Vintage Steve Jobs footage on Apple (1980)(computerhistory.org)
computerhistory.org
Vintage Steve Jobs footage on Apple (1980)
http://www.computerhistory.org/highlights/stevejobs/video/
23 comments
>Don't get me wrong - I love to see how the iPad just shattered the barrier of entry for non-technical users, even though I'm a FOSS guy. But I do think that it was at too great (and an unnecessarily so) a cost to the understanding of that technology.
25+ years ago, s/iPad/AppleII\/Mac)/. Was Mac too great and unnecessary cost?
I'm not an Apple fun. The Apple philosophy (and prices) has always been foreign to me. Yet, it isn't possible to dismiss the fact that back then they paved the way for the ubiqutous cheap commodity "inferior to Mac" PC and these days they did it again for these "inferior to iPhone/iPad" devices
http://www.everbuying.com/Wholesale-Notebook-UMPC-MID-b-815....
Some analogy comes with icebreaker ships - they have so much unnecessary stuff, so overbuilt, have so low utility ... until it comes to the 2m thick ice.
25+ years ago, s/iPad/AppleII\/Mac)/. Was Mac too great and unnecessary cost?
I'm not an Apple fun. The Apple philosophy (and prices) has always been foreign to me. Yet, it isn't possible to dismiss the fact that back then they paved the way for the ubiqutous cheap commodity "inferior to Mac" PC and these days they did it again for these "inferior to iPhone/iPad" devices
http://www.everbuying.com/Wholesale-Notebook-UMPC-MID-b-815....
Some analogy comes with icebreaker ships - they have so much unnecessary stuff, so overbuilt, have so low utility ... until it comes to the 2m thick ice.
I was not talking about price. I was talking about the cost of removing, from the consumer, access to tinker with the technology.
That's exactly the part that stuck out to me, too (2:36 for the curious, and again at 3:05).
It makes him look like a complete hypocrite. It's not unique to Steve Jobs; it's human nature. But it's still kind of distasteful to see.
It makes him look like a complete hypocrite. It's not unique to Steve Jobs; it's human nature. But it's still kind of distasteful to see.
I wouldn't got as far as saying that it makes him look like a complete hypocrite. After all, much of the rest of the talk, he makes no secret of his business-sense ("saw dollar signs"). To me, Mr. Jobs was above all a pragmatist, which is how he can reconcile both the hacking in his early and the position against hacking in his later career.
I suppose it's all just part of the natural circle-of-life thing - in his later days, he would probably just brush off questions about this with "being young and wild" or something similar. This change of focus is typical for a matured businessman and puts him at a disadvantage against fresh entrepreneurs and innovators. But that's just how the world turns.
I suppose it's all just part of the natural circle-of-life thing - in his later days, he would probably just brush off questions about this with "being young and wild" or something similar. This change of focus is typical for a matured businessman and puts him at a disadvantage against fresh entrepreneurs and innovators. But that's just how the world turns.
Steve Jobs was definitely not a pragmatist. He believed there is a moral dimension to his work and products.
Those are not mutually exclusive. He certainly cared about the moral dimension, but it was never a priority. He always introduced as much of his moral dimension as possible, which is what he deserves credit for.
But again - that's a pragmatic thing to do. He'd never let it ruin good business. In fact, quite the opposite is true - he did embrace it if it was good business.
But again - that's a pragmatic thing to do. He'd never let it ruin good business. In fact, quite the opposite is true - he did embrace it if it was good business.
Well, they are contraries as you present it, and they aren't mutually exclusive only insofar as someone is being inconsistent. "Pragmatic" usually means someone who doesn't act on principle, who is willing to be inconsistent to satisfy his desires, etc.
I don't know if I can prove it but I think the moral had priority for Steve. This can be seen most clearly in his anger in certain cases (like the Gizmodo phone theft, or his view that Android was intellectual theft), in which he stated explicitly that he would rather act on principle rather than do the pragmatic thing, e.g. (paraphrasing) "I would rather give up the company than let them get away with this." But it can also be seen in other cases as well.
