Naw, come on. You're not a cultist. You are a bit wide eyed in that you are always looking for heroes but that is not a bad quality and certainly beats being an across the board cynic. Your enthusiasm is part of your charm <s> It's why I was kidding you about how the PR letter from the Brewer's actually made you feel loyal. Believe me, there are times I have wished stuff like that could still get to me. But that time was very long ago.

I am just a cranky old man who has seen behind the curtain too many times to be the target demographic for PR spin (except of course when I'm not and then I don't notice it because I'm drinking the kool aid <s>)

I shake my head in wonder at the real cultists - be they religious fundamentalists, political zealots, or mad fans of the Kardashians and Beibers and the John Edwards and the whatevers. There is something in humans that wants to belong by giving themselves over. We all do it. Most of the time it is harmless fun - sports fans a good example. Sometimes it is disturbing but I hope harmless - Rick H is an example. ( and I think to this day I may be the only person on the UT to have been charged with blasphemy in a non-Foxpro related context <g>)

But there is a whole subspecies that not only is immune to true-believerism but instead of just shaking their head in wonder figures out how to cash in on it. Sometimes they start as believers and as they lose their faith they figure out that they can rise to the top on the faith of others. They become the L Ron Hubbards, the Grand Kleagles, the guy selling the The Rapture on TV. The Billy Sundays. The Al Sharptons. The Jim Joneses. They scare the hell out of me.

Jobs seemed to me like a very nasty person who was lucky enough to hook up with a genuine geek - the Woz - and smart enough to make something of it. Good for him. As a businessman I think he was a credit to his shareholders. I would not have wanted to be in the same room with him. Anyone who is rude to a waiter is an asshole in my book, let alone someone who takes pleasure in humiliating subordinates of any kind or is cruel to lovers. I won't work with them and I certainly won't work for them. Never have, never will. And no matter how "successful" they are, I certainly won't admire them.

The Apple fan boy stuff is harmless and I really am joking about it, though I have no interest in Apple stuff just because I find it overpriced and it puts restrictions on my choices.

I do find some of the fanboy zealotry to be kind of scarey because they seem to want something from technology that isn't there and it reminds me too much of True Believerism - hence the mental connection I can't shake to Scientology.

It is a fungible energy and historically a very dangerous one. There are predators who look for that and figure out how to channel it. It is the reason I said once I would probably like Barack Obama - the real one - and Jack Kennedy - I just didn't like the myth-making that was about need not about them and was created by those who knew better.

Brett Maverick's ol' pappy used to say : "You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time ... and those are pretty good odds."

Rambling - time to go outside now ...


>Hmmm. Now I am a cultist, wide eyed, and easily manipulated. I thought I just admired a remarkably successful businessman.
>
>Somehow I don't think we are ever going to agree on this topic. Which I can live with even though you are another person I admire greatly.
>
>>I wasn't comparing Jobs to Riefenstahl - I was just struck by how much she would have enjoyed documenting the Apple self-adorathons.
>>
>>Jobs was what he was. I don't doubt he did a lot for Apple but he is not my idea of a successful human being. I don't particularly like ego-maniacal cult leaders because they bring out the worst in the wide-eyed. I don't like being reminded how easy it is for the charismatic to manipulate those who thrive on giving up their will to the vision of others.
>>
>>
>>>However you feel now, you cannot deny him that. He was the master showman of his time.
>>>
>>>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftf4riVJyqw
>>>
>>>The comparison to Leni Riefenstahl is not a fair one. Jobs was a businessman.
>>>
>>>>This is stated perfectly. (I did own an Apple II in the late 70s early 80s)
>>>>
>>>>(I will refrain from elaborating on how seeing Jobs in front of an audience of Believers looked like something Leni Riefenstahl would have loved and was enough to put me off the cult <g> At any moment I expected Tom Cruise to come bouncing out of the wings to laud the "tech". <s>)
>>>>
>>>>>As a developer I can not support the closed ecosystem that is iOS.
>>>>>
>>>>>As a developer:
>>>>>1. You need Apple's blessing to publish an application. There is no other way to get an app out there unless master Apple gives it their blessing.
>>>>>2. You can't compete with Apple's native applications. If you have a fantastic new mail application tough sh#t, it won't be published.
>>>>>3. If Apple decides to make the features of your app part of a native application you're getting the boot and tough sh#t
>>>>>
>>>>>As a consumer:
>>>>>1. You can not choose a new default application to handle various actions. Don't want Apple maps? Tough sh#t, when you click a map link that's what you're getting. Don't want built-in mail? Tough crap.
>>>>>2. You have no choice but to use that bloated, awful iTunes application.
>>>>>3. You can't view the entire file system on your iOS device (you can with Android)
>>>>>4. You want an iPhone in phablet size? Tough. You want a water-proof smart phone? Tough. You can have this year's model or last year's model.
>>>>>5. You get to overpay for that Apple logo; hope you like it.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>The iOS app store is bad for developers and ultimately bad for consumers. Choice ultimately trumps; witness Android eating iOS's lunch.
>>>>>
>>>>>I have never owned an Apple device and my house remains gloriously iOS free.

ftf4riVJyqw