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Folklore.org seems to be down right now, but my favorite Steve Jobs exchange is the following: We worked our way up to the front of the crowd to get a good loo

Folklore.org seems to be down right now, but my favorite Steve Jobs exchange is the following: We worked our way up to the front of the crowd to get a good look at the units [Osborne 1] that were on display. We started to ask one of the presenters a technical question, when we were suprised to see Adam Osborne himself standing a few feet from us, looking at our show badges, preempting the response. "Oh, some Apple folks", he addressed us in a condescending tone, "What do you think? The Osborne 1 is going to outsell the Apple II by a factor of 10, don't you think so? What part of Apple do you work in?" When we told him that we were on the Mac team, he started to chuckle. "The Macintosh, I heard about that. When are we going to get to see it? Well, go back and tell Steve Jobs that the Osborne 1 is going to outsell the Apple II and the Macintosh combined!" So, after returning to Cupertino later that afternoon, we told Steve about our encounter with Adam Osborne. He smiled, with a sort of mock anger, and immediately grabbed the telephone on the spare desk in Bud's office, and called information for the number of the Osborne Computer Corporation. He dialed the number, but it was answered by a secretary. "Hi, this is Steve Jobs. I'd like to speak with Adam Osborne." The secretary informed Steve that Mr. Osborne was not available, and would not be back in the office until tomorrow morning. She asked Steve if he would like to leave a message. "Yes", Steve replied. He paused for a second. "Here's my message. Tell Adam he's an asshole." There was a long delay, as the secretary tried to figure out how to respond. Steve continued, "One more thing. I hear that Adam's curious about the Macintosh. Tell him that the Macintosh is so good that he's probably going to buy a few for his children even though it put his company out of business!"

vacri 15y ago
Yeah, awesome. He gets revenge on a fairly standard sales competitor by stomping on the little person. Ha ha, Osborne acted like a person with vision by being condescending, what an asshole, but Jobs, acting like a person of vision, was inspired and lively! So what if he shat on a secretary! This anecdote is just another flavour of "The winners get to write the histories".
- ghurlman 15y ago
  He wasn't shitting on the secretary, he was shitting on Adam by proxy.
anon5 15y ago
Did some digging about Adam Osborne. Made me quite sad for him... It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs: "on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was the first true mass-produced portable PC and one of the most popular computers of its time" (Source: http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/ http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/) He also: "he founded another company that also collapsed–but not before helping to pioneer the idea of really cheap software" He later died in India at the age of 64, in 2003. Where he was born and educated when he was a very young.
- lkozma 15y ago
  "was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs" I think you mean that he was considered to be a "competitor" or someone "playing in the same league". Contemporary means someone who has lived at the same time, which he certainly was.
  - anon5 15y ago
    Agree with you, it should be competitor.
- rbanffy 15y ago
  > It was the first true mass-produced portable PC Erm... "portable" is not the word I'd use. Most would settle for "transportable". I'd rather use "draggable".
  - anon5 15y ago
    Did you notice this Ad they had for Osborne? Please scroll down to see the 'The Guy on the left doesn't stand a chance' Ad, on the 2nd page of the article (http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/2/ http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/2/ ) It almost could have been an Ad for a 'Laptop' as we know it.

vacri 15y ago

Yeah, awesome. He gets revenge on a fairly standard sales competitor by stomping on the little person. Ha ha, Osborne acted like a person with vision by being condescending, what an asshole, but Jobs, acting like a person of vision, was inspired and lively! So what if he shat on a secretary! This anecdote is just another flavour of "The winners get to write the histories".

ghurlman 15y ago
He wasn't shitting on the secretary, he was shitting on Adam by proxy.

anon5 15y ago

Did some digging about Adam Osborne. Made me quite sad for him... It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs: "on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was the first true mass-produced portable PC and one of the most popular computers of its time" (Source: http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/ http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/) He also: "he founded another company that also collapsed–but not before helping to pioneer the idea of really cheap software" He later died in India at the age of 64, in 2003. Where he was born and educated when he was a very young.

lkozma 15y ago
"was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs" I think you mean that he was considered to be a "competitor" or someone "playing in the same league". Contemporary means someone who has lived at the same time, which he certainly was.
- anon5 15y ago
  Agree with you, it should be competitor.
rbanffy 15y ago
> It was the first true mass-produced portable PC Erm... "portable" is not the word I'd use. Most would settle for "transportable". I'd rather use "draggable".
- anon5 15y ago
  Did you notice this Ad they had for Osborne? Please scroll down to see the 'The Guy on the left doesn't stand a chance' Ad, on the 2nd page of the article (http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/2/ http://technologizer.com/2011/04/01/osborne-computer/2/ ) It almost could have been an Ad for a 'Laptop' as we know it.