Sure, Apple popularized many disrupting technologies like GUI (curtesy XEROX PARC), Laser-printer+Postscript (curtesy Adobe/XEROX). They also pioneered desktop computing, smartphones etc. building on technology made by Intel, IBM, etc.
But where are the "countless new technologies that exist because of the products that Apple invented"? I don't follow that argument. I think it's rather the other way around: the great products that Apple invented exist, because of the countless new technologies that already existed.
Apple and Jobs stood on the soulders of giants. And one of these giants was Dennis Ritchie. Stating that fact does not diminish Apple.
I am not the GP so I can't know for sure what he meant, but nobody is denying that Apple stood on the shoulders of giants. The argument is that people have also stood on the work Apple has done.
Apple created great products thanks to the countless technologies that existed. Likewise, other companies have created great products thanks to the countless technologies that exist, including those created by Apple. To claim that Apple has had 0 influence on the industry is just silly.
Sure, I don't claim they have zero influence. I just agree with the original post on google+ that non-technical people tend to overestimate Apples influence on core technology because they lack technical understanding...
Isn't that the biggest sign at the amount of influence Apple has had? Technology is important, but without practical applications, it's useless. I could have a revolutionary nuclear reactor inside my laptop capable of powering a small country, but if I can't do anything with it, there's no point to all that tech. Apple has heavily influenced how technology is used, which in turn, has influenced how the core technology itself evolves.
But where are the "countless new technologies that exist because of the products that Apple invented"? I don't follow that argument. I think it's rather the other way around: the great products that Apple invented exist, because of the countless new technologies that already existed.
Apple and Jobs stood on the soulders of giants. And one of these giants was Dennis Ritchie. Stating that fact does not diminish Apple.