RIP Steve Jobs (not really, great news!)

[Theo]

A great American!

Not dead yet, but almost.....



SEATTLE (AP) - Apple Inc. co-founder and Chief Executive Steve Jobs said Wednesday he is taking a medical leave of absence until the end of June—just a week after the cancer survivor tried to assure investors and employees his recent weight loss was simply caused by a treatable hormone deficiency.
Jobs, 53, said in a letter last week that he would remain at Apple's helm despite the hormone deficiency, and said he had already begun the "relatively simple and straightforward" treatment for the problem. But in an e-mail to employees Wednesday, Jobs backtracked.

"During the past week I have learned that my health-related issues are more complex than I originally thought," he wrote.

Apple's chief operating officer, Tim Cook, will take over Jobs' responsibilities while he is on leave.

After-hours trading on Apple shares was halted. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company's stock had sank $2.38, or 2.7 percent, to close at $85.33.

Jobs announced in 2004 that he had undergone successful surgery to treat a very rare form of pancreatic cancer—an islet cell neuroendocrine tumor. The cancer is easily cured if diagnosed early. Jobs did not have a deadlier and more common form of pancreatic cancer called adenocarcinoma.


I used to be one of those Mac people. My first three computers were Macs.
I'm not like that anymore. When I decided to get my new laptop, I had fucked around with my mom's new Macbook to try it out, and it was cool, but I liked the Lenovo I purchased more.

But he's had a big impact on all of us. Pretty amazing guy. A great American hero.

May he rest in peace.

Okay, he's not dead yet. But pretty much....

Same goes out to Patrick Swayze. Every girl seems to be in love with him in Dirty Dancing.

The vultures are circling on both of them now. But they had good runs.

When you think about it, Steve Jobs has been one of the most influencial people of the last 50 years.

And an awful lot of girls masturbated to Patrick Swayze.

[iamnicola]

He isn't dead yet, you ass.

[Theo]

He isn't dead yet

Not yet, no.

I always found it cool how Steve Jobs always wears the same thing. He has a closet full of one top and one bottom. That sure makes life easier.

[iamnicola]

Not yet, no.

I always found it cool how Steve Jobs always wears the same thing. He has a closet full of one top and one bottom. That sure makes life easier.
You're an idiot.

[Theo]

You're an idiot.

OMGZ!!!!! You are FIERCE!

[iamnicola]

OMGZ!!!!! You are FIERCE!
Damn right.

[Chico]

That's messed up Theo! You had me checking the news sites!

[iamnicola]

That's messed up Theo! You had me checking the news sites!
You should know how good ol' FranticFlinstone operates.

[Theo]

Damn right.

It really bugged me when I opened up the NY Times Book Review this Sunday and there was an ad for some....I think it was a detective novel. And it had all these quotes praising it. And one of the quotes said it was "fierce"! It made me ill. Because I thought of you. You have ruined that word for me.

[iamnicola]

It really bugged me when I opened up the NY Times Book Review this Sunday and there was an ad for some....I think it was a detective novel. And it had all these quotes praising it. And one of the quotes said it was "fierce"! I made me ill. Because I thought of you. You have ruined that word for me.
*blows kiss* Awwww.... that's sweet. You actually thought of me... I am flattered.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/Jittery915/Other/lolgifs/2gt57w7.gif

[Chico]

*blows kiss* Awwww.... that's sweet. You actually thought of me... I am flattered.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v478/Jittery915/Other/lolgifs/2gt57w7.gif


Cmon guys, you know deep down you really care for each other.

[iamnicola]

Cmon guys, you know deep down you really care for each other.
No, not really.

[Chico]

No, not really.



One of these days, we will all get a beer together and laugh our asses off.

[iamnicola]

One of these days, we will all get a beer together and laugh our asses off.
No, that's okay.

[Theo]

Some Palestinkians say they will murder Madonna. That would be funny!!!!

[Chico]

Some Palestinkians say they will murder Madonna. That would be funny!!!!

Not for her kids.

[Theo]

Not for her kids.

But it would be pretty funny if some Palestinkian sawed off Madonna's head, no?

[iamnicola]

Chico,

Ignore him. Seriously.

[Theo]

The New York Times:


What If Steve Jobs Doesn’t Come Back to Work?
By Saul Hansell
We don’t know what’s wrong with Steven P. Jobs, Apple’s chief executive. But it’s got to be serious. You don’t take a six-month leave of absence, as he is, just because you’ve got a stomachache.

So that raises the question, for investors and customers, about whether Apple’s amazing record of innovation and financial success are at risk while Mr. Jobs is on leave — and even more so if he never returns.

The answers in each of those two scenarios are very different.

In the short run, Apple is on a roll. It refreshed its notebook line last fall with a new technology. The iPhone has a lot of momentum, and we can assume work is well under way for a third hardware version and a stream of software updates.

There are several gaps in its product line. In the face of a serious recession, will the company compete harder to sell computers that cost less than $1,000? (Yes, there is a $600 Mac Mini, but it’s certainly not been a priority.) And can Apple develop the Apple TV product to have a stronger play in the living room?

But it’s not clear that Mr. Jobs had any interest in taking action on any of these questions. And putting them off may not derail Apple, even if it misses out on some potential sales.

Also, here is a key line from the e-mail Mr. Jobs sent to Apple employees: “As CEO, I plan to remain involved in major strategic decisions while I am out.” So, assuming his health allows, Mr. Jobs will still keep his hand on the tiller.

But the risk to Apple is far higher if we imagine the grim possibility that Steve Jobs is unable to return to work. I’m not saying that because there is any shortage of good people at Apple. The company’s top management ranks are filled with some very skilled executives, including Tim Cook, the company’s chief operating officer, who will step in for Mr. Jobs while he is on leave.

But the essence of Steve Jobs — the obsessive visionary who involves himself in the smallest details of Apple’s products and advertising — has fostered what is in effect a corporate operating system that will need to be completely upgraded whenever a successor is named.

After all, however talented the executives at Apple, one skill they all need is an understanding of how to work with, and when appropriate, defer to, the whims of Steve Jobs.

It’s almost impossible to imagine the next chief executive of Apple having the same sort of autocratic and impulsive personality. That’s not the style of the people who work there. (There’s only one queen in the hive.) And what outsider coming into the top job of a company doing as well as Apple would have the guts to be so strong-willed and independent?

Of course, Apple’s board should hardly look for a Steve Jobs clone if it needs to fill his chair. Executed with less than unnatural perfection, anyone trying to emulate the Jobs style risks being a bullying buffoon. I even wonder if some of the obsessions and paranoias that are part of Mr. Jobs’s worldview always work to Apple’s benefit.

Steve Jobs can be replaced, even if he can’t be duplicated. There are lots of ways to run successful and innovative companies. And Apple couldn’t be in better shape, financially or in its public image, to withstand a change.

But the inevitable process of reworking the entire corporate operating system, changing the culture of how decisions get made and how executives relate to each other, entails enough risk that investors and customers are right to wonder whether Apple after Steve Jobs may lose its way.

[Not Right in the Head]

http://image30.webshots.com/30/2/84/97/259828497eOfJcs_ph.jpg

[Buzzetta]

He lives - and with a new liver to boot!!!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124546193182433491.html