Culture matters. In 1997 I had offers from both Apple and Sun. I was working at a Macintosh ISV which was very badly impacted by Steve cancelling the Mac clones

Culture matters. In 1997 I had offers from both Apple and Sun. I was working at a Macintosh ISV which was very badly impacted by Steve cancelling the Mac clones. I knew from friends about the secrecy and siloed environment at NeXT and in Steve's Apple. While I had respect for Steve's accomplishments and vision I made a very conscious effort to choose a different work culture. I ended up working at Sun (and eventually Oracle) for 16 years. It may not have been great for all those years but I can't imagine that I would have lasted at Apple that long and I certainly wouldn't have had the mobility between projects that I did at Sun. Doing it again I would still choose the company with the culture that I felt was the best fit for me with that company's potential being secondary.