5 ms·

Stephen Fry: Steve Jobs

212 points by apu 15y ago

scott_s 15y ago
Make sure you read the anecdote about Tim Berners-Lee at the bottom.
- nazgulnarsil 15y ago
  easily the best part.
- marquis 15y ago
  Reading this on a mac, via the internet.. what a powerful story at this time to come across. It made me look up and out the window and wonder: what is the future of my work? It reminds me to stretch my vision to 10, 20, 50 years into the future (though, if I presume to see 5 years into the future of tech I'd be happy..)
revorad 15y ago
What a fitting tribute from the only other artist whose death is certain to make me cry. I hope it never happens.
- TheSOB88 15y ago
  It may, some day.
  - scorpion032 15y ago
    It will. Some day.
    - TheSOB88 15y ago
      Perhaps.
elmomalmo 15y ago
Stephen Fry has a talent with the written word that rarely disappoints. Of the many articles, obituaries and anecdotes about Steve Jobs I've read today, that one is the most compelling read.
hackermom 15y ago
I like the "awful prophets/awesome profits" contrast. Cleverly phrased. It really underlines the truth about the tremendous success Apple has with all kinds of people, all over the world, no matter what all the "haters" say.
redthrowaway 15y ago
You know, I'm generally a huge fan of Fry's, but this article left much to be desired. He was simply factually wrong on a great many points. "If different companies are making the firmware, software, chips, screens, operating system, radios and cases the results will always be far less coherent and usable devices." I hope he's just being sloppy with his language (unlikely for Fry) and not actually suggesting that Apple makes all of these components. The latter would suggest an insufficient level of familiarity with the products he extols to be taken seriously. He sounds very much like the ignorant "fanboi" he laments that some will call him. "The frustratingly silly patent wars that are raging around the world between Google, Samsung, Apple and dozens of other companies would be a sad obsequy to Jobs’s colossal achievements, but with such gigantic sums of money in so huge a market at stake it is little wonder that others will do all they can to “crack” Apple." What? He seems to think that Apple is the defensive party in the patent mess? Again, a disconnect from reality that is disappointing from someone I hold in such high regard. I usually quite enjoy Fry's writing, but this piece was sloppy and poorly-researched, if indeed it was researched at all. Disappointing.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- patrickas 15y ago
  That's not how I read the second point. As I understood it, he is saying the fact that Apple is the offensive party in the patent mess is a sad obsequy to Jobs’s otherwise colossal achievements.
  - redthrowaway 15y ago
    Read the second part of the second point again. "but with such gigantic sums of money in so huge a market at stake it is little wonder that others will do all they can to “crack” Apple."
    - gridspy 15y ago
      Steven Fry's point seems to be that others are copying Apple. Apple then asserting its patents is seen as a expected result.
navs 15y ago
Amazing piece. I've always had this mental image of all the tech greats knowing each other personally. I presumed Tim Berners-Lee and Steve Jobs had long discussions over a cup of coffee or beer. I'm somewhat bummed that's not the case.
michaelf 15y ago
“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” -- Steve Jobs I desperately wish I was capable of seeing deeply into the meaning of that statement. I appreciate design, design thinking, human factors, etc..., but not nearly enough to understand it as the "fundamental soul," or how it (what?) expresses (how?) itself (who?). If anyone here can provide a few words, or a pointer to some great communicator of design, I would very much appreciate it.
- Tycho 15y ago
  Well I suppose he could just mean he has some principles in mind about what a device should feel like to own. For instance the iPod, it was such a leap in usefulness of pocket music players, and this was reflected in not just the technology (1000 mp3s) but also the UI and the physical controls and the build quality and the stylishness. I say stylishness because I think that kind of is part of 'usefulness'... it looked cool to be seen with an iPod, esp. with the white headphones. In contrast they could have just been like 'oh, great, we have a harddrive that can hold 1000 songs and still fit in your pocket easily!' and put out something that looked and handled like a brick. But going back to what he wrote, he mentioned interior design, so he was probabaly thinking about architecture. You could have a boring building and make it look nice inside, but isn't it so much better when the architecture itself is amazing and then everything else just builds on that or compliments that.
pigbucket 15y ago
This is a rare and wonderful eulogy. We can nitpick over the details of Fry's grasp of the Apple way, but today it is probably better just to appreciate what Fry gets right about the phenomenon of Steve Jobs. I think one thing he gets right, the thing in any case of most importance to me, is the attitude that Jobs brought to the things he did. The phrase "insanely great" has been knocking about in my brain as a kind of touchstone for that attitude since I first heard it used of the Mac in 84. I was a kid, but the phrase stuck with me, like the voice of conscience, becoming a constant challenge to do better. Beyond the macs and the pods and the phones and the pads, what I feel most grateful to Jobs for is the fact that he supplanted the old clarion cry "good is not good enough" with the much more powerful idea: "great is not great enough." There are other powerful ideas, including the antonymous "Just ship it!" Perhaps the challenge of living well and doing good is to somehow respond to the imperatives implied by both ideas. "Just ship it!" is a useful antidote for the procrastinating and hesitating conscience, but the romantic in me appreciates more the restraints placed on whatever forces lead us to accept mediocrity by having the ideal of the insanely great held before us the proper measure of human achievement.
leandrod 15y ago
Wasn’t ðis ðe guy who has recently advertised for ðe Free Software Foundation? Woman, ðy name is inconstancy…
- philwelch 15y ago
  Bringing back the eth, I see?
- epo 15y ago
  You can support the best of both. Insisting it has to be all free or all commercial is moronic.
- cromulent 15y ago
  Maybe, but for such an entertaining and productive bipolar technology enthusiast, I'm happy to drop the normal consistency requirement.
sgt 15y ago
I used his quote in the short remembrance video of Steve Jobs I made using iMovie last night... If anyone's interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edaQyINe5oQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edaQyINe5oQ
raju 15y ago
The quality I especially revered in him was his refusal to show contempt for his customers by fobbing them off with something that was “good enough”. Whether it was the packaging, the cabling, the use of screen space, the human interfaces, the colours, the flow, the feel, the graphical or textural features, everything had to be improved upon and improved upon until it was, to use the favourite phrase of the early Mac pioneers “insanely great”. It had to be so cool that you gasped. It had to feel good in the hand, look good to the eye and it had to change things. It changed things because it made users want to use the devices as they had never been used before. Steve Jobs once said When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through. The fact that the customer agrees with that is a testament of how deeply Jobs spirit is entrenched in Apple's approach and philosophy.

