At WWDC, Think WWJD: 'What Would Jobs Do?'

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- When entrepreneur and former Apple(AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs was alive, people, at least publicly, could not say enough nice things about him.

Seems to me that few had the guts to challenge the man's many personal and professional flaws when he was alive.

Of course, before the county even mailed out the official death certificate to Jobs's wife, the media pounced on the sizzling details from Walter Isaacson's excellent biography. They called Jobs a "jerk." Some even referred to him as an "a**hole."

We all knew Jobs was a "jerk" when he was alive, but we were too busy enjoying all of the great ways he changed our lives to say anything about it. Once the guy dies, all bets are off -- we turn on him faster than the media shifted gears on Facebook(FB) .

All of a sudden, it's Tim Cook's company. AAPL permabulls tell those of us who refuse to forget about Jobs that we overstate his role in Apple's success.

Gone, Disrespected and Already Forgotten

In one of the most glaring examples of urination on a man's grave, Gene Marks of Forbes not only had the nerve to compare himself to Steve Jobs, but he did it while the body was still warm, just five days posthumous. Marks opened his piece with the flip line: In case you haven't heard, Steve Jobs passed away. He continued:

I am not creative or brilliant. I work hard. But I like my vacations, my time watching my kids play sports, the odd nap on a Sunday afternoon too. I don't think I'm anywhere near as hard a worker as Jobs was. And I'm not a jerk like Jobs was. Which is the biggest reason why I'm just a moderately successful business guy, and not a super billionaire ...
I'll never be as brilliant as Steve Jobs. But if I were to exercise a little more control over how our products are used (in other words: be a jerk more often) I may be a tad more successful.

What a pathetically simplistic analysis.