Mr. Jobs doesn't need to grow up. Either you have worked under/around him and have a firsthand impression or you take third hand words as first hand experience.
Wozniak as a "brilliant" engineer lamentation is getting tiresome.
This gossip is befitting of The Star or The Inquirer.
Get over it. Nothing at Apple we see today has any "touch" of Wozniak in it.
If you want to thank some brilliant engineers than start with the ones that bring you the products you constantly critique.
Since you apparently have first hand experience, what are your impressions?
I never look to enormously successful individuals as models of graciousness or even sanity.
It's a fact of our culture that the enormously successful got that way by being extraordinary driven, and more often than not what drives them is what in other contexts would be considered "damage".
For all of our celebration of "being all that you can be" and "following your dreams", the titans of American entrepreneurship tend to be ruthless freaks.
Not being terribly concerned about the suffering or well-being of others, or the damage you may inflict as you climb the ladder, is practically a pre-requisite for "making it", and the ones that make it really big seem to have those traits in spades.
Obviously, I don't know Mr. Jobs, but from everything I've seen he, like most of his brethren, seems to have precisely that mix of expedient charm, compulsive relentlessness and indifference to others that, were he not a beloved icon of American industry, would brand him as a sociopath.
I admire the Woz as much as the next geek, but let's keep things in perspective.
My take:
Woz wanted to design a cool computer. That's as far as his ambition went.
Jobs, the hippie visionary, wanted to change the world. If Woz hadn't agreed to start Apple with him, chances are Jobs would have found another, albeit less talented, engineer who would.
It was Jobs who took the bundle of hand-wired chips to the Byte Shop and got 50 orders for "completed" computers (which still lacked cases and power supplies), and ensured they were supplied, thus starting Apple on the road to being a real company. Left to Woz, he would have been happy to have the design go no further than the local computer club.
It was Jobs who got the Apple ][ into markets it wouldn't otherwise have found. It was Jobs who toured Xerox and committed Apple to bringing GUI computing to market. Jobs who hand-picked the best people,like Andy Hertzfield and Bill Atkinson (the "next generation" of Wozes?) and cajoled and bullied them into performing like the geniuses and artists they are.
The Apple ][ was Woz's baby, no question in the world about it. However, despite its success, it's days were numbered from the start. Inevitably, as IBM got into the scene, it was toast. Apple had failed to pre-empt them with the disastrous Apple III.
But the Mac was Jobs' baby, and it was the one that put the dent in the universe, and allowed Apple to survive to this day, when people actually care about an Apple founder's account of its beginnings.
How many people are going to read a book about the designer of the Commodore PET, or Atari 400, or Tandy TRS-80, or countless other early computers? Were it not for the fact that Apple survives and thrives today, the Apple ][ would be amongst them in the sad trashbin of forgotten computer history, just with a bit more cult fondness for those of us who had one. But instead, because of Jobs, it is the stuff of American legend.
Back on topic, I think Jobs should make the effort to write a foreword, even if Woz's account of the 1970s doesn't gel with his own.
I don't know about you, but when I'm working I have a ton of apps running and various windows configured to the tasks at hand. A reboot destroys this state and requires setting it all up again.
Dual Booting may work for hardcore gamers or for use as an isolated test system, but if you really rely on your mac you don't want to drop everything to restart in to Windows.
If I used Boot Camp I'd safe sleep OS X when restarting Windows and hibernate Windows when restarting OS X to preserve the session state of each OS. Of course any "stateful" activity (e.g. network traffic) would be interrupted when switching OSes.
I always sys-suspend my Solaris box and can resume my previous session state just as I left it even after several months of stasis.
I think Woz was always an opportunity first and a (not very close) friend second to Jobs. However, without Jobs he'd still be tinkering away in the garage and we'd all be using Windows. From the stories of their relationship, especially after the plane crash, I've always had the impression that Jobs sees Woz as a technical genius but almost retarded in other aspects of life. Another nerd with Asperger's.........
