I often wonder this even about current figures. How their ideas/opinions are praised (voted for), however simple and non-revolutionary they are. From recent history I remember Linus Torvalds writing (on google plus!) about resolutions on laptops and that they should be higher. What's interesting about that? Nothing. Pretty obvious idea that everyone thought off (unfortunately we don't control the market, manufacturers do). But because Linus said it it was on literally every tech site.