8 ms·

The Full Walter Isaacson/Steve Jobs Interview From 60 Minutes

147 points by sachitgupta 15y ago

bgramer 15y ago
It's great that CBS put this online for everyone to view, but I really wish they added captions/subtitles to the video clips. If it's hard to do, why not just add a text transcript so that deaf people like me can understand what's being said?
- willifred 15y ago
  Your wish has been granted. There's a full text transcript here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-20124391/steve-jobs-revelations-from-a-tech-giant/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-20124391/steve-jobs-re...
  - bgramer 15y ago
    Thank you so much for this great find! I really appreciate it.
js2 15y ago
Sigh, Videos require Flash.
andrewpi 15y ago
Here are the official CBS YouTube links for those that prefer that method: One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jqSK8Qv4ZY&feature=channel_video_title http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jqSK8Qv4ZY&feature=chann... Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXcfDN6L9d8&feature=channel_video_title http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXcfDN6L9d8&feature=chann...
- davidmathers 15y ago
  Three: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385608n http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385608n
lichengcai 15y ago
Thanks you, very useful!
DonnyV 15y ago
What I get from this interview is that Steve Jobs was a self centered control freak. That eventually died because of it. Not sure why anyone worships this man.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- davidcollantes 15y ago
  Why anyone worships Jesus, or a god? Are you sure of that? Note: I do not worship Jobs, just pointing out the --rather-- obvious.
adrianwaj 15y ago
Note for hackers: your hero was a non-technical co-founder.
- adgar 15y ago
  Few hackers - by which I assume you mean engineers or developers - consider Steve Jobs a "hero." Most would agree he created wonderful products that changed the world, but he isn't much of a hero to a software or hardware hacker. Because as you note, he wasn't technical. Woz is the geek god of the two, because he was building cheap, full fucking computers in a damn garage, by himself. Dennis Ritchie was a hero. Not Steve Jobs. If anything, hackers are more likely than most to respond negatively to Steve's recent approach toward mobile platforms and use of IP in business... which are the sorts of alienating decisions a technical co-founder can make. If by "hackers" you meant "people who want to make product(s) for a startup and learned a few things about code to hack out a prototype," you might be more on-target.
  - GHFigs 15y ago
    More and more it seems like "hacker" is a religious or ideological term and not an occupational description.
  - codex 15y ago
    I might be hauled before the Politcal Committee for the Advancement of the Revolution for saying this, but please speak for yourself. I am a hacker and by boyhood hero was Steve. He was an artist whose medium was technology. It doesn't get more hacker-like than that to me.
    - adgar 15y ago
      > I am a hacker and by boyhood hero was Steve. He was an artist whose medium was technology. It doesn't get more hacker-like than that to me. This is why I predicated my post on the definition of "hacker." If we're going with the 2011, mainstream meaning of the word, where CEOs can be hackers because they help create amazing technology, then I have no input. Go ahead and hack your life, make some awesome music by hacking your violin, hack whatever you like.
6ren 15y ago
We specifically picked you out. Awesome parents.
cantbecool 15y ago
That episode of 60 Minutes was fantastic, and the audio from Walter's interviews with Jobs was surprising. The best part of the program was the fact that Steve Jobs actually met his biological father years before knowing who his biological father truly was.
baddox 15y ago
Could that video player have been any worse? To click the fullscreen button, you literally have to click on the darkened pixels of the icon. It's not a rectangular click area.
Steko 15y ago
Not to rain on Walter Isaacson's parade as he sells more copies of this then all biographies combined over the last 10+ years* but when asking Steve about how he didn't care about money that might have been a great time for a professional journalist (head of CNN, Time) to follow up and ask why he cheated Woz out of a few hundred dollars on Breakout (or Kottke, I'm sure there are others). I haven't read the book yet so he maybe he does and there are some obvious answers (like "that was a mistake and part of why I later rejected my wealth") but that question really should have been asked. * Mao and Jesus not included. Go crazy with that, Apple haters.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- mahyarm 15y ago
  Just like after a certain point, money doesn't make you happier, but before that point it makes you more happier, I think Steve was at a point in his finances that more money would make him happier. That set point is usually what gives you a comfortable life, transportation, a private space you can call your own and the reasonable ability to buy what you need, and security that you'll always be able to have that. A nice upper middle class life style basically.
  - kitsune_ 15y ago
    Well, that is true with almost everyone. It doesn't lead many people to cheat on their business partners however.
- ghshephard 15y ago
  Issacson puts that question directly to a number of people in the book, including Steve Jobs - Jobs claims not to remember having shorted Woz on the bonus. At the time, Jobs likely needed the money for a trip to All One Farm to help prepare for the apple harvest. I think Woz summarized it best: "Jobs is a complex person and being manipulative is just the darker facet of the traits that make him successful"
  - 15y ago
hopeless 15y ago
I'm not familiar with the "60 Minutes" programme, but is there really only 28mins of content? (15min + 13min videos)
- yardie 15y ago
  The Isaacson interview is the first half hour, the second half is the use of iPads in helping autistic kids communicate (it says tablets but it appears all or most of the software is iOS based).
  - hopeless 15y ago
    Cool, thanks. I really couldn't believe that it was 32minutes of ad breaks!
blinkingled 15y ago
I am 16% into my Kindle copy of the biography and so far the only thing that has bugged me is how cold Steve was with Daniel Kottke. He just flat out refused giving him any stock and seemed to discourage others too when they tried giving part of their own stock. I could understand why he might not have given Wozniak the bonus - at least he gave half of the rest and may be he needed money badly. But the Kottke thing is just unexplainable. Wozniak finally ended up giving some of his options to many other neglected ones including Kottke. The book is definitely worth a read just in case anyone was still on the fence.

