Daniel Eran Dilger has long been, and still is, the most thorough, well-reasoned, and insightful Apple analyst I have ever read. It is why I start my day reading Apple Insider every day.
They did it back in the PPC Mac days. When Apple came out with PPC Macs, Adobe was extremely slow in coming out with native versions of their software. Instead, they offered their customers a low cost sidegrade to switch to the Windows version.
Yes I remember that. And let us not forget the software features (on Acrobat for example) that were Windows only — and that mac users had to pay the same price for less features.
Adobe's corporate structure seems to be (based on forum remarks elsewhere from people who actually worked there) a fairly toxic affair. The concern is that Lynch is saturated in all that and will bring it with him. But if not I wish him well.
Adobe's corporate structure seems to be (based on forum remarks elsewhere from people who actually worked there) a fairly toxic affair. The concern is that Lynch is saturated in all that and will bring it with him. But if not I wish him well.
Well let's not forget that Randy Ubillos also made a similar career path, working at Macromedia, Adobe and then Apple and he turned out to be a solid asset to Apple's software engineering group.
Daniel Eran Dilger has long been, and still is, the most thorough, well-reasoned, and insightful Apple analyst I have ever read. It is why I start my day reading Apple Insider every day.
He sure outdid Gruber on this one. Look how Daring Fireball has provided fodder for BGR and Fox News today and stoked the Apple-is-losing insanity. Gruber should know better than to traffic in such easy bait as the "bozo" bone he threw to the enemy. He can be a jackass sometimes, which is why he's so good at picking other jackasses out. And which is one reason it's such a hoot to read him.
Dilger would never give out such easy troll bait, I don't think. Oh, and welcome to the forum.
How much of it do you think was him as opposed to him taking the credit for the actions of A players hired by him?
I would expect that many (if not all) were better in their specific fields, but as a whole package, I don't think that many, if any, could challenge him. In addition, he had talent to bind them all, use their special talents without giving them opportunity to challenge him at the top. In a way, his subjects were human, dwarf and even elves rings, but he was The Ring. The One Ring.
Tim is, well, one of the rest of the rings. Good exec, but not genius. It is not Tim's fault, but it is his bad luck to succeed one Jobs. And his curse to be judged and compared with one Jobs.
This whole A player, B player, best people stuff is overblown. It is also irrelevant to discuss whether someone like Avie Tevanian or Mansfield or Ive is on Jobs' level of "the game". Jobs wasn't on the level of any of these guys in what they did and do. Similarly, they don't have his drive for and vision of integrated systems, and the knack to get his teams to work together, not to mention work like mad. Everyone played a role. But Jobs was not a level above. In fact, arguably, anyone of his senior managers could have done his job, albeit not as well. But he couldn't have done any one of their jobs. So the comparison is pointless.
There is a bit of that. But it doesn't matter. Jobs got his people to deliver topnotch hardware and two topnotch OSes. He could take credit for various ideas. But it is really his ideas that forged his legacy. Many folks had equally compelling visions. What made him stand apart was he pulled his team together to deliver, and to do what he couldn't do himself.
That is true (that he could not do others jobs as much as they could not do his).
But.
He did have brilliant talent to recognize value of them all, not as individuals but as pieces of Apple's big puzzle, which is only one of the things that made him great leader. Look at Ive, for example. Would he have same opportunity has he started working in company with even more money and resources than Apple had, back in the days he joined in? Say Dell or HP? I sincerely think not. Would we even know of Phil Schiller has he ended in, say, Motorola?
No, I really think you can find another designer who would perform as well - hell maybe even better - in Ive's chair, given same circumstances Ive was facing. And I think Jobs would find that other designer, or 10 of them. And I also think that same Ive would be, what, just one of the guys behind CAD workstation in most if not all other work environments. It is not Ive that made Jobs great CEO, it is Jobs that made Ive successful and recognised he is today.
My theory is that apple has hired him to build an Apple centric 2D/3D engine that they have total control over so app developers can build apps faster, easier, that better target the hardware. Athough apple squashed flash, apple is nervous that Unity3D got out of control. Games built with unity3d that were once ios excusive, are now every were. Android/ouya/webtv/windows/etc....
An Apple controled 2D/3D engine will address this and Lynch is a likely candidate to build it.
He doesn't have the skills nor the Cocoa/ObjC background for that work. He'll be overseeing projects and meeting deadlines, not inventing some new technology. The talent at Apple from all the training via NeXT talent is far beyond his skill sets. He's got a history of experience Apple can leverage in the channels and use his background manage but with hands-off.
So you find it acceptable that Forstall allowed the release of software with faulty firmware that destroyed wifi, Bluetooth and/or sound functions on numerous phones, cost folks hundreds in cell data overages while reporting the devices were on wifi correctly etc. but hey he gave us nifty moving shadows on the volume knobs. Thats so much better than bug free software
You do realize Scott is still working at Apple, right? He's spending an entire year helping craft a transition for Apple to be primed. Scott will be back with some of my fellow ex-colleagues I've no doubt from NeXT/Apple doing something new that Apple will eventually want to buy.
