8 ms·

I think this anecdote might help explain Jobs's success. There is a tendency when one is running or developing a product to convince yourself that your efforts

by agarden 12y ago

I think this anecdote might help explain Jobs's success. There is a tendency when one is running or developing a product to convince yourself that your efforts are producing a genuinely good product that your customers will like. Frequently that isn't true, and the product is rightly trashed by the outsiders. The thing is, the people on the inside would have trashed it too if they had not been insiders. Jobs seems to have had the ability to resist this self-deception. He was ruthlessly honest about how good the things Apple was making actually were and not at all afraid to reject things because some aspect was poor.

LanceH 12y ago
He really nailed it with the mouse.
- mhurron 12y ago
  Yep, this thing was beautiful http://cdn.mactrast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-11-27-puck.png http://cdn.mactrast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-11-2... Apples design is hit and miss like everyone else.
  - analog31 12y ago
    My carpal tunnels ache just looking at it.
    - graeme 12y ago
      I agree with you. I could never use Apple mice. I hurt my arm muscles typing a few years back. Haven't been able to use them since. (fixed the arm problem with physio and massage) However, the apple trackpad on my macbook air seems to work great. I like this more than even ordinary mice, which can sometimes aggravate the issue.
      - yellowapple 12y ago
        I personally swear by Logitech's trackball mice (the ones where the trackball is operated with the thumb); less wrist movement involved, meaning less strain there. In contrast, my wrist hurts just thinking about the Mighty Mouse or whatever it's called.
        protomyth 12y ago
        I was very unhappy to find they don't sell the wired version anymore, only the non-Bluetooth wireless. Glad I bought a couple.
        Turing_Machine 12y ago
        Yes and yes. I hate it when I find a product that's perfect for my needs and then it gets discontinued. The Logitech trackball was one of them. It's one of those tools that (after you get used to it) just becomes an extension of your hand. The wireless (which is what I'm using at the moment) is okay, but it's not the same. I've got some dead ones in the junk pile. When I get some time I'm going to see if I can cobble together a working unit from them.
        mjcohen 12y ago
        I have both, and I prefer the wireless. No cords, the battery lasts a long time, and I can program it on my Mac so that, when using Chrome, the extra buttons click on a link, open the link in a new tab, and switch to that tab. When will Chrome offer the option of switching to a new tab when its link is clicked on? Firefox has had it forever.
        59nadir 12y ago
        > When will Chrome offer the option of switching to a new tab when its link is clicked on? Firefox has had it forever. When will the big browsers be programmable? I'm currently running uzbl[0] because I want to set my own hotkeys in my browser. I tried 4 different 'emacs bindings' extensions for other browsers until I just figured out that none of these is gonna get it completely right. The good thing in all of this is that I now control the behavior and features of my browser myself. I've made features that wouldn't even be possible in Firefox/Chrome. Not because it should be all that hard, but because they just don't let you actually do anything with them. Browsers are pretty much like e-mail clients. They all suck. Some suck less than others, but it's actually striking how bad the sum total of all the browsers' usability is. Ironically I had to switch to a browser that wasn't trying to be a modern browser to get the browser experience that I wanted. Links: [0] - http://www.uzbl.org/ http://www.uzbl.org/
    - leppr 12y ago
      That's because your upper-arm length is disproportionately different from Steve Jobs'. Apple doesn't design for the handicapped.
  - sambeau 12y ago
    I loved that mouse. It was the most comfortable mouse I ever had and, if held correctly, you could fling it about with real accuracy. I was sad when they replaced it.
- chipotle_coyote 12y ago
  There are some people who really love Apple's mice, even the notorious "hockey puck" one. (Which to be fair was actually pretty comfortable to use, assuming you ever got the damn thing pointing the right way.) I'm not one of them, but I'm not really a huge fan of mice, period -- and their current weirdo mouse-with-touch-surface certainly offers a lot of gesture control, and it's not that uncomfortable. (Granted, "The Apple Mouse: Hey, you've used worse" isn't a very compelling slogan.)
  - leoc 12y ago
    The hockey-puck mouse would have been a lot nicer to use had it been wireless. The small, round body didn't provide a good grip for wrestling with that stiff cable.
  - jjoonathan 12y ago
    > even the notorious "hockey puck" one I've always wondered why people hate on it so much -- even if someone prefers to point with their arm rather than their fingers, surely they can understand the appeal of using fingers to point at things?
    - sukilot 12y ago
      Fingerpointing is touchscreen. The puck mouse was just awkward pushing with fingers.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
Dylan16807 12y ago
Being able to tell the difference between the tiniest of arbitrary changes doesn't mean it's better. The anecdote could equally show how he's pointlessly stubborn. All the praise in your comment only really works if the change is a clear improvement.

