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> But his genius wasn't just pissing off a bunch of people to get them to "trauma bond." The iPhone didn't get made that way. How do you know? Were you there?
by sgift 8y ago
> But his genius wasn't just pissing off a bunch of people to get them to "trauma bond." The iPhone didn't get made that way.
How do you know? Were you there? With each Steve Jobs story I read he seems less of a genius (though I never was in the "Steve Jobs is a genius" camp) and more like a mad man with incredible luck.
- qplex 8y agoSo I guess it was just luck how he pulled Apple out of the dirt after John Scully almost ran the company to ground?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- evgen 8y agoApple I, Mac, Pixar, iPhone.... that guy Jobs was sure a lucky person. I wonder if there is a word for people who have that sort of consistent luck...
- justinjlynn 8y agoYes, there is: outlier.
- evgen 8y agoHow do those sour grapes taste?
- justinjlynn 8y agoGiven that I asked for them, they taste delicious.
- Drdrdrq 8y ago...and iPad, iPod, which were achievements in themselves. I agree with you it's not luck, he simply knew how to create a product that fills the needs of the market. But I also think that his managerial style was unacceptable, and had nothing to do with Apple's success. As far as Pixar is concerned, he actually kept the distance on purpose (there's a great book "Creativity Inc" by Catmull) which shows it's not his management that is worth copying.
- gaius 8y agoI wonder if there is a word for people who have that sort of consistent luck... That word is Woz. If Jobs had not met him, he (Jobs) would have died penniless and alone.
- saagarjha 8y agoHad Wozniak not met Jobs there would have been no Apple–most likely he'd just be a gifted engineer working at an above-average position at some technology company that's likely not even around today because Apple ate its lunch. Also keep in mind that the last product that Wozniak really had a hand in was Apple II.
- amyjess 8y agoI have a feeling that if Woz and Jobs had never met, Woz's life would have turned out much like that of Gary Kildall [0] or Phil Katz [1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kildall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Kildall [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Katz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Katz
- scarface74 8y agoWell, let's look at what Jobs did without Woz and compare it to what Woz did without Jobs. Jobs - the Mac, Next, Pixar, iPod, iPhone, iPad, the physical Apple Stores.... Woz - the first universal programmable remote.
- justinjlynn 8y agoWell, let's compare what each of them actually engineered: Woz - Breakout for Atari, the first universal programmable remote, the Apple I, and so on Jobs - ... (had a strong opinion about buttons and money he made off of Wozniak's inventions and his ability to sell them)
- scarface74 8y agoComputer geeks are a dime a dozen (I’m one so no insult intended). An idea is nothing without execution. Jobs proved that he could successfully change multiple industries (animation, music, mobile) without Woz. None of Woz’s ventures have been a success without Jobs. If it was so easy, why couldn’t anyone else in the PC industry do it including companies that were in a much stronger position when Jobs came back in 1997? Even in the animation business, Disney could barely produce a hit while Pixar was producing a string of successes.
- WalterBright 8y agoThere were a string of Apple CEOs between Scully and Jobs.
- saagarjha 8y agoMost of which seemed to dig Apple deeper into the ground…
- WalterBright 8y agoExactly! The history of CEOs at Apple shows very clearly the value that a CEO can bring.
- mturmon 8y agoEven Jobs said that he was a changed person when he returned to Apple as opposed to when he left to run NeXT.
- justinjlynn 8y agoWith advancing age, I find people rarely, if ever, truly change. Apropos, they simply become more efficient and skilled at hiding their true nature whilst applying it still to an even finer degree of effectiveness.
- mturmon 8y agoFor counterpoint, see the well-known Jobs video recanting the Microsoft/Apple feud, just after he regained control of Apple. His views did change. Link: https://stratechery.com/2013/steve-jobs-at-macworld-boston-in-1997/ https://stratechery.com/2013/steve-jobs-at-macworld-boston-i...
- justinjlynn 8y agoA fair assessment. I, however, would take care to separate the nature of a person from the views they find acceptable to express in public; especially those views for which there is considerable contention and/or ambiguity.
- raverbashing 8y ago> How do you know? Were you there? We don't need to be there to know that there are a lot of assholes like SJ around. But none of them shipped the iPhone. Emulating that part of SJ is easy and is done in several places. But that was not all he did
- Fnoord 8y ago> and more like a mad man with incredible luck This term "luck" is often abused in the gaming world. "I wasn't lucky" is a bullshit excuse to deal with bad RNG. You work around bad RNG and make the best of it. Calling others lucky is a way to deal with envy. "It isn't my lack of skill, he was just lucky." Personally, from what I gathered Jobs had some severe flaws which are fairly well documented in the movie made about him. Consider for example the way he dealt with his child (Lisa). Its interesting to learn more of his personality in his youth (same with e.g. Holmes, Gates, or any person of interest who seems flawed). Steve Jobs used LSD. Steve Jobs did phreaking together with Steve Wozniak. They even sold blue boxes.