Though his language feels tongue-in-cheek, Gladwell’s broader point is about the fact that we’re idolizing businessmen for their money-making aptitude, whereas their long-term legacy will actually depend on the broader impact they had on the world.

Well, that’s exactly the point. Jobs’s impact goes far beyond the amount of money he made. That Gladwell can’t see that is a little odd.

It’s certainly true that Gates will be remembered for contributions other than his business acumen and frumpy sweaters. His impact on the third world is significant and, for whatever reason, Jobs eschewed personal philanthropy. But you don’t have to be a philanthropist to have a legacy. Gladwell seems to want Jobs to have been something he wasn’t, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be remembered for his own contributions.

Certainly he’ll be long remembered on Internet message boards of firing fetishists. No one could doubt that.

Macworld