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Comment by thefz | Hacker News Reader

Dennis Ritchie had a way larger impact than Jobs; yet he is not celebrated because he did not put an expensive toy in your hands, he had no visibility for the larger public.

Jobs has been a salesman more than an engineer. He did not need to understand tech, he just wanted to sell it.

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Dennis Ritchie created great things and if he hadn’t, someone else would have created these things. Differently but just as well.

Without Steve Jobs there would have been no iPhone and we would have settled for a Windows CE like phone. Just look at what Android was before the release of the iPhone. That would have been the major leap.

That’s the difference.

What! You can't say that if Ritchie hadn't creating things, someone else who have... and then proceed to make Jobs as an exception to that rule. There's 100x Jobs out there for every Ritchie. One could say something even better than the iPhone may have happened if Jobs was never born, and that he held us all back with his visions. Who really knows in this simulation.

Just like some people are hypnotized by the Steve Jobs reality distortion field, you are blinded by your dislike for Steve Jobs and it is impossible to calmly talk about the things he created. All that is left is a screaming match ‘my guy is better’ ‘no my guy’. That is useless.

Jobs' work is derivative from other great people's work.

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