I think Woz will get his wish if and when the time is right and won't have to dual boot. Eventually, Apple will port the Mac OS to PC. Why? Because if Apple doesn't, somebody else will. Sound like certain destruction for the Mac and the OS? Possibly. But as long as Apple can get to/remain at a point where they're competitive with other HW makers, the Mac should be right. And the bottom line is, while the OS might be the jewel in the crown, as far as revenue streams go, it isn't worth a pinch of shit. Apple can survive without the OS but the OS cannot survive without Apple. HW, bricks and mortar. SW, the stock market.
Eventually the OS will have to tough it out against Windows directly on Macs and PCs. But, until that time arrives, Apple can work to improve its odds of success. Woz is making the same mistake as Kickaha whinging about the hassle of dual booting. But thankfully, neither of them are running the company. Boot Camp is for PC users not Mac users. Sure, some Mac users may find it useful but that is entirely incidental. Apple knows Woz and Kickaha can be trusted to use virtualization for good and not evil. But the same doesn't apply to PC users.
iPod captures the PC users prepared to live dangerously enough to switch without a security blanket. Intel Macs with the OS only was for those who feel safe as long as they know their blankey is nearby. Boot Camp is for the ones who only need a corner of the blanket for protection. When the Boot Camp recruits have finished their training, they will be the vanguard of the army. Mission: capture PC users. Presumably, virtualization will slot in here somewhere.
When all that's left are the "no way, no how" PC users, Apple will take the last bit of the mountain to Mohammed. Hopefully, by then, the OS will have a large enough user base to change the result of the Mac OS + PC = Doom and Destruction equation. The pricks who simply refuse to play ball can at least be double-crossed with the bevy of commercial Apple SW that has been ported to Windows by this stage. Won't buy a Mac? Won't install a licensed/purchased copy of Mac OS on your PC. Well, perhaps you'd be interested in some of our other offerings? iLife is not only competitively priced, it comes with a free set of steak knives!
If you really believe it's impossible to stop the copying of digital content (and hell, even Sony does these days), then you have to confront what the implications of that are beyond revealing the outdatedness of the music industry's business model. It's the foundation upon which the entire SW economy is built as well. I wonder if Apple (and maybe MS too) haven't understood this for a very long time. Mac OS lost Round 1 and only survived to tell the tale because Apple makes it's money out of HW. Sure you can make money out of SW, but it's a gamble. HW is money in the bank when you've blown the wad on the roulette wheel. The question isn't just how many switchers Apple needs (but 10% figures in there somehow), it's also how many users Windows can afford to lose (how are the XBox sales goin' Bill?)
Moving forward in incremental steps has the added advantage of allowing progress to be monitored and the strategy to be adjusted and adapted. It's similar to the approach they adopted with the iPod but with Mac users acting as a sort of test market. I don't think Steve feels the longtime, evangelical Mac users are his best sales people in this situation. Which is kinda nifty, 'cause it means we can all blame those fucking PC users and their Windows crap if it all goes pear shaped.
Why does everyone act like a reboot is so friggin' hard?
It's less than 2 minutes out of your life!
This guy is brilliant but thinks working "slowly" in VPC is more convinient and easier than simply rebooting?
Do you only run a couple programs at a time? Rebooting is worse than single tasking, that's a two minute task swap.
When running virtual, switching operating systems is only second away with a mouse movement, about a hundredfold speed difference. There is no statement of what software is being used, so slow can be relative. I used to run a CAD program in a translated environment. Despite being slower than a native counterpart might have been if it existed, it was still plenty fast for what I did.
Well, Jobs is a vegan so I don't imagine he has any beer-n-bbq buddies.
Barbecued banana is pretty tasty, add a little sugar in beforehand and it's delicious! From the impression I get, Jobs is the kind of person that would demand barbecued banana wasn't cooked on the same barbie as the burgers.*
*Again, this is based on third-hand impressions and may not be factually correct.
