[kutkloon7]

You have some very sensible remarks.

I attribute the fact that many people praise and almost worship him to capitalism. There are many elements that I somehow link with capitalism as well: Forcing people to overwork, harshly firing people for minor flaws, taking credit for things you didn't do, ridiculous overpricing, 'being creative' with paperwork, using factories with bad conditions for workers, etc. Of course these things are in no way exclusive to capitalistic countries.

Of course I am exaggerating and I don't know him. I have read his biography, some internet articles, and watched some documentaries, and this is the general picture I got. He seems to be a very charming guy when he needs you (e.g. you are his superior, or a skilled co-worker like Woz), but shits on you when he's your boss (e.g. fires you in the elevator).

I think that the reason I get so upset whenever somebody praises Jobs, is because I often see this type of persons getting a lot of success at the expense of people with a 'weaker' personality (like myself). I like Steve Wozniak a lot better and think that his personality shines through his actions. Wozniak was a teacher, financed a big festival, and tried to connect with Russia. This is in a sharp contract with Jobs and I can't stand people when they praise Jobs but don't know the guy who single-handedly built the first Apple computer.

[simonh]

No question Woz was a nicer guy, and he was cheated by Jobs, but without Jobs there's no way he'd be a millionaire today. Steve Jobs is one of the reasons we need employment laws and such though.

> There are many elements that I somehow link with capitalism as well:

I will absolutely accept that many alternatives to capitalism claim explicitly to solve these problems, but it seems like a very solidly demonstrated fact that none of the ones that have yet been tried actually do, and many of them exacerbated these and other problems by orders of magnitude.

Capitalism is about empowering individuals by granting them ownership rights and not reserving that right exclusively for the state, the Party, the sovereign or a religious authority, but anybody. To me Capitalism is about individual rights, it's just that some of those individuals form companies worth Billions of dollars employing hundreds of thousands of people and some don't.