He won't be groomed for Bob's position. He'll be tasked with a new hardware product line. My guess is that he's there to take his experience and education to new products:
Quote:
Lynch studied interactive computer graphics at the University of Illinois, working with artists and engineers in the Electronic Visualization Laboratory. While he was in school, the first Macintosh was introduced, and Lynch began at his first startup as vice president of product development. He developed and shipped some of the first Macintosh applications, including a graphical adventure game in 1984, a 3D graphics package in 1985, and a desktop publishing application in 1987, which introduced user interface elements in common use today.
There is a whole lot of hardware and consumer end product experience in his background. He'll work with the Television and future collaboration projects that Apple has received patents on.
I presume you're being sarcastic? Just where is the hardware experience in his background?
Can someone explain why this guy would be a good replacement for Mansfield? Mansfield is a hardware guy. What does this guy know about silicon, silicon, semiconductors, SOCs, wireless, etc.?
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
A software guy cannot be a hardware guy's clear replacement.
I'm with these guys.
I'm joining your party.
It is possible that Mansfield is working on a new product that requires software development beyond what Mac OS and iOS offer. Rather than just taking talent from currently well-stretched teams, he needed/wanted his own software leader to help him. So it's not about grooming Lynch to replace Mansfield, but rather about hiring some help for Mansfield.
Can someone explain why this guy would be a good replacement for Mansfield? Mansfield is a hardware guy. What does this guy know about silicon, silicon, semiconductors, SOCs, wireless, etc.?
Exactly. Mansfield's background is hardware, Lynch's software. Mansfield retired because he hated working with Forstall. Lynch is not Mansfield's replacement.
Could it be that Cook, while being a great CEO, does not quite have a knack for recruitment and resource management? He has backed the disastrous Browett recruitment with a vengeance, the position is still vacant and temporarily filled by an accountant named Bean (), we do not know yet, if Ives can really stand in for Forstall (who, IMHO, was right not to apologize for Maps, was Apple's best presenter after Jobs, and did a hell of a Job managing iOS) and gave more duties to Eddy Cue, who might be a great negotiator with media companies, but has failed to deliver any barely respectable online service so far, one that can just compete with start-ups... and they had to throw serious money (deservedly, no doubt, but still) at Bob Mansfield to even stay as there was obviously no suitable replacement.
In addition, compared to Cook himself, his replacement in Operations has been an unmitigated disaster in managing the supply chain thus far.
And speaking of graphics... well you shouldn't get me started is a fair warning to ya. Because while Adobe is seen by the media and even the graphic design/printing industry as being the "industry leader", they (Adobe) have caused more real pain and suffering over the last 5-7 years than they have added to our professions.
PS. The following link (if anyone cares) takes you to Adobe's Illustrator Forum, where designers... many of them Mac users... are questioning why Illustrator not only doesn't work, but why no matter how much computer power, RAM, disk space you throw at it, it's slower to perform simple tasks that were split second responses over 15 YEARS AGO with discontinued software, as well as recent competitor software. Observation 169 + 170
I began swapping my company's vector design software over to Coreldraw a few years back, beginning with X3. While it had some relatively minor compatibility and color issues it offered faster loading and rendering, lower overhead requirements, much better text handling, smoother gradients and a much easier learning curve for newbies ("kids" get replaced around here more often than I'd prefer. STAY IN SCHOOL). Each successive upgrade has given us even fewer reasons to lean on Illustrator for bread-n-butter work. With last years X6 even the traditionally better color rendering of Illustrator became a moot point.
We still have CS5 and still put it to use daily, but most often for Photoshop work, which oft-times then gets imported and combined with Corel files without issue. Illustrator may only get launched a couple dozen times a month anymore. It's a bloated pig IMO, no longer a pleasure to work with. Adobe hasn't impressed me for a few years now.
Adobe is good at cranking out new versions, of existing products, with 'brutal efficiency'. Apple's recent software efforts have been lagging, in my opinion, so bringing in a guy with software experience makes some sense. Apple REALLY needs to get it's act together in Cloud services. This has never been one of the company's strengths dating all the way back to the AppleLink debacle. iCloud is really not much more than sync technology with very little application functionality. The future of software is the Cloud and having successfully helped Adobe transition many of it's applications to the Cloud I am sure Apple is looking for him to help them do the same. That's my take...