Back when Pixar did image processing for things like the military (satellite imagery...before that little division got spun out) a relatively low level sales manager asked Jobs to talk to his potential customer (also low level). Jobs was gracious and kind, stopped by and spent several mintues with them and didn't blow the little guy off even though it was obvious (to folks in the company) that Jobs didn't want that kind of work and the days were numbered that they would be part of Pixar.
/shrug
Doesn't make him Mother Theresa but doesn't make him a troll either. I've worked for mid-level managers that would have blown him off.
Perhaps he couldn't find very nice things to say about the book and elected to say nothing at all. By writing a foreward, even if you attempt to distance yourself, you lend an air of officialness to the book. I rarely read a foreward but it's often plastered as a selling point on the cover.
A story about Apple with "Foreward by Steve Jobs" on the cover is different than one without regardless of what he writes in the Foreward unless its really nasty.
This is Steve Jobs arrogance at it's highest, really used to admire and like the guy, but i'm beginning to think he is a jerk. An arrogant childish nasty blooming jerk, with some wierd ideas about things and people, if it were not for poor ol Woz, Steve Jobs would not be were he is today. This is sad.
I think open source OS'es are starting to look more, and more attractive as I read about all this hatred and litigation coming from Apple, Inc.
Apple USED TO "Think Different" now they seem to "Think all the Same(tm)".
I really really love Apple and their products and dev tools, but this Is beginning to make me really think twice, as this behavior is a trait, I and my family and people I know, really really loath in human beings.
Steve Jobs: this is a message to you, what the hell on Earth is wrong with you?, the little 9 y.o girl, you set the dumb ass legal team onto a little girl, and now this!!! CRAZZZZZZYYYYYYYYY!
I an happy there is at least one instance where Jobs have been gratious. After all it would have been a shame to be 51 years old and never done something to positively surprise your surroundings.
Remember this is not a book about Apple but about Wozniac. In reality Woz left Apple back in 1981. Before that point Woz was a very vital part of the company and contrary to a comment above it IS the Apple ][ that gave Apple (and Jobs) the possibility to get an almost bottomless pile of cash to develop the somewhat succesful Mac and some very unsuccesful machines without going down. And without Woz there wouldn´t have been an Apple ][. So its not like he is using a unique position to "out" Apple, in many ways he was Apple in the 70s and Jobs was a good car salesman.
This is Steve Jobs arrogance at it's highest, really used to admire and like the guy, but i'm beginning to think he is a jerk. An arrogant childish nasty blooming jerk, with some wierd ideas about things and people, if it were not for poor ol Woz, Steve Jobs would not be were he is today. This is sad.
I think open source OS'es are starting to look more, and more attractive as I read about all this hatred and litigation coming from Apple, Inc.
Apple USED TO "Think Different" now they seem to "Think all the Same(tm)".
I really really love Apple and their products and dev tools, but this Is beginning to make me really think twice, as this behavior is a trait, I and my family and people I know, really really loath in human beings.
Steve Jobs: this is a message to you, what the hell on Earth is wrong with you?, the little 9 y.o girl, you set the dumb ass legal team onto a little girl, and now this!!! CRAZZZZZZYYYYYYYYY!
Just seperate the product from the CEO. I love my Macs. I don´t have to love the CEO as well. The day their products doesn´t add any benefit to me over the MS world I am outta here...
Yeah, Woz misspelled the word and it carried over. Everything has been changed except for his quotes; they were written quotes, so I don't think they should be changed.
I appreciate it,
Kasper
That's when you put a "[sic]" after the original mistake. Then everyone knows you aren't creating the mistake, but the original source did. And as a conscientious citizen you recognized it and correctly reported it.
Comments
Originally posted by mdriftmeyer
Mr. Jobs doesn't need to grow up. Either you have worked under/around him and have a firsthand impression or you take third hand words as first hand experience.
Wozniak as a "brilliant" engineer lamentation is getting tiresome.
