[trezor]

Steve Jobs touched people lives in a way no other can, sometimes at a very personal level

Can we please stop the Steve Jobs and Apple suck-up here on HN please? This is getting as embarrassing to read as it is getting sickening.

I realize the Sanfran wannebe hipster-crowd here like their shiny iGadgets and want to reaffirm their own worth by appraising the company which they have attached their identity to, but this is getting a little bit out of hand and quite frankly, rather silly.

[greyish_water]

If you haven't already, would you mind reading about HN's approach to comments? http://ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html

[erikpukinskis]

I love computers. I am a Computer Nerd. I think computers are an important technology, not just a fun one.

You, and others here, who dislike the sentiment that something like the iPad could profoundly change someone's life, seem like you want to keep the magic of computation to yourselves. You denigrate design for humans as "marketing" and you demand to categorize the iPad as just another in a long line of Von Neumann machines.

It's not. And the Mission hipsters taking photos of their MacBooks with digital SLRs make me want to vomit. This is not about them.

It's about an old man who was cut off from computation--something I think is immensely valuable--and now has access to it.

Computation is important. Access to computation is important. You're right that talking about some new bullshit gadget as a religious miracle is embarrassing. I get that.

But you know what? Turing completeness is a miracle. Interactive computing is a religious miracle. The mouse is a religious miracle.

And this guy's dad being able to use a computer for the first time, after decades of being unable? Kind of a miracle in my book.

I'm sorry if that embarrasses you.

[sciurus]

"It's about an old man who was cut off from computation [snip] and now has access to it... And this guy's dad being able to use a computer for the first time, after decades of being unable"

You have to read a lot into the post to come up with that interpretation.

[yalimgerger]

Actually, this is the interpretation of the post.

[sciurus]

We don't know why the father refused to interact with a computer before. There's no evidence in the blog post that he was "unable". That he decided to use an iPad doesn't mean that Steve Jobs gave him the miracle of computation.

If the father had been nearsighted but refused to wear glasses for many years, then saw his brother wearing a new style of frames and decided to finally get some himself, would we idolize the frame designer in this way?

[yalimgerger]

Yes, Actually I would.

[yalimgerger]

Thank you for your input. This is what the article was all about.

[vectorpush]

Agreed. I would expect that a community like HN would be a little bit more impervious to marketing, but I guess that is just further testament to the legend of Steve Jobs.

[grammaton]

Thank you. But you won't get far here. The groupthink on HN is far too strong.

[trezor]

After posting this comment, I got a stern email from mister Paul Graham. You read that right. The cult of Apple is so strong here, that the site owner emails you when you talk against the brain-washed mantra: Apple is God.

Granted, I had a bit of tone as well, but still.

I'll take your advice and just leave it at that. That and refrain from commenting on any Apple-related threads in the future. There's obviously no point trying to bring the real world into HN Apple threads.