Really? Then why is it that it took them ages to get PPC versions of their software for the Mac - even though the Mac accounted for the majority of their sales at the time? Why did it take them ages to get Intel versions of their Mac software? And why is it that most of their recent versions have been criticized as offering no real advantages over the previous versions?
It is possible that Mansfield is working on a new product that requires software development beyond what Mac OS and iOS offer. Rather than just taking talent from currently well-stretched teams, he needed/wanted his own software leader to help him. So it's not about grooming Lynch to replace Mansfield, but rather about hiring some help for Mansfield.
According to allthingsd: "At Apple, he’ll have a much less senior position, but potentially an important one, where he’ll be tasked with coordinating the company’s hardware and software teams."
Not exactly sure what that means since we have SVPs for software and hardware plus Ive now being involved in Software. Kind of odd.
Gruber and Dalrymple might not always get things right but when they question whether this was a good hire then it gives me pause. Hopefully it's not another Papermaster situation.
Yeah, that was on par with his decision to introduce the iMac, the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod, OSX, iOS, get rid of Flash, (I could go on).......
/s
I know you're just tweaking, but I was making that comment in the context of Ive being given control of Software UI (and wondering if that was the right thing for Cook to do). From the little that we know, my guess is he and Steve didn't always see eye to eye on software design. But under Steve, Ive knew his place which was hardware. Cook doesn't have those boundaries.
There's a hiring trend here that is beginning to bother me. At the risk of creating flame-bait, I rather liked what seemed (from the outside) to be Steve Jobs's ruthless nature when it came to matters like this.
Jobs had a technical and philosophical objection to Flash. That alone rules Lynch out.
Same goes for Cook's/Apple's recent announcement that they've rehired Trattner, the man (or one of them) behind the insanely horrid Genius ads that ran during the Olympics.
Going back a few months, Cook's tapping of Browett never would have happened, IMHO. One look at his resume and Jobs would have passed over him.
I miss Jobs's "Off with his head!" modus operandi. While it produced mistakes, looking back it more often than not appeared to be erring on the right side of things.
As a stock holder this is really the first thing Cook has done that makes me question how long I should keep my investment. This guy seems like an ass clown. The Maps apology was a mistake (they never should have. it certainly didn't have the intended effect of softening the media coverage did it?) But this guy brings nothing. His track record at adobe is proof of that. If he replaces Mansfield, Im selling.
And silly comments like these are why Apple shouldn't care about its stock price. It should just be doing what it needs to do and not what stupid stockholders think is best for the company when they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to running a company, especially one like Apple. Ignore shareholders!!!
When one looks at the Executive Profiles for Apple, what jumps out is the absence of any women in senior roles. Remedying that omission should have been Tim Cook's priority for a new senior hire.
Basically what Cook did was align things by function (design, hardware, software, services) instead of product lines.
And once you do that it necessarily changes the way you have to hire. You can no longer simply look at the products someone has produced (such as the Dixon's Stores or the Flash Player), you have to look at abstract resume bullet points and see whether they match the abstract role you are hiring for now. You have set yourself up for more of a lottery in the hiring process.
absurd hire. His past experience in 90's is meaningless as it was an entirely different era. its his judgement in guiding Adobe down the wrong path this century is what matters. He wasn't simply marketing Flash (and his Marketing chops are horrific from the video Gruber linked to) , he was the CTO. His job was to give Adobe his best guidance about future technologies and he FAILED miserably.
I am seriously questioning Cook's ability to access talent. Jobs could look right thru a guy and sum them up in a second. Cook apparently believes the resume BS and unable to judge what is important
Jobs hired (and fired?) Pagemaster. Give the guy a chance. Since he will not be the leader of any group, he has to conform to Apple culture. He didn't have final say on anything.
When one looks at the Executive Profiles for Apple, what jumps out is the absence of any women in senior roles. Remedying that omission should have been Tim Cook's priority for a new senior hire.
Why is singling out any group for preferential treatment any less offensive than excluding a group?
Apple's senior positions are truly the pinnacle of the entire industry. Unfortunately, there are few (if any) women who have proven themselves at that level. The retail position would have been the most likely one, but they apparently didn't find any women they liked for that job.
I'd prefer for Apple to hire the best person for a job - regardless of age, sex, color, sexual preference, or any other extraneous factor.