Hell, he might even eventually be the successor down the line, you never know. NeXT/Apple has a history of talent returning home to have another go at it.
You do realize Scott is still working at Apple, right? He's spending an entire year helping craft a transition for Apple to be primed. Scott will be back with some of my fellow ex-colleagues I've no doubt from NeXT/Apple doing something new that Apple will eventually want to buy.
Hell, he might even eventually be the successor down the line, you never know. NeXT/Apple has a history of talent returning home to have another go at it.
What are you Scott's PR flack? And what's this obsession with NeXT? The execs with the most power at Apple right now did not come from NeXT. If Forstall was so great why didn't Steve recommend him to be CEO? And why did the other SVPs jump at the chance to get rid of him and take over his duties?
The lack of women in Apple's top executives is a shame!
Certainly if there are women available who could do those jobs better and want the jobs. You could also point out the lack of minorities. Having a vagina or a different skin color isn't a qualification any more than not having them. The false assumption to make is that there are equal amounts of fully qualified people of every gender and race in every profession. Tony Fadell's wife used to be VP of Human Resources.
I would expect that many (if not all) were better in their specific fields, but as a whole package, I don't think that many, if any, could challenge him. In addition, he had talent to bind them all, use their special talents without giving them opportunity to challenge him at the top. In a way, his subjects were human, dwarf and even elves rings, but he was The Ring. The One Ring.
Tim is, well, one of the rest of the rings. Good exec, but not genius. It is not Tim's fault, but it is his bad luck to succeed one Jobs. And his curse to be judged and compared with one Jobs.
You're talking more about egos than intelligence. There's a weird assumption on your part that Jobs must have been the smartest person at Apple.
Assuming he is not a bozo I do think Apple needs more software people. They have squillions of dollars and one way to help the iPhone and iPad (and Mac actually) pull ahead of the competition would be some really good additional Apple apps.
Cook is Apple's CEO for life. Period. There will be no question about it.
Steve Jobs has also made mistakes on hiring people. His biggest mistake was hiring John Sculley - who then became CEO of Apple. Papermaster was also hired by Jobs.
The key with Apple is that it is a VERY HARSH AND PUNISHING environment for those who are in charge - generally the vice presidents. As Steve Jobs said, for those who are in charge, there are no excuses. You perform or you don't. And if you don't, you are out. Period.
Thus, any hire at Apple who rises to become in charge will have to be awfully good and perform their job. Otherwise, they are quickly fired.
Thus, I have no fear of Apple's hiring of Kevin Lynch. He will either be successful at Apple or he will be fired like the others who preceded him.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by jragosta
They did it back in the PPC Mac days. When Apple came out with PPC Macs, Adobe was extremely slow in coming out with native versions of their software. Instead, they offered their customers a low cost sidegrade to switch to the Windows version.
Yes I remember that. And let us not forget the software features (on Acrobat for example) that were Windows only — and that mac users had to pay the same price for less features.
Adobe's corporate structure seems to be (based on forum remarks elsewhere from people who actually worked there) a fairly toxic affair. The concern is that Lynch is saturated in all that and will bring it with him. But if not I wish him well.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eluard
Adobe's corporate structure seems to be (based on forum remarks elsewhere from people who actually worked there) a fairly toxic affair. The concern is that Lynch is saturated in all that and will bring it with him. But if not I wish him well.
Well let's not forget that Randy Ubillos also made a similar career path, working at Macromedia, Adobe and then Apple and he turned out to be a solid asset to Apple's software engineering group.
He sure outdid Gruber on this one. Look how Daring Fireball has provided fodder for BGR and Fox News today and stoked the Apple-is-losing insanity. Gruber should know better than to traffic in such easy bait as the "bozo" bone he threw to the enemy. He can be a jackass sometimes, which is why he's so good at picking other jackasses out. And which is one reason it's such a hoot to read him.
Dilger would never give out such easy troll bait, I don't think. Oh, and welcome to the forum.
I would expect that many (if not all) were better in their specific fields, but as a whole package, I don't think that many, if any, could challenge him. In addition, he had talent to bind them all, use their special talents without giving them opportunity to challenge him at the top. In a way, his subjects were human, dwarf and even elves rings, but he was The Ring. The One Ring.
Tim is, well, one of the rest of the rings. Good exec, but not genius. It is not Tim's fault, but it is his bad luck to succeed one Jobs. And his curse to be judged and compared with one Jobs.
That is true (that he could not do others jobs as much as they could not do his).
But.
He did have brilliant talent to recognize value of them all, not as individuals but as pieces of Apple's big puzzle, which is only one of the things that made him great leader. Look at Ive, for example. Would he have same opportunity has he started working in company with even more money and resources than Apple had, back in the days he joined in? Say Dell or HP? I sincerely think not. Would we even know of Phil Schiller has he ended in, say, Motorola?
No, I really think you can find another designer who would perform as well - hell maybe even better - in Ive's chair, given same circumstances Ive was facing. And I think Jobs would find that other designer, or 10 of them. And I also think that same Ive would be, what, just one of the guys behind CAD workstation in most if not all other work environments. It is not Ive that made Jobs great CEO, it is Jobs that made Ive successful and recognised he is today.