212 points by apu 15y ago

scott_s 15y ago

Make sure you read the anecdote about Tim Berners-Lee at the bottom.

nazgulnarsil 15y ago
easily the best part.
marquis 15y ago
Reading this on a mac, via the internet.. what a powerful story at this time to come across. It made me look up and out the window and wonder: what is the future of my work? It reminds me to stretch my vision to 10, 20, 50 years into the future (though, if I presume to see 5 years into the future of tech I'd be happy..)

revorad 15y ago

What a fitting tribute from the only other artist whose death is certain to make me cry. I hope it never happens.

TheSOB88 15y ago
It may, some day.
- scorpion032 15y ago
  It will. Some day.
  - TheSOB88 15y ago
    Perhaps.

elmomalmo 15y ago

Stephen Fry has a talent with the written word that rarely disappoints. Of the many articles, obituaries and anecdotes about Steve Jobs I've read today, that one is the most compelling read.

hackermom 15y ago

I like the "awful prophets/awesome profits" contrast. Cleverly phrased. It really underlines the truth about the tremendous success Apple has with all kinds of people, all over the world, no matter what all the "haters" say.

redthrowaway 15y ago

You know, I'm generally a huge fan of Fry's, but this article left much to be desired. He was simply factually wrong on a great many points. "If different companies are making the firmware, software, chips, screens, operating system, radios and cases the results will always be far less coherent and usable devices." I hope he's just being sloppy with his language (unlikely for Fry) and not actually suggesting that Apple makes all of these components. The latter would suggest an insufficient level of familiarity with the products he extols to be taken seriously. He sounds very much like the ignorant "fanboi" he laments that some will call him. "The frustratingly silly patent wars that are raging around the world between Google, Samsung, Apple and dozens of other companies would be a sad obsequy to Jobs’s colossal achievements, but with such gigantic sums of money in so huge a market at stake it is little wonder that others will do all they can to “crack” Apple." What? He seems to think that Apple is the defensive party in the patent mess? Again, a disconnect from reality that is disappointing from someone I hold in such high regard. I usually quite enjoy Fry's writing, but this piece was sloppy and poorly-researched, if indeed it was researched at all. Disappointing.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
patrickas 15y ago
That's not how I read the second point. As I understood it, he is saying the fact that Apple is the offensive party in the patent mess is a sad obsequy to Jobs’s otherwise colossal achievements.
- redthrowaway 15y ago
  Read the second part of the second point again. "but with such gigantic sums of money in so huge a market at stake it is little wonder that others will do all they can to “crack” Apple."
  - gridspy 15y ago
    Steven Fry's point seems to be that others are copying Apple. Apple then asserting its patents is seen as a expected result.

