Long live all the Innovators of the World

Sadly, I didn't hear about Steve Jobs death until the 6 0'clock news today.
What a loss. It can rarely be said that this man has not shaped our lives even if you own a PC or an Apple. Considering his lifelong impact due to his numerous innovations and his style in the computing world, I very much doubt that the past or present lines of Hobies could have been built without the Mouse that this man invented and helped develop.
Rest in Tech heaven, Mr Apple.

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I too was sad to hear of Steve Jobs passing. There is no question Steve Jobs, and his partner Steve Wozniak, have a track record for being brilliant forward thinkers. They are certainly due credit for many things. The mouse, however, isn't one of them. It was invented by Dr. Douglas Englbart, a man to which the world of computing owes much.

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Hi Intents
Glad you caught that one.
Xerox has a lot more to do with the invention of the modern computer system other than the photocopier. Too bad they were too ignorant to know what their own people like Dr. Douglas Engelbart were working on.
Jobs and Wozniak asked to look over the Xerox research facility and were given full permission by the Execs....The rest is history.
Seems the reporter on Global TV missed that one altogether.
Good catch on a red herring, m8

Fred

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Fred, You are absolutely right. Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) was ground zero for the invention of much of what we all take for granted today. I was fortunate enough to have my technology engineering career begin in the late 60's and had an opportunity to witness some of it first hand. Xerox PARC was right next to the Stanford Research Institute - on Stanford's property I believe. Dr. Engelbart was a part of SRI working with the Xerox folks.

If Steve and Steve hadn't toured the facility those fateful days, and recognized what the saw in front of them, Apple may have disappeared as a footnote in history. Regardless of the details of just to what extent Apple was "inspired" by Xerox, Steve Jobs can rest knowing he did change the world.

PS - Isn't it ironic that Microsoft was "inspired" by what they saw Apple doing but got sued for it!

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Intents
I hear yah. Didn't realize you were that connected with the 'old days'. I guess in retrospect my role in those days seems minor, when the Corp I worked for demanded that I turn old school prepress tech into desktop publishing. It took many non-paid weekends when I would much rather have been sailing.
There were other aspects of what is now considered as a given that Jobs saw at Xerox, including a very basic version of the Ethernet. (I learned a lot of this history from a PBS documentary I watched 8 years ago). It was really an eye opener how much it took to get the fully working GUI running as the de facto standard today for the Graphics and CADCAM biz, as I played Dungeon & Dragons on DOS while wrestling with a Baby Mac at work.
The punch line on that PBS doc was when Jobs met John Sculley of Pepsico he asked him while trying to recruit him:
"Would you rather sell sugar water or take a chance to change the World?"
I would think that could be an appropriate engraving on Steve Jobs' Grave stone.

Thanks for sharing, Intents
Trinomite

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Though I own several Mac products guys, with the greatest of respect could I ask you talk about Steve's demise elsewhere. This is a Hobie site and subject matter here should be relevant to what the site is intended....Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

I know how to turn this into a Hobie thread!!
I put it to you that we have our very own version of Steve Jobs in Hobie Alter. Admittedly the watersport universe is a bit smaller than that of I.T., but:

The fibreglass surfboard was surfing's equivalent of the Apple II.
The Hobie 14 was sailing's equivalent of the Macintosh.
The AI wasn't invented by him, but it was developed by the company he founded and was arguably to sailing what the iPhone was to personal communications.
The TI has a similar relationship to the AI that the iPad has to the iPhone - same concept, but bigger, with wider appeal.
In the same vein, the Mirage drive is an innovation every bit as brilliant as the iPhone. Of course, we have Greg Ketterman to thank for the Mirage drive, but I don't think the Apple products were all Steve's personal inventions either.

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Yah, I hear you.
Jobs died of Pancreatic Cancer.
My intent of this post was to respect the Innovators that have changed our lives within their own lives. Sadly, some of the most incredible inventors of any age died well before they should have.
That will also be intended for anyone such as many Naval Architects, Concept Designers, Mech Engineers, or even the Investors that have gambled their hard earned dollars to believe in the ideas that we take as common place today.

I believe chrisj got it on the bullet.

Regards
Fred

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Pirate
You're right, too many off topics.
So may I ask, what do you talk about when it's the middle of winter??
How to turn your AI/TI into a Iceboat?
How to convince a person to buy proper clothing when the Mercury hits the freezing point?
What do you do, Pirate, when your nuts get smaller than sunflower seeds at Xmas time?
Stay warm Dude

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I am not sure if you are trying to be funny or nasty with this statement which is a little strange with your initial considerate reply directly above it. I am not trying to be nasty either but was asking in a most polite manner to keep the topics relevant to the Hobie site or people lose interest in the forum which is most undesirable.
By the way I am from Australia and it never freezes here and Christmas is hot. But you could check that as I have listed my location....Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Hey Pirate
Not being nasty in any form, sorry if it sounded that way.
This is the dreary time of the year where it rains, it's cold and always damp.
I guess, I need to get to Arizona to warm my chilly bones.
Be well, I'm not that familiar with Australia I know the North part is tropical and the south not so much. Pardon my ignorance
Fred

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No worries Fred. I was in Vancouver late May and it was raining then so I don't like your chances of sunshine now. Southern Australia never gets really cold with say 50 degrees being a really low day in Winter and mostly 80, 90s in Summer which we are fast approaching. Today here was about 65 to 70 degrees here with periods of warm sunshine. We can and do use our Hobies all year round though the local group here usually give the motorbikes a bit of a hammering over the winter with only the odd excursion onto the water. Talking a bit about using our Hobies in our areas of the world excites me and one of the reasons I am pushing to have people list their locations in their profiles. Keep warm...Pirate

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Master of the galleon 'Pirates Lot'

Hey Pirate
I guess I spent too many years working, dreaming about long term travel including of course Down Under. That is changing, as now time is on my side to travel.
I'm actually seriously thinking of buying a TI in Arizona and keeping it there with my 32 foot 5th wheel. Far easier to fly there than to do the 2400 mile grind on the highways from Canada and back again.
Yah, I get excited too about these boats. I could buy a much larger boat, but then the ability to move from place to place can only work on the open Sea.
In truth, I left behind my dreams of sailing around the world long ago.
Part of my reason of active participation in this Forum is to meet like minded people as friends and to promote these boats to make them available as rentals in Resorts around the World.
Best Regards, Pirate
Fred

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(Should have added that into the last post)
I certainly hope Hobie Marketing reads these posts as the rental biz in well know resort areas is a given market as more and more boats are sold by the Corp to private owners, who would rather not have to tow their boats long distances (or impossible destinations) on their holidays.

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Always looking for ways to make good things 'Gooder'