Lately the Tea Party has even been questioning the idea of big oligopolies, which create insufficient competition. Maybe some good can come out of the movement. Politics is not all black-or-white. (Although in my opinion, 90% of their agenda is problematic.)

That's shady. If they're doing that then they should be called on it and heavily fined and/or have their H1B visa rights revoked. That said, I'm not even sure I agree with the requirement that employers demonstrate a need. Given that it's the law, though, they should be held to it.

But the legal-trained people making or checking the laws know diddly shit about technology such that it's easy to wave them away with spin, bullshit, and FUD.

or somebody isolated from their family (across the globe) such that they work 14 hours a day.

It seems more likely that there are simply not enough highly skilled programmers willing to move to Seattle available in the US.

How do you know that?

MS doesn't want to spend money on retraining. They want instant gratification (ROI). But they lie about that desire when they do the "shortage dance" to Congress.

Microsoft: "But they are old farts. We want young hipsters without families that make fluffy angry birds, not Microsoft Bob."

Eeeewwwww

1. Don't make stupid software
2. Profit!

Beethoven would probably likewise bop me in the face if I visited him, but I'd still jump at the chance to meet him and see him work.

I didn't say the dying angle was the entire reason for Apple's success, just a notable part of it. Most of his (known) Apple brush-ups with legal issues appear to come after he knew he was dying.

Typo Waves

They filled up the Dark X meme, so now are switching to the Negative X meme to explain oddities. We'll get Negative Matter, Negative Energy, Negative Gravity, Negative Particles (prior art?), Negative Universes, and probably Negative Feedback.

-5
 

I don't even get where he would be considered "genius"

He had a "nose" for what consumers wanted. He sensed in the late 70's that the future was in GUI's even though they would be tricky to implement on the desktop hardware of the time.

He started the general translucent craze with the iMac, a look that spread to irons and electric toothbrushes. The "Daisy" iMac was a true piece of industrial art.

He was involved in early Pixar, which sparked the whole 3D animation revolution with Toy Story.

The iPod found a convenient UI where others had tried before with mixed results, and the iPhone which made everything go through a touchscreen and changed the look and feel of cell-phones forever. It may seem obvious now, but that's because Jobs had a nose for what "should be" obvious but wasn't yet around.

He was the Forrest Gump of consumer technology in that he always seemed to be involved in the formation of trends.

refusing to count female-on-male rape as "Rape"

What are the mechanics of that exactly? Unless they include oral, I don't see anything working as intended. An erection is probably evidence of consent, at least enough to inject doubt into the case (no pun intended). If Bush's mom, for instance, tried to get wanky up, it would do the opposite and become a 2nd belly button.

Isaacson did not paint a rosy picture of Jobs. Isaacson's indirect conclusion was that Jobs was a complex personality that a displayed wide range of traits and emotions.

As far as him allegedly firing employees because he didn't like the way they looked, perhaps Isaacson couldn't substantiate the rumor and that's why he didn't included it (IIRC). But, there are plenty of OTHER stories of him being a jerk, including parking in the handicap zone with a bogus/missing license plate. (A joker employee put up a sign in that spot saying, "Park Different".)

And his storied relationship with his daughter could be for a lot of reasons, not just money. Based on interviews with friends and family, speculation was given that Jobs felt abandoned by his genetic parents and this somehow left a deep psychological scar on him which he may have projected onto his daughter. Some suggest that this feeling of abandonment is partly what drove Jobs to "prove to the world" that he was worthy of "real parents".

He was not materially externally flashy most of the time (relative to his wealth), although he was interested in custom designing a big-ass yacht when he found out he was dying. He was quoted as saying he picked that big personal project partly to distract him from his pain and approaching death, if I remember correctly. He needed goals to keep his mind off stuff he didn't want to think about; another clue to his drive.

But yes, he was cheap at times. But being cheap is not "greedy" in the usual sense, except maybe as a symptom of greed. Some say it was a game with him to test the limits of what he could get a way with. Thus, it wasn't the money itself, but the pleasure of successfully manipulating using money. He did seem to get pleasure in toying with people, which his pranks with Woz fed in to.

From a personal level, yes, most would consider him a "big jerk". But genius is not measured in personal popularity.