In addition, compared to Cook himself, his replacement in Operations has been an unmitigated disaster in managing the supply chain thus far.
Hey, maybe YOU could tell us what exactly the problems were with the screen lamination on the iMacs, and the GF/2 film laminations on the iPad mini. Was it a matter of adding suppliers and lines? Inherehent difficulties in these processes? Yeilds? Supplies?
Surely you must know the details, since you're saying that the COO is completely responsible.
Can someone explain why this guy would be a good replacement for Mansfield? Mansfield is a hardware guy. What does this guy know about silicon, silicon, semiconductors, SOCs, wireless, etc.?
My thoughts exactly. With his background (absent Flash involvement) I'd hope he is going to kick Apple's software division in the next decade. iWorks and iLife need to be taken to the next level, perhaps as consumer and pro versions.. I love Apple's own software, its intuitive ease of use and interoperability but there is much to be done. To name but one, iWEb into iWeb Pro (or WebPro) with kick ass HTML5 and something like Hype built in ... Then reabsorb Claris, sorry FileMaker, and make its product line into an affordable database element in iWorks with iCloud support built into all these products where appropriate.
I think that last point should be made louder. Apple should take back FileMaker into the fold and add database technology into iWorks / Works Pro X (select your own name).
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
He won't be groomed for Bob's position. He'll be tasked with a new hardware product line. My guess is that he's there to take his experience and education to new products:
Quote:
Lynch studied interactive computer graphics at the University of Illinois, working with artists and engineers in the Electronic Visualization Laboratory. While he was in school, the first Macintosh was introduced, and Lynch began at his first startup as vice president of product development. He developed and shipped some of the first Macintosh applications, including a graphical adventure game in 1984, a 3D graphics package in 1985, and a desktop publishing application in 1987, which introduced user interface elements in common use today.
There is a whole lot of hardware and consumer end product experience in his background. He'll work with the Television and future collaboration projects that Apple has received patents on.
I presume you're being sarcastic? Just where is the hardware experience in his background?
Quote:
Originally Posted by InfoDave
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Can someone explain why this guy would be a good replacement for Mansfield? Mansfield is a hardware guy. What does this guy know about silicon, silicon, semiconductors, SOCs, wireless, etc.?
Quote:
Originally Posted by stelligent
A software guy cannot be a hardware guy's clear replacement.
I'm with these guys.
I'm joining your party.
It is possible that Mansfield is working on a new product that requires software development beyond what Mac OS and iOS offer. Rather than just taking talent from currently well-stretched teams, he needed/wanted his own software leader to help him. So it's not about grooming Lynch to replace Mansfield, but rather about hiring some help for Mansfield.
Exactly. Mansfield's background is hardware, Lynch's software. Mansfield retired because he hated working with Forstall. Lynch is not Mansfield's replacement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dreyfus2
Could it be that Cook, while being a great CEO, does not quite have a knack for recruitment and resource management? He has backed the disastrous Browett recruitment with a vengeance, the position is still vacant and temporarily filled by an accountant named Bean (
In addition, compared to Cook himself, his replacement in Operations has been an unmitigated disaster in managing the supply chain thus far.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Lets not forget though that under Steve's watch we got the awful Corinthian stitched leather, the mess that is Game Center, etc.
Yeah, that was on par with his decision to introduce the iMac, the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod, OSX, iOS, get rid of Flash, (I could go on).......
/s
I began swapping my company's vector design software over to Coreldraw a few years back, beginning with X3. While it had some relatively minor compatibility and color issues it offered faster loading and rendering, lower overhead requirements, much better text handling, smoother gradients and a much easier learning curve for newbies ("kids" get replaced around here more often than I'd prefer. STAY IN SCHOOL). Each successive upgrade has given us even fewer reasons to lean on Illustrator for bread-n-butter work. With last years X6 even the traditionally better color rendering of Illustrator became a moot point.
We still have CS5 and still put it to use daily, but most often for Photoshop work, which oft-times then gets imported and combined with Corel files without issue. Illustrator may only get launched a couple dozen times a month anymore. It's a bloated pig IMO, no longer a pleasure to work with. Adobe hasn't impressed me for a few years now.
That's my opinion anyway.
My long-term money's on a triumphant return of Scott from the Antarctic...