I think he was unusually consistent and principled, but with an unusual conception about what is morally right. I don't think he saw making money as pragmatic and bringing technology to the masses as moral, for example. I think he saw shaping the world according to his vision as moral, and thought both money and technology played an important role in that.
I don't know if I can prove it but I think the moral had priority for Steve. This can be seen most clearly in his anger in certain cases (like the Gizmodo phone theft, or his view that Android was intellectual theft), in which he stated explicitly that he would rather act on principle rather than do the pragmatic thing, e.g. (paraphrasing) "I would rather give up the company than let them get away with this." But it can also be seen in other cases as well.
I think he was unusually consistent and principled, but with an unusual conception about what is morally right. I don't think he saw making money as pragmatic and bringing technology to the masses as moral, for example. I think he saw shaping the world according to his vision as moral, and thought both money and technology played an important role in that.
I go by the wiktionary definition here: "Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory". To me, "pragmatic" does not carry any negative connotation.
Say for instance when Apple changed to greener manufacturing technology. They didn't do that outright, in fact, it took long years of public scrutiny to tip the scales to a direction where selling "green" technology was actually a smart business decision. In a way, they had to play the game that way and they often do - by keeping their position undefined until there is an opportunity to make a big statement to differentiate themselves. Now, other companies making similar pledges carry no meaning anymore.
I don't think that the "intellectual theft" in terms of Android really amounts to much but hot air to please stockholders. The facts certainly do not justify his anger. Over all the years, Apple has had to suffer a very basic issue - they do existing things, just a lot more refined. (To me, most of Apples innovation is in how they sell technology, not in what it is or does.) There is tons of prior art that they built upon themselves and being that outraged by the case of android following in their footsteps is simply not logical.
Like any salesman, Mr. Jobs did not like to show his cards, as there is always a necessary amount of building-on-sand-near-water, when you create theater like he did to sell his products. And I believe that's also the reason why he was so enraged by the Gizmodo phone theft. Not because his morals were hurt. It was that people messed with his game.
I also don't think that he saw "bringing technology to the masses" as moral, but it sure is a good way to sell technology. His beliefs about empowering people with technology may or may not have been important to him, but he sure selected them and portrayed them as means to a certain end.
So yes, maybe we only differ on our definition of pragmatic. I agree that his big thing was following his vision, but I maintain that to realize that vision, he had to make a lot of very pragmatic decisions. Turning his "inspired" hacker youth into a walled-garden adulthood is a sign of that to me.
Say for instance when Apple changed to greener manufacturing technology. They didn't do that outright, in fact, it took long years of public scrutiny to tip the scales to a direction where selling "green" technology was actually a smart business decision. In a way, they had to play the game that way and they often do - by keeping their position undefined until there is an opportunity to make a big statement to differentiate themselves. Now, other companies making similar pledges carry no meaning anymore.
I don't think that the "intellectual theft" in terms of Android really amounts to much but hot air to please stockholders. The facts certainly do not justify his anger. Over all the years, Apple has had to suffer a very basic issue - they do existing things, just a lot more refined. (To me, most of Apples innovation is in how they sell technology, not in what it is or does.) There is tons of prior art that they built upon themselves and being that outraged by the case of android following in their footsteps is simply not logical.
Like any salesman, Mr. Jobs did not like to show his cards, as there is always a necessary amount of building-on-sand-near-water, when you create theater like he did to sell his products. And I believe that's also the reason why he was so enraged by the Gizmodo phone theft. Not because his morals were hurt. It was that people messed with his game.
I also don't think that he saw "bringing technology to the masses" as moral, but it sure is a good way to sell technology. His beliefs about empowering people with technology may or may not have been important to him, but he sure selected them and portrayed them as means to a certain end.
So yes, maybe we only differ on our definition of pragmatic. I agree that his big thing was following his vision, but I maintain that to realize that vision, he had to make a lot of very pragmatic decisions. Turning his "inspired" hacker youth into a walled-garden adulthood is a sign of that to me.
I just finished reading his biography, so it's interesting to see the young Steve. For historical context, their main products at the time were the Apple II and Apple III, so this was before the GUI / Lisa / Mac.
