The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the richest (2016)

Re:The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the ri... by TheOtherHobbes on Thursday January 10, 2019 @08:34AM (#18873673)

Jobs grew up in San Francisco. His father supported an interest in electronics, and he got an in at HP by being mentored by a neighbour who worked there.

He joined the HP Explorer's Club and got to see world-leading new products ahead of release at a time when HP were creating incredibly impressive calculators and personal computers.

He also attended lectures on the HP campus - which wasn't just educational, but also contributed to his relatively fearless approach to networking.

The family may not have been rich, but it's just plain wrong to say he had no connections and no advantages.

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Re:The richest families in Florence in 1427 are still the ri... by skookumchuck on Thursday January 10, 2019 @10:26AM (#18874472)

Anybody in that area at the time could have done it. And SV was hardly the only place where adults worked on electronics. HP wasn't the only computer company. DEC was in Massachusetts, for example. Texas Instruments was in, well, Texas. Tektronix was in Oregon. Universities all had electronics schools. Radio Shack and HeathKit made electronics learning kits for kids. Los Angeles had a thriving microcomputer industry at the time.

The notion that Jobs was in some unique position is not correct.

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