Really? Then why is it that it took them ages to get PPC versions of their software for the Mac - even though the Mac accounted for the majority of their sales at the time? Why did it take them ages to get Intel versions of their Mac software? And why is it that most of their recent versions have been criticized as offering no real advantages over the previous versions?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ankleskater
I'm joining your party.
It is possible that Mansfield is working on a new product that requires software development beyond what Mac OS and iOS offer. Rather than just taking talent from currently well-stretched teams, he needed/wanted his own software leader to help him. So it's not about grooming Lynch to replace Mansfield, but rather about hiring some help for Mansfield.
According to allthingsd: "At Apple, he’ll have a much less senior position, but potentially an important one, where he’ll be tasked with coordinating the company’s hardware and software teams."
Not exactly sure what that means since we have SVPs for software and hardware plus Ive now being involved in Software. Kind of odd.
Gruber and Dalrymple might not always get things right but when they question whether this was a good hire then it gives me pause. Hopefully it's not another Papermaster situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by anantksundaram
Yeah, that was on par with his decision to introduce the iMac, the iPad, the iPhone, the iPod, OSX, iOS, get rid of Flash, (I could go on).......
/s
I know you're just tweaking, but I was making that comment in the context of Ive being given control of Software UI (and wondering if that was the right thing for Cook to do). From the little that we know, my guess is he and Steve didn't always see eye to eye on software design. But under Steve, Ive knew his place which was hardware. Cook doesn't have those boundaries.
Jobs had a technical and philosophical objection to Flash. That alone rules Lynch out.
Same goes for Cook's/Apple's recent announcement that they've rehired Trattner, the man (or one of them) behind the insanely horrid Genius ads that ran during the Olympics.
Going back a few months, Cook's tapping of Browett never would have happened, IMHO. One look at his resume and Jobs would have passed over him.
I miss Jobs's "Off with his head!" modus operandi. While it produced mistakes, looking back it more often than not appeared to be erring on the right side of things.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dmarcoot
As a stock holder this is really the first thing Cook has done that makes me question how long I should keep my investment. This guy seems like an ass clown. The Maps apology was a mistake (they never should have. it certainly didn't have the intended effect of softening the media coverage did it?) But this guy brings nothing. His track record at adobe is proof of that. If he replaces Mansfield, Im selling.
And silly comments like these are why Apple shouldn't care about its stock price. It should just be doing what it needs to do and not what stupid stockholders think is best for the company when they don't know their ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to running a company, especially one like Apple. Ignore shareholders!!!
I feel this guys is hired for creative suite.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rogifan
Basically what Cook did was align things by function (design, hardware, software, services) instead of product lines.
And once you do that it necessarily changes the way you have to hire. You can no longer simply look at the products someone has produced (such as the Dixon's Stores or the Flash Player), you have to look at abstract resume bullet points and see whether they match the abstract role you are hiring for now. You have set yourself up for more of a lottery in the hiring process.
Jobs hired (and fired?) Pagemaster. Give the guy a chance. Since he will not be the leader of any group, he has to conform to Apple culture. He didn't have final say on anything.
Why is singling out any group for preferential treatment any less offensive than excluding a group?
Apple's senior positions are truly the pinnacle of the entire industry. Unfortunately, there are few (if any) women who have proven themselves at that level. The retail position would have been the most likely one, but they apparently didn't find any women they liked for that job.
I'd prefer for Apple to hire the best person for a job - regardless of age, sex, color, sexual preference, or any other extraneous factor.
Hey, maybe YOU could tell us what exactly the problems were with the screen lamination on the iMacs, and the GF/2 film laminations on the iPad mini. Was it a matter of adding suppliers and lines? Inherehent difficulties in these processes? Yeilds? Supplies?
Surely you must know the details, since you're saying that the COO is completely responsible.
My thoughts exactly. With his background (absent Flash involvement) I'd hope he is going to kick Apple's software division in the next decade. iWorks and iLife need to be taken to the next level, perhaps as consumer and pro versions.. I love Apple's own software, its intuitive ease of use and interoperability but there is much to be done. To name but one, iWEb into iWeb Pro (or WebPro) with kick ass HTML5 and something like Hype built in ... Then reabsorb Claris, sorry FileMaker, and make its product line into an affordable database element in iWorks with iCloud support built into all these products where appropriate.
I think that last point should be made louder. Apple should take back FileMaker into the fold and add database technology into iWorks / Works Pro X (select your own name).