geek. And the player was probably terrible, held 15 songs, was painful to use, etc. And all the non-geeks thought you were silly for using it instead of getting a CD player like a normal person.
The music industry hated MP3 players pre-itunes
The music industry still hates MP3 players. They've just learned that MP3 players are here to stay, so they may as well make the most of it. Lucky for us, someone had enough sway and negotiating skills to get the major labels to sign on to iTunes.
Re:Big problem with online polls... (Score:3, Interesting)
A president can have just as much effect by inaction as he can with Action. In the end, the buck stopped with Bush, whether he took action or decided not to. One of the biggest complaints about Reagan was his inaction during the A.I.D.S. breakout. It was essentially ignored by him. His inaction had a huge impact on thousands of American lives.
Inaction can have as much consequence as action.