[DanaC]

I think the man was a genius and will be much missed.

I also think he had a fucking big pole up his arse when it came to central control (as has been mentioned).

I think one of the biggest laughs I had last year (think was last year) was when Steve Jobs wrote an open letter (I think in response to an open letter from Adobe) citing as one of his reasons for not allowing Adobe Flash on the i-phone/pad/pod that adobe is too proprietary.

Itunes and apple products are awesome, if you don't mind your usage being predetermined. I love my iphone. My mum loves her i-pad. It's perfect for her. What she needs, and what Apple have provided, is 'appliance computing'. No bugs, no glitches, no conflicts no grinding. Perfect.

Not much use if you want to watch certain formats, perform certain tasks, share the media you've fucking well bought (seriously, DRM? Get fucked.) then you need a proper computer or non-apple tablet.

I'm a very recent convert to the joys of ipod and iphones. I held off for a long time in protest against the proprietary and nailed down nature of apple products. I detested the way new OS would come out for the mac, but without backwards compatibility. I detested the way some formats just wouldn't work. And, frankly, to be able to run the kinds of games I used to run, and play the way I played, I needed a pc. I have been a PC gal since the 90s and have no intention of changing: my main comp and my laptop are both windows machines.

Jobs was a visionary. And we should rihtly celebrate his contribution. But he certainly wasn't a saint.

Bill Gates is and always has been one of my heroes. He did for personal computers, what Steve Jobs did for consumable media platforms. Taken together they've fundamentally altered the world we live in.