How could it be a deliberate process when people don't have a reason for disagreeing with what I've said, they simply don't like it? How much of my time do I need to keep wasting trying to explain to people why they're wrong? The OP believes something that is simply not true but it's a common misconception on HN. Just because SJ stood on Bell Labs shoulders in this instance, doesn't mean that he wouldn't have found someone else's shoulders to stand on, if Bell Labs hadn't existed. One of the things that Steve was good at was finding other technology on which to build.