It's interesting to see how many of the same anecdotes he reuses. I think this must be the fourth time I've heard him tell the "bicycle" story.
on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lvMgMrNDlg
Thanks this link works on iOS
It's something to see how people asked "What we've got right now is just fine, VisiCalc runs fast enough. Some of the database stuff runs fast enough. What are we going to do with this extra awesome power?" and what Jobs' response was.
He wanted to use that power to get that one-on-one interaction go smoother, which is what exactly it look like he did, up to the iPad.
It's also interesting that he mentioned the possibility of World War III, which was indeed on people's minds at the time.
He wanted to use that power to get that one-on-one interaction go smoother, which is what exactly it look like he did, up to the iPad.
It's also interesting that he mentioned the possibility of World War III, which was indeed on people's minds at the time.
We attract people on the basis of an opportunity to work your butt off and get it done right, and see it get out the door without getting all screwed up.
I wish someone had said this out loud in my presence a long time ago. It's always been the most important thing about my satisfaction with employment, but I honestly hadn't really 100% understood how important it was to me until working at my current gig (some 12 years into my career).
But yeah. That. Exactly that.
I wish someone had said this out loud in my presence a long time ago. It's always been the most important thing about my satisfaction with employment, but I honestly hadn't really 100% understood how important it was to me until working at my current gig (some 12 years into my career).
But yeah. That. Exactly that.
I've managed to do that throughout my career... until my current position. And not shipping, let alone not shipping quality, has been the biggest hit on my morale.
For me, quitting the day job to return to being my own boss is very much about re-focusing on shipping quality. It's less about the chance to be rich, and more about a chance to feel proud in what I've accomplished.
Job satisfaction is such an undefined term, but this is a big part of that definition for me.
For me, quitting the day job to return to being my own boss is very much about re-focusing on shipping quality. It's less about the chance to be rich, and more about a chance to feel proud in what I've accomplished.
Job satisfaction is such an undefined term, but this is a big part of that definition for me.
Fantastic! I highly recommend watching the bit starting from 2:30. It goes against the myth of Steve Jobs as having a magical talent for envisioning finished products.
He says that when they started out: -They had no idea what people would use these things for -Designed for 6 months and finally built their first computer -All their friends wanted one, but it took 40 hours to build and debug a single machine -They spent all their spare time helping their friends build computers -So they decided to print circuit boards and sell them, to cut down assembly to 5-10 hours -They scrounged up $1300 to have a circuit board laid out -One day, when Jobs was out selling circuit boards, he met someone who wanted to buy 50, but insisted that the machines be fully assembled -And so on...
Quite a different story than the usual version, which portrays Jobs as a natural genius of knowing exactly what people want before they knew themselves.
He says that when they started out: -They had no idea what people would use these things for -Designed for 6 months and finally built their first computer -All their friends wanted one, but it took 40 hours to build and debug a single machine -They spent all their spare time helping their friends build computers -So they decided to print circuit boards and sell them, to cut down assembly to 5-10 hours -They scrounged up $1300 to have a circuit board laid out -One day, when Jobs was out selling circuit boards, he met someone who wanted to buy 50, but insisted that the machines be fully assembled -And so on...
Quite a different story than the usual version, which portrays Jobs as a natural genius of knowing exactly what people want before they knew themselves.
Liberated some parts from HP
Like Jobs, I hope I'll have a bit more insight at age fifty than at age twenty.
a master communicator and inspirer
I love at 19:50 when he's talking about diversifying Apple's product line to have a bunch of different computers that each have a different emphasis in interaction. Not only does it sound like he's describing a business model that lends itself to creating something like the iPad, but he even uses the exact same car/truck metaphor he ended up using to describe the difference between the Mac and the iPad.
Don't get me wrong - I love to see how the iPad just shattered the barrier of entry for non-technical users, even though I'm a FOSS guy. But I do think that it was at too great (and an unnecessarily so) a cost to the understanding of that technology.
[edit]Oh yeah, forgot to say: A post mildly critical of Mr. Jobs - Keep the downvotes coming!