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by 13rules
5000 days ago
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Alas, many journalists will never know this and write about it, because they don't spend time learning C and UNIX (whereas they do spend time using learning and Apple products that are built with C and UNIX). It's not because journalists don't spend their time learning C and UNIX — it's that they (and their readers) don't care. It's like saying that Mark Zuckerburg shouldn't get so much credit for Facebook because without Rasmus Lerdorf (creator of PHP) it would have been impossible for him to build the site. The number of people that care about Steve Jobs/iPhones/iPods/Facebook = a lot. The number of people that care about Dennis Ritchie/C/UNIX/Rasmus Lerdorf = a much smaller number. Being a genius pioneer in an industry oftentimes does not bring notoriety with it. Bringing a product/service to others not in that industry oftentimes does. |
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There was a time when no one cared about Apple computers.
It's one thing to not care about something that you are not (made) aware of. It's another thing to not care about something that is common knowledge.
If Apple was not using UNIX and C, if Steve Jobs had not pushed them to drop OS9, I might not be thinking of Bell Labs when I look at Apple. But essentially by using New Jersey's work, in my opinion, Steve Jobs was admitting "We can't do any better." He borrowed someone else's work of simplicity.
I guess a lot of developers want to believe the public will never ever know how to build things, simple things, using the same substrate as Jobs. That's fine. Personally, I'm not so sure. At this point the public is still not even aware the possibility exists. We don't necessarily know what they'll do once they know. Would anyone have dreamed Apple would displace Microsoft as the most popular computer brand? Would anyone have dreamed companies would embrace "open source"? The future is unpredictable.