by agarden 12y ago

LanceH 12y ago

He really nailed it with the mouse.

mhurron 12y ago
Yep, this thing was beautiful http://cdn.mactrast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-11-27-puck.png http://cdn.mactrast.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/2012-11-2... Apples design is hit and miss like everyone else.
- analog31 12y ago
  My carpal tunnels ache just looking at it.
  - graeme 12y ago
    I agree with you. I could never use Apple mice. I hurt my arm muscles typing a few years back. Haven't been able to use them since. (fixed the arm problem with physio and massage) However, the apple trackpad on my macbook air seems to work great. I like this more than even ordinary mice, which can sometimes aggravate the issue.
    - yellowapple 12y ago
      I personally swear by Logitech's trackball mice (the ones where the trackball is operated with the thumb); less wrist movement involved, meaning less strain there. In contrast, my wrist hurts just thinking about the Mighty Mouse or whatever it's called.
      - protomyth 12y ago
        I was very unhappy to find they don't sell the wired version anymore, only the non-Bluetooth wireless. Glad I bought a couple.
        Turing_Machine 12y ago
        Yes and yes. I hate it when I find a product that's perfect for my needs and then it gets discontinued. The Logitech trackball was one of them. It's one of those tools that (after you get used to it) just becomes an extension of your hand. The wireless (which is what I'm using at the moment) is okay, but it's not the same. I've got some dead ones in the junk pile. When I get some time I'm going to see if I can cobble together a working unit from them.
        mjcohen 12y ago
        I have both, and I prefer the wireless. No cords, the battery lasts a long time, and I can program it on my Mac so that, when using Chrome, the extra buttons click on a link, open the link in a new tab, and switch to that tab. When will Chrome offer the option of switching to a new tab when its link is clicked on? Firefox has had it forever.
        59nadir 12y ago
        > When will Chrome offer the option of switching to a new tab when its link is clicked on? Firefox has had it forever. When will the big browsers be programmable? I'm currently running uzbl[0] because I want to set my own hotkeys in my browser. I tried 4 different 'emacs bindings' extensions for other browsers until I just figured out that none of these is gonna get it completely right. The good thing in all of this is that I now control the behavior and features of my browser myself. I've made features that wouldn't even be possible in Firefox/Chrome. Not because it should be all that hard, but because they just don't let you actually do anything with them. Browsers are pretty much like e-mail clients. They all suck. Some suck less than others, but it's actually striking how bad the sum total of all the browsers' usability is. Ironically I had to switch to a browser that wasn't trying to be a modern browser to get the browser experience that I wanted. Links: [0] - http://www.uzbl.org/ http://www.uzbl.org/
  - leppr 12y ago
    That's because your upper-arm length is disproportionately different from Steve Jobs'. Apple doesn't design for the handicapped.
- sambeau 12y ago
  I loved that mouse. It was the most comfortable mouse I ever had and, if held correctly, you could fling it about with real accuracy. I was sad when they replaced it.
chipotle_coyote 12y ago
There are some people who really love Apple's mice, even the notorious "hockey puck" one. (Which to be fair was actually pretty comfortable to use, assuming you ever got the damn thing pointing the right way.) I'm not one of them, but I'm not really a huge fan of mice, period -- and their current weirdo mouse-with-touch-surface certainly offers a lot of gesture control, and it's not that uncomfortable. (Granted, "The Apple Mouse: Hey, you've used worse" isn't a very compelling slogan.)
- leoc 12y ago
  The hockey-puck mouse would have been a lot nicer to use had it been wireless. The small, round body didn't provide a good grip for wrestling with that stiff cable.
- jjoonathan 12y ago
  > even the notorious "hockey puck" one I've always wondered why people hate on it so much -- even if someone prefers to point with their arm rather than their fingers, surely they can understand the appeal of using fingers to point at things?
  - sukilot 12y ago
    Fingerpointing is touchscreen. The puck mouse was just awkward pushing with fingers.

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

Dylan16807 12y ago

Being able to tell the difference between the tiniest of arbitrary changes doesn't mean it's better. The anecdote could equally show how he's pointlessly stubborn. All the praise in your comment only really works if the change is a clear improvement.