This gossip is befitting of The Star or The Inquirer.
Get over it. Nothing at Apple we see today has any "touch" of Wozniak in it.
If you want to thank some brilliant engineers than start with the ones that bring you the products you constantly critique.
Since you apparently have first hand experience, what are your impressions?
It's a fact of our culture that the enormously successful got that way by being extraordinary driven, and more often than not what drives them is what in other contexts would be considered "damage".
For all of our celebration of "being all that you can be" and "following your dreams", the titans of American entrepreneurship tend to be ruthless freaks.
Not being terribly concerned about the suffering or well-being of others, or the damage you may inflict as you climb the ladder, is practically a pre-requisite for "making it", and the ones that make it really big seem to have those traits in spades.
Obviously, I don't know Mr. Jobs, but from everything I've seen he, like most of his brethren, seems to have precisely that mix of expedient charm, compulsive relentlessness and indifference to others that, were he not a beloved icon of American industry, would brand him as a sociopath.
Like his computers, though.
My take:
Woz wanted to design a cool computer. That's as far as his ambition went.
Jobs, the hippie visionary, wanted to change the world. If Woz hadn't agreed to start Apple with him, chances are Jobs would have found another, albeit less talented, engineer who would.
It was Jobs who took the bundle of hand-wired chips to the Byte Shop and got 50 orders for "completed" computers (which still lacked cases and power supplies), and ensured they were supplied, thus starting Apple on the road to being a real company. Left to Woz, he would have been happy to have the design go no further than the local computer club.
It was Jobs who got the Apple ][ into markets it wouldn't otherwise have found. It was Jobs who toured Xerox and committed Apple to bringing GUI computing to market. Jobs who hand-picked the best people,like Andy Hertzfield and Bill Atkinson (the "next generation" of Wozes?) and cajoled and bullied them into performing like the geniuses and artists they are.
The Apple ][ was Woz's baby, no question in the world about it. However, despite its success, it's days were numbered from the start. Inevitably, as IBM got into the scene, it was toast. Apple had failed to pre-empt them with the disastrous Apple III.
But the Mac was Jobs' baby, and it was the one that put the dent in the universe, and allowed Apple to survive to this day, when people actually care about an Apple founder's account of its beginnings.
How many people are going to read a book about the designer of the Commodore PET, or Atari 400, or Tandy TRS-80, or countless other early computers? Were it not for the fact that Apple survives and thrives today, the Apple ][ would be amongst them in the sad trashbin of forgotten computer history, just with a bit more cult fondness for those of us who had one. But instead, because of Jobs, it is the stuff of American legend.
Back on topic, I think Jobs should make the effort to write a foreword, even if Woz's account of the 1970s doesn't gel with his own.
You get the award for most spot-on post of the day.
Originally posted by Xool
I don't know about you, but when I'm working I have a ton of apps running and various windows configured to the tasks at hand. A reboot destroys this state and requires setting it all up again.
Dual Booting may work for hardcore gamers or for use as an isolated test system, but if you really rely on your mac you don't want to drop everything to restart in to Windows.
If I used Boot Camp I'd safe sleep OS X when restarting Windows and hibernate Windows when restarting OS X to preserve the session state of each OS. Of course any "stateful" activity (e.g. network traffic) would be interrupted when switching OSes.
I always sys-suspend my Solaris box and can resume my previous session state just as I left it even after several months of stasis.
I think Woz will get his wish if and when the time is right and won't have to dual boot. Eventually, Apple will port the Mac OS to PC. Why? Because if Apple doesn't, somebody else will. Sound like certain destruction for the Mac and the OS? Possibly. But as long as Apple can get to/remain at a point where they're competitive with other HW makers, the Mac should be right. And the bottom line is, while the OS might be the jewel in the crown, as far as revenue streams go, it isn't worth a pinch of shit. Apple can survive without the OS but the OS cannot survive without Apple. HW, bricks and mortar. SW, the stock market.
