sevenfeet

Last week I went to a security conference at Vanderbilt University, focused on the threat from China.  Speakers included the top leadership from the NSA, CIA, DEA and FBI Director Christopher Wray, among many others. And many of the speakers were asked about TikTok. It didn't matter who it was or whether they were liberal or conservative, or if they worked in the Biden, Trump or Obama administrations. ALL OF THEM said that Tiktok had to go because of national security and specifically the spying on Americans they already knew was going on by the CCP.

I got a chance to meet Frank back in the late 80s when both of us had begun our careers at Apple. I didn't stay but he was definitely a survivor. I hope he enjoys retirement.

toddzrx said:

godofbiscuitssf said:

emoeller said:

That’s President Al Gore you’re speaking of and he deserved to be on the BoD.

Please enlighten us as to his contribution?

"An Inconvenient Truth" is considered a seminal work on climate change and bringing attention to it the general public.  Apple changed the industry to consider "performance/watt" instead of just raw performance.  Apple has been pushing green initiatives and recycling in a higher profile way than any other large tech company and probably any other corporation period.  It pervades their entire image.  

An Inconvenient Truth is a pile of pseudoscience. It was debunked the moment it was released.  Please, get your information from reliable sources. Al Gore isn’t one.

toddzrx said:

godofbiscuitssf said:

emoeller said:

That’s President Al Gore you’re speaking of and he deserved to be on the BoD.

Please enlighten us as to his contribution?

"An Inconvenient Truth" is considered a seminal work on climate change and bringing attention to it the general public.  Apple changed the industry to consider "performance/watt" instead of just raw performance.  Apple has been pushing green initiatives and recycling in a higher profile way than any other large tech company and probably any other corporation period.  It pervades their entire image.  

An Inconvenient Truth is a pile of pseudoscience. It was debunked the moment it was released.  Please, get your information from reliable sources. Al Gore isn’t one.

My wife has a PhD in what you call "pseudoscience". Thousands of researchers around the world who do this kind of work in the field, labs and classrooms would like a word with you. Science doesn't conform to politics....it just is. Ignore it at your...and all of our peril.

Stabitha_Christie said:

sevenfeet said:

Stabitha_Christie said:

entropys said:

I miss the days when people weren’t so tribal.  

Seriously. 

Indeed.  I know everyone likes their partisan camps these days and thinks anyone not in their camp isn't worth the time of day, but let's look back at 2003 when Al Gore joined Apple's board and what the company was like back then.

Gore was a few years out of the vice-presidency after the close loss of the 2000 presidential election. Previously he had been a two term senator from the state of Tennessee, a seat his father Al Gore Sr. had originally held.  Former presidents and vice presidents usually have a world of opportunity in front of them, being corporate boards, foundations or other pet projects close to them. And he took advantage of a few of them but one stuck out: Apple Computer.

In 2003, Apple had recently been on the brink of bankruptcy in 1997, having lost $1.05 billion and according to history reports, was about 90 days away from filing bankruptcy. During that time the board of directors literally put all their chips on the table and spent $400 million very precious remaining dollars to buy NeXTStep to finally get a modern OS in house and to maybe bring founder Steve Jobs back into the fold. That move (and an investment from Microsoft spearheaded by Jobs) energized long suffering Apple fans with 1998 having less revenue ($5.94B vs 7B) but turned a profit at $309M. By the time Gore joined them, the iMac would be introduced (1998), Mac OS X would debit (2001) and an odd little personal devices called the iPod would hit the market in time for Christmas 2001. And Apple had made a huge gamble by opening their own retail stores. So in 2003, Apple was doing a little better with $6.21B in sales with $69M in earnings, slightly up from the previous year.

Two decades of board decisions later, Apple reported at the end of Q4 2023.....checks notes, $89.5 billion in revenue JUST FOR THE QUARTER. Total revenue for the year was $383 billion with revenue of $97B. Shareholders received $25 billion of that in dividend payments.  Market cap is about $3 TRILLION. Easily the most stunning turnaround in the history of business. And Steve Jobs and Tim Cook get much of that credit.