147 points by sachitgupta 15y ago

It's great that CBS put this online for everyone to view, but I really wish they added captions/subtitles to the video clips. If it's hard to do, why not just add a text transcript so that deaf people like me can understand what's being said?

willifred 15y ago
Your wish has been granted. There's a full text transcript here: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-20124391/steve-jobs-revelations-from-a-tech-giant/ http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-20124391/steve-jobs-re...
- bgramer 15y ago
  Thank you so much for this great find! I really appreciate it.

js2 15y ago

Sigh, Videos require Flash.

andrewpi 15y ago

Here are the official CBS YouTube links for those that prefer that method: One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jqSK8Qv4ZY&feature=channel_video_title http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jqSK8Qv4ZY&feature=chann... Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXcfDN6L9d8&feature=channel_video_title http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXcfDN6L9d8&feature=chann...

davidmathers 15y ago
Three: http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385608n http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7385608n

lichengcai 15y ago

Thanks you, very useful!

DonnyV 15y ago

What I get from this interview is that Steve Jobs was a self centered control freak. That eventually died because of it. Not sure why anyone worships this man.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
davidcollantes 15y ago
Why anyone worships Jesus, or a god? Are you sure of that? Note: I do not worship Jobs, just pointing out the --rather-- obvious.

adrianwaj 15y ago

Note for hackers: your hero was a non-technical co-founder.

adgar 15y ago
Few hackers - by which I assume you mean engineers or developers - consider Steve Jobs a "hero." Most would agree he created wonderful products that changed the world, but he isn't much of a hero to a software or hardware hacker. Because as you note, he wasn't technical. Woz is the geek god of the two, because he was building cheap, full fucking computers in a damn garage, by himself. Dennis Ritchie was a hero. Not Steve Jobs. If anything, hackers are more likely than most to respond negatively to Steve's recent approach toward mobile platforms and use of IP in business... which are the sorts of alienating decisions a technical co-founder can make. If by "hackers" you meant "people who want to make product(s) for a startup and learned a few things about code to hack out a prototype," you might be more on-target.
- GHFigs 15y ago
  More and more it seems like "hacker" is a religious or ideological term and not an occupational description.
- codex 15y ago
  I might be hauled before the Politcal Committee for the Advancement of the Revolution for saying this, but please speak for yourself. I am a hacker and by boyhood hero was Steve. He was an artist whose medium was technology. It doesn't get more hacker-like than that to me.
  - adgar 15y ago
    > I am a hacker and by boyhood hero was Steve. He was an artist whose medium was technology. It doesn't get more hacker-like than that to me. This is why I predicated my post on the definition of "hacker." If we're going with the 2011, mainstream meaning of the word, where CEOs can be hackers because they help create amazing technology, then I have no input. Go ahead and hack your life, make some awesome music by hacking your violin, hack whatever you like.

6ren 15y ago

We specifically picked you out. Awesome parents.

cantbecool 15y ago

That episode of 60 Minutes was fantastic, and the audio from Walter's interviews with Jobs was surprising. The best part of the program was the fact that Steve Jobs actually met his biological father years before knowing who his biological father truly was.

baddox 15y ago

Could that video player have been any worse? To click the fullscreen button, you literally have to click on the darkened pixels of the icon. It's not a rectangular click area.

Steko 15y ago

Not to rain on Walter Isaacson's parade as he sells more copies of this then all biographies combined over the last 10+ years* but when asking Steve about how he didn't care about money that might have been a great time for a professional journalist (head of CNN, Time) to follow up and ask why he cheated Woz out of a few hundred dollars on Breakout (or Kottke, I'm sure there are others). I haven't read the book yet so he maybe he does and there are some obvious answers (like "that was a mistake and part of why I later rejected my wealth") but that question really should have been asked. * Mao and Jesus not included. Go crazy with that, Apple haters.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
mahyarm 15y ago
Just like after a certain point, money doesn't make you happier, but before that point it makes you more happier, I think Steve was at a point in his finances that more money would make him happier. That set point is usually what gives you a comfortable life, transportation, a private space you can call your own and the reasonable ability to buy what you need, and security that you'll always be able to have that. A nice upper middle class life style basically.
- kitsune_ 15y ago
  Well, that is true with almost everyone. It doesn't lead many people to cheat on their business partners however.
ghshephard 15y ago
Issacson puts that question directly to a number of people in the book, including Steve Jobs - Jobs claims not to remember having shorted Woz on the bonus. At the time, Jobs likely needed the money for a trip to All One Farm to help prepare for the apple harvest. I think Woz summarized it best: "Jobs is a complex person and being manipulative is just the darker facet of the traits that make him successful"
- 15y ago

hopeless 15y ago

I'm not familiar with the "60 Minutes" programme, but is there really only 28mins of content? (15min + 13min videos)

yardie 15y ago
The Isaacson interview is the first half hour, the second half is the use of iPads in helping autistic kids communicate (it says tablets but it appears all or most of the software is iOS based).
- hopeless 15y ago
  Cool, thanks. I really couldn't believe that it was 32minutes of ad breaks!

blinkingled 15y ago

I am 16% into my Kindle copy of the biography and so far the only thing that has bugged me is how cold Steve was with Daniel Kottke. He just flat out refused giving him any stock and seemed to discourage others too when they tried giving part of their own stock. I could understand why he might not have given Wozniak the bonus - at least he gave half of the rest and may be he needed money badly. But the Kottke thing is just unexplainable. Wozniak finally ended up giving some of his options to many other neglected ones including Kottke. The book is definitely worth a read just in case anyone was still on the fence.