http://berlinfang.blog.163.com/blog/static/11667071620111016115044102/
I am a PC as well as a Mac user. I use many of Apple’s inventions:
MacBook, iPod, iPhone, iPad, and iTunes. These are good products. I once
wore an Apple T-shirt to a 7/11 store and the storekeeper said he is an
Apple user too. “Oh, these products are so good that only thunder can
cause a crash.” Yet when Steve Jobs passed away, the cult he had
developed is leading one to wonder the real legacy he has left if we
leave design and functionality temporarily aside.
Jobs was named
one of the greatest innovators of our time by President Obama. Many
consider him to be a greater technologist than Bill Gates. It is not
always a good idea to draw parallels between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs,
but since much of their territories overlap, it is difficult not to see
one in terms of the other.
Jobs seemed to be the cool guy, more
popular among younger generations of technology users. Think for a
moment: what has his coolness and popularity amount to for us as users?
Bill Gates, with his Microsoft products, left us more productive and
efficient with writing (Word), speaking (PowerPoint) and number
crunching (Excel). With these tools we can produce something useful.
Jobs tapped into our inner urge to have fun by luring us into the
wonderland of instant gratification where the boundaries of work and
entertainment collapse in our palms. Yes it is our fault for wanting to
multitask or multislack, and yes there are productive uses of many apps
that promise to enrich us in all facets of life. However, each facet can
be fragmentized and diluted, as the temptation is high to move on from
one thing to another with the ease his products provide. We all know
that at times we have to move beyond the illusion that work is play, to
draw lines around different spheres of our lives for some necessary
boundaries.
Gates is by far a greater visionary who succeeds in
diving into our potential needs, while Jobs taps into our wants. Jobs
leads in his innovation by following where the crowd wants to go. For a
time, Jobs refused to enter the field of e-reading because he believed
people would not read much in text format, until Kindle emerged, after
which truckloads of books were shipped to Apple factories for scanning,
not necessarily due to a conversion to the belief in literacy, but
because there is a big pie out there someone else is eating.
Jobs was a good marketer, but not necessarily a great innovator. Malcolm
Gladwell wrote in a recent issue of the New Yorker that Jobs’ genius is
in tweaking someone else’s products, including Word into Pages, and
PowerPoint into Keynote, and Excel into Numbers, though he could get
rather nasty when someone else is trying to do the same, such as
creating an Android phone using the same touchscreen concept he thinks
only he can claim.
As the names of his products seem to
suggest, the man was wrapped around himself into a small package,
vehemently defending his own little “i” world of business, epitomized by
the Apple headquarter that he built before his death. His “i” world is
also too closed for the greater good. I can understand the need for
copyright protection not to share iTunes libraries, but as an
inconvenienced user, I really cannot see the wisdom or good will in the
petty fight to keep an innocent Flash out of his products.
Jobs
was a capitalist who didn’t spend more time with philanthropy, which
happens to be Gates’ passion. One could argue that this is just a
personal choice no one should point a finger at. However, like salt of
the world, wealth gives taste only when it is spread out and it will not
do much good when it is piled together. There is a saying in Chinese
that one of the greatest tragedies in life is that you die before you
get a chance to spend all your money. Samuel Johnson also says that “ it
is better to live rich than to die rich. ” Both become footnote to
Steve Jobs’ life.
Popular as he is, I do not see Jobs as ever
having the kind of impact that Gates is having (and will continue to
have through his foundation) by making most of his wealth available to
cure malaria, polio, or better lavatories in the developing world. Is
this just a flash-in-the-pan urge of a capitalist to use his money in
order to feel good? Without some deep-seated belief, no sentiments will
drive one to give up 95% of his wealth to build a foundation for the
greater good. I trust that Gates and his wife truly believe “everyone
deserves the chance to live a healthy, productive life.”
As the
Jobs fever continues, allow me to challenge today’s youths to model
Gates, not Jobs, so that the world will not be littered with Jobs
wannabes who cannot innovate and will not care. As an entrepreneur, Jobs
may be doing his job, but Gates opens gates for many. If life is
measured by impact, then Gates is by far a much greater hero of our
times.
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