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Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

playboy.co.uk

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Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#11

Post by celoyd »

patrickaljord wrote: post #9