Eventually the OS will have to tough it out against Windows directly on Macs and PCs. But, until that time arrives, Apple can work to improve its odds of success. Woz is making the same mistake as Kickaha whinging about the hassle of dual booting. But thankfully, neither of them are running the company.
iPod captures the PC users prepared to live dangerously enough to switch without a security blanket. Intel Macs with the OS only was for those who feel safe as long as they know their blankey is nearby. Boot Camp is for the ones who only need a corner of the blanket for protection. When the Boot Camp recruits have finished their training, they will be the vanguard of the army. Mission: capture PC users. Presumably, virtualization will slot in here somewhere.
When all that's left are the "no way, no how" PC users, Apple will take the last bit of the mountain to Mohammed. Hopefully, by then, the OS will have a large enough user base to change the result of the Mac OS + PC = Doom and Destruction equation. The pricks who simply refuse to play ball can at least be double-crossed with the bevy of commercial Apple SW that has been ported to Windows by this stage. Won't buy a Mac? Won't install a licensed/purchased copy of Mac OS on your PC. Well, perhaps you'd be interested in some of our other offerings? iLife is not only competitively priced, it comes with a free set of steak knives!
If you really believe it's impossible to stop the copying of digital content (and hell, even Sony does these days), then you have to confront what the implications of that are beyond revealing the outdatedness of the music industry's business model. It's the foundation upon which the entire SW economy is built as well. I wonder if Apple (and maybe MS too) haven't understood this for a very long time. Mac OS lost Round 1 and only survived to tell the tale because Apple makes it's money out of HW. Sure you can make money out of SW, but it's a gamble. HW is money in the bank when you've blown the wad on the roulette wheel. The question isn't just how many switchers Apple needs (but 10% figures in there somehow), it's also how many users Windows can afford to lose (how are the XBox sales goin' Bill?)
Moving forward in incremental steps has the added advantage of allowing progress to be monitored and the strategy to be adjusted and adapted. It's similar to the approach they adopted with the iPod but with Mac users acting as a sort of test market. I don't think Steve feels the longtime, evangelical Mac users are his best sales people in this situation. Which is kinda nifty, 'cause it means we can all blame those fucking PC users and their Windows crap if it all goes pear shaped.
Originally posted by ecking
Why does everyone act like a reboot is so friggin' hard?
It's less than 2 minutes out of your life!
This guy is brilliant but thinks working "slowly" in VPC is more convinient and easier than simply rebooting?
Do you only run a couple programs at a time? Rebooting is worse than single tasking, that's a two minute task swap.
When running virtual, switching operating systems is only second away with a mouse movement, about a hundredfold speed difference. There is no statement of what software is being used, so slow can be relative. I used to run a CAD program in a translated environment. Despite being slower than a native counterpart might have been if it existed, it was still plenty fast for what I did.
Originally posted by crazychester
iLife is not only competitively priced, it comes with a free set of steak knives!
Funny, from your generally entertaining post. Thanks.
Originally posted by Anders
Can´t say it surprise me but its still sad.
They might not be close friends (who wants to be "beer-n-bbq" buddy with Jobs anyway?)
Well, Jobs is a vegan so I don't imagine he has any beer-n-bbq buddies.
Originally posted by JimDreamworx
Woz hasn't tried Parallels?!?!
Oh, somebody send Woz an email.. I'm sure he hasn't heard about it yet!
Originally posted by firsttube
Well, Jobs is a vegan so I don't imagine he has any beer-n-bbq buddies.
Barbecued banana is pretty tasty, add a little sugar in beforehand and it's delicious! From the impression I get, Jobs is the kind of person that would demand barbecued banana wasn't cooked on the same barbie as the burgers.*
*Again, this is based on third-hand impressions and may not be factually correct.
Back when Pixar did image processing for things like the military (satellite imagery...before that little division got spun out) a relatively low level sales manager asked Jobs to talk to his potential customer (also low level). Jobs was gracious and kind, stopped by and spent several mintues with them and didn't blow the little guy off even though it was obvious (to folks in the company) that Jobs didn't want that kind of work and the days were numbered that they would be part of Pixar.