navs 15y ago

Amazing piece. I've always had this mental image of all the tech greats knowing each other personally. I presumed Tim Berners-Lee and Steve Jobs had long discussions over a cup of coffee or beer. I'm somewhat bummed that's not the case.

michaelf 15y ago

“In most people’s vocabularies, design means veneer. It’s interior decorating. It’s the fabric of the curtains and the sofa. But to me, nothing could be further from the meaning of design. Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service.” -- Steve Jobs I desperately wish I was capable of seeing deeply into the meaning of that statement. I appreciate design, design thinking, human factors, etc..., but not nearly enough to understand it as the "fundamental soul," or how it (what?) expresses (how?) itself (who?). If anyone here can provide a few words, or a pointer to some great communicator of design, I would very much appreciate it.

Tycho 15y ago
Well I suppose he could just mean he has some principles in mind about what a device should feel like to own. For instance the iPod, it was such a leap in usefulness of pocket music players, and this was reflected in not just the technology (1000 mp3s) but also the UI and the physical controls and the build quality and the stylishness. I say stylishness because I think that kind of is part of 'usefulness'... it looked cool to be seen with an iPod, esp. with the white headphones. In contrast they could have just been like 'oh, great, we have a harddrive that can hold 1000 songs and still fit in your pocket easily!' and put out something that looked and handled like a brick. But going back to what he wrote, he mentioned interior design, so he was probabaly thinking about architecture. You could have a boring building and make it look nice inside, but isn't it so much better when the architecture itself is amazing and then everything else just builds on that or compliments that.

pigbucket 15y ago

This is a rare and wonderful eulogy. We can nitpick over the details of Fry's grasp of the Apple way, but today it is probably better just to appreciate what Fry gets right about the phenomenon of Steve Jobs. I think one thing he gets right, the thing in any case of most importance to me, is the attitude that Jobs brought to the things he did. The phrase "insanely great" has been knocking about in my brain as a kind of touchstone for that attitude since I first heard it used of the Mac in 84. I was a kid, but the phrase stuck with me, like the voice of conscience, becoming a constant challenge to do better. Beyond the macs and the pods and the phones and the pads, what I feel most grateful to Jobs for is the fact that he supplanted the old clarion cry "good is not good enough" with the much more powerful idea: "great is not great enough." There are other powerful ideas, including the antonymous "Just ship it!" Perhaps the challenge of living well and doing good is to somehow respond to the imperatives implied by both ideas. "Just ship it!" is a useful antidote for the procrastinating and hesitating conscience, but the romantic in me appreciates more the restraints placed on whatever forces lead us to accept mediocrity by having the ideal of the insanely great held before us the proper measure of human achievement.

leandrod 15y ago

Wasn’t ðis ðe guy who has recently advertised for ðe Free Software Foundation? Woman, ðy name is inconstancy…

philwelch 15y ago
Bringing back the eth, I see?
epo 15y ago
You can support the best of both. Insisting it has to be all free or all commercial is moronic.
cromulent 15y ago
Maybe, but for such an entertaining and productive bipolar technology enthusiast, I'm happy to drop the normal consistency requirement.

sgt 15y ago

I used his quote in the short remembrance video of Steve Jobs I made using iMovie last night... If anyone's interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edaQyINe5oQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edaQyINe5oQ

raju 15y ago

The quality I especially revered in him was his refusal to show contempt for his customers by fobbing them off with something that was “good enough”. Whether it was the packaging, the cabling, the use of screen space, the human interfaces, the colours, the flow, the feel, the graphical or textural features, everything had to be improved upon and improved upon until it was, to use the favourite phrase of the early Mac pioneers “insanely great”. It had to be so cool that you gasped. It had to feel good in the hand, look good to the eye and it had to change things. It changed things because it made users want to use the devices as they had never been used before. Steve Jobs once said When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through. The fact that the customer agrees with that is a testament of how deeply Jobs spirit is entrenched in Apple's approach and philosophy.