But there are a number of people who contributed to the current state of Apple. And one of them is Al Gore and the Apple Board of Directors for the last 20+ years. Think of all of the board level decisions that had to be made on what major projects were going to be funded (iPod, iPhone, Macs, Watch, wearables and of course, Apple Silicon). But why else is Al Gore there? Former US and world leaders create instant gravitas in a room wherever they go and whomever they speak to. Gore knew the working of government and the law intimately and could help in any decision that involved not only the US government, but especially foreign powers since Apple had already made the decision to move production from Fremont, CA to China. Gore has been all over the world and every world leader knows him, even from his time as a Senator. Having a seasoned and respected political leader in the room can sometimes make the difference as to where you build a factory, open new markets, deal with antitrust issues and any number of decisions.

Regardless of whether your politics dictate if you would have ever voted for him, you have to tip your cap to the success of him being on this board for so long and through so many things, many we saw in the press and a lot more than weren't.

Not sure why that was in response to me. I have stated early in the comments that the knee jerk response to hearing Al Gore's name was ridiculous. I was agreeing with Entropys because said knee jerk reaction seemed to be based on partisanship rather than some rational look of the person's life. 

It was a part of the continuing conversation. It wasn't meant as a rebuttle.

Stabitha_Christie said:

entropys said:

I miss the days when people weren’t so tribal.  

Seriously. 

Indeed.  I know everyone likes their partisan camps these days and thinks anyone not in their camp isn't worth the time of day, but let's look back at 2003 when Al Gore joined Apple's board and what the company was like back then.

Gore was a few years out of the vice-presidency after the close loss of the 2000 presidential election. Previously he had been a two term senator from the state of Tennessee, a seat his father Al Gore Sr. had originally held.  Former presidents and vice presidents usually have a world of opportunity in front of them, being corporate boards, foundations or other pet projects close to them. And he took advantage of a few of them but one stuck out: Apple Computer.

In 2003, Apple had recently been on the brink of bankruptcy in 1997, having lost $1.05 billion and according to history reports, was about 90 days away from filing bankruptcy. During that time the board of directors literally put all their chips on the table and spent $400 million very precious remaining dollars to buy NeXTStep to finally get a modern OS in house and to maybe bring founder Steve Jobs back into the fold. That move (and an investment from Microsoft spearheaded by Jobs) energized long suffering Apple fans with 1998 having less revenue ($5.94B vs 7B) but turned a profit at $309M. By the time Gore joined them, the iMac would be introduced (1998), Mac OS X would debit (2001) and an odd little personal devices called the iPod would hit the market in time for Christmas 2001. And Apple had made a huge gamble by opening their own retail stores. So in 2003, Apple was doing a little better with $6.21B in sales with $69M in earnings, slightly up from the previous year.

Two decades of board decisions later, Apple reported at the end of Q4 2023.....checks notes, $89.5 billion in revenue JUST FOR THE QUARTER. Total revenue for the year was $383 billion with revenue of $97B. Shareholders received $25 billion of that in dividend payments.  Market cap is about $3 TRILLION. Easily the most stunning turnaround in the history of business. And Steve Jobs and Tim Cook get much of that credit.

But there are a number of people who contributed to the current state of Apple. And one of them is Al Gore and the Apple Board of Directors for the last 20+ years. Think of all of the board level decisions that had to be made on what major projects were going to be funded (iPod, iPhone, Macs, Watch, wearables and of course, Apple Silicon). But why else is Al Gore there? Former US and world leaders create instant gravitas in a room wherever they go and whomever they speak to. Gore knew the working of government and the law intimately and could help in any decision that involved not only the US government, but especially foreign powers since Apple had already made the decision to move production from Fremont, CA to China. Gore has been all over the world and every world leader knows him, even from his time as a Senator. Having a seasoned and respected political leader in the room can sometimes make the difference as to where you build a factory, open new markets, deal with antitrust issues and any number of decisions.

Regardless of whether your politics dictate if you would have ever voted for him, you have to tip your cap to the success of him being on this board for so long and through so many things, many we saw in the press and a lot more than weren't.