/shrug
Doesn't make him Mother Theresa but doesn't make him a troll either. I've worked for mid-level managers that would have blown him off.
Perhaps he couldn't find very nice things to say about the book and elected to say nothing at all. By writing a foreward, even if you attempt to distance yourself, you lend an air of officialness to the book. I rarely read a foreward but it's often plastered as a selling point on the cover.
A story about Apple with "Foreward by Steve Jobs" on the cover is different than one without regardless of what he writes in the Foreward unless its really nasty.
Vinea
I think open source OS'es are starting to look more, and more attractive as I read about all this hatred and litigation coming from Apple, Inc.
Apple USED TO "Think Different" now they seem to "Think all the Same(tm)".
I really really love Apple and their products and dev tools, but this Is beginning to make me really think twice, as this behavior is a trait, I and my family and people I know, really really loath in human beings.
Steve Jobs: this is a message to you, what the hell on Earth is wrong with you?, the little 9 y.o girl, you set the dumb ass legal team onto a little girl, and now this!!! CRAZZZZZZYYYYYYYYY!
#ifndef APPLE_THINKS_DIFFERENT
"Steve Ballmer from Micro$haft was crazy!, as in insane, and probably on something at that recent M$ keynote,
but Steve Jobs is just becoming a really evil vindictive $%nt "
#else APPLE_THINKS_THE_SAME 1
#endif // APPLE_THINKS_DIFFERENT
Chris.
Oh bugger!, we are in trouble are we not??....
Remember this is not a book about Apple but about Wozniac. In reality Woz left Apple back in 1981. Before that point Woz was a very vital part of the company and contrary to a comment above it IS the Apple ][ that gave Apple (and Jobs) the possibility to get an almost bottomless pile of cash to develop the somewhat succesful Mac and some very unsuccesful machines without going down. And without Woz there wouldn´t have been an Apple ][. So its not like he is using a unique position to "out" Apple, in many ways he was Apple in the 70s and Jobs was a good car salesman.
Originally posted by Chris_jerome
This is Steve Jobs arrogance at it's highest, really used to admire and like the guy, but i'm beginning to think he is a jerk. An arrogant childish nasty blooming jerk, with some wierd ideas about things and people, if it were not for poor ol Woz, Steve Jobs would not be were he is today. This is sad.
I think open source OS'es are starting to look more, and more attractive as I read about all this hatred and litigation coming from Apple, Inc.
Apple USED TO "Think Different" now they seem to "Think all the Same(tm)".
I really really love Apple and their products and dev tools, but this Is beginning to make me really think twice, as this behavior is a trait, I and my family and people I know, really really loath in human beings.
Steve Jobs: this is a message to you, what the hell on Earth is wrong with you?, the little 9 y.o girl, you set the dumb ass legal team onto a little girl, and now this!!! CRAZZZZZZYYYYYYYYY!
#ifndef APPLE_THINKS_DIFFERENT
"Steve Ballmer from Micro$haft was crazy!, as in insane, and probably on something at that recent M$ keynote,
but Steve Jobs is just becoming a really evil vindictive $%nt "
#else APPLE_THINKS_THE_SAME 1
#endif // APPLE_THINKS_DIFFERENT
Chris.
Oh bugger!, we are in trouble are we not??....
Just seperate the product from the CEO. I love my Macs. I don´t have to love the CEO as well. The day their products doesn´t add any benefit to me over the MS world I am outta here...
Originally posted by Kasper
Thanks guys!
Yeah, Woz misspelled the word and it carried over. Everything has been changed except for his quotes; they were written quotes, so I don't think they should be changed.
I appreciate it,
Kasper
That's when you put a "[sic]" after the original mistake. Then everyone knows you aren't creating the mistake, but the original source did. And as a conscientious citizen you recognized it and correctly reported it.