Just my humble opinion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClementineOrange
My theory is that apple has hired him to build an Apple centric 2D/3D engine that they have total control over so app developers can build apps faster, easier, that better target the hardware. Athough apple squashed flash, apple is nervous that Unity3D got out of control. Games built with unity3d that were once ios excusive, are now every were. Android/ouya/webtv/windows/etc....
An Apple controled 2D/3D engine will address this and Lynch is a likely candidate to build it.
He doesn't have the skills nor the Cocoa/ObjC background for that work. He'll be overseeing projects and meeting deadlines, not inventing some new technology. The talent at Apple from all the training via NeXT talent is far beyond his skill sets. He's got a history of experience Apple can leverage in the channels and use his background manage but with hands-off.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
So you find it acceptable that Forstall allowed the release of software with faulty firmware that destroyed wifi, Bluetooth and/or sound functions on numerous phones, cost folks hundreds in cell data overages while reporting the devices were on wifi correctly etc. but hey he gave us nifty moving shadows on the volume knobs. Thats so much better than bug free software
You do realize Scott is still working at Apple, right? He's spending an entire year helping craft a transition for Apple to be primed. Scott will be back with some of my fellow ex-colleagues I've no doubt from NeXT/Apple doing something new that Apple will eventually want to buy.
Hell, he might even eventually be the successor down the line, you never know. NeXT/Apple has a history of talent returning home to have another go at it.
OMG...iPhone 6 with A7 will now have Flash....Say cheese...Click!
OMG! iPhpone 6 will now have A7 and Flash...say cheese. Click!
Quote:
Originally Posted by mdriftmeyer
You do realize Scott is still working at Apple, right? He's spending an entire year helping craft a transition for Apple to be primed. Scott will be back with some of my fellow ex-colleagues I've no doubt from NeXT/Apple doing something new that Apple will eventually want to buy.
Hell, he might even eventually be the successor down the line, you never know. NeXT/Apple has a history of talent returning home to have another go at it.
What are you Scott's PR flack? And what's this obsession with NeXT? The execs with the most power at Apple right now did not come from NeXT. If Forstall was so great why didn't Steve recommend him to be CEO? And why did the other SVPs jump at the chance to get rid of him and take over his duties?
He couldn't get flash working in mobile when he was at Adobe?
Originally Posted by Rogifan
And what's this obsession with NeXT?
Well, he did work there…
If Forstall was so great why didn't Steve recommend him to be CEO?
Because Tim Cook was better. That doesn't preclude Forstall having ability.
And why did the other SVPs jump at the chance to get rid of him and take over his duties?
I'd imagine that's from the personality friction.
Certainly if there are women available who could do those jobs better and want the jobs. You could also point out the lack of minorities. Having a vagina or a different skin color isn't a qualification any more than not having them. The false assumption to make is that there are equal amounts of fully qualified people of every gender and race in every profession. Tony Fadell's wife used to be VP of Human Resources.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nikon133
I would expect that many (if not all) were better in their specific fields, but as a whole package, I don't think that many, if any, could challenge him. In addition, he had talent to bind them all, use their special talents without giving them opportunity to challenge him at the top. In a way, his subjects were human, dwarf and even elves rings, but he was The Ring. The One Ring.
Tim is, well, one of the rest of the rings. Good exec, but not genius. It is not Tim's fault, but it is his bad luck to succeed one Jobs. And his curse to be judged and compared with one Jobs.
You're talking more about egos than intelligence. There's a weird assumption on your part that Jobs must have been the smartest person at Apple.
Assuming he is not a bozo I do think Apple needs more software people. They have squillions of dollars and one way to help the iPhone and iPad (and Mac actually) pull ahead of the competition would be some really good additional Apple apps.
Great article! Very insightful. Thanks, enjoyed it very much. Nice to see a long-time Mac developer come onboard Apple's executive team.
Maybe he can reverse the inexorable flow of stupid that has descended upon OS X in Apple's efforts to make it more iOS-like.
(the last sentence was an editorial opinion and does not require response from the peanut galley, since I won't be back to read any replies anyway)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Marvin
Tony Fadell's wife used to be VP of Human Resources.
Women dominate the HR field. The VP or SVP of HR is often therefore thrown out as a top management token.
The other area where they dominate -- esp. in tech -- is PR/IR.
Steve Jobs has also made mistakes on hiring people. His biggest mistake was hiring John Sculley - who then became CEO of Apple. Papermaster was also hired by Jobs.
The key with Apple is that it is a VERY HARSH AND PUNISHING environment for those who are in charge - generally the vice presidents. As Steve Jobs said, for those who are in charge, there are no excuses. You perform or you don't. And if you don't, you are out. Period.
Thus, any hire at Apple who rises to become in charge will have to be awfully good and perform their job. Otherwise, they are quickly fired.
Thus, I have no fear of Apple's hiring of Kevin Lynch. He will either be successful at Apple or he will be fired like the others who preceded him.