Yesterday, a very rich man died. Today we seem to be bombarded with testimonials of the Apple founder. Many of the left seem to be painting him as the progressive business man of the century.
There is no question he was a great business man. If you had a great idea, he'd steal it, patent it, manufacture it with slave labor and send an army of lawyers after you, if you offended his company.
He did all of this with an artistic marketing message against conformity. He sold anarchy in box complete with a built in licensing agreement.
Maybe you're reading this on a sleek device Mr Jobs sold you. If you are happy with your product, that's great. But please don't believe that smug message of individuality built into your cleverly molded plastic.
Something is seriously wrong, when the products we're sold come complete with personal philosophies. Especially when those philosophies aren't held by the companies selling the products.
I'm no fan of Microsoft, but they are no better or worse than Apple. Both companies rose to power with a complete disregard for ethics. Both were ruthless. Both used market influence to prevent competitive market behavior.
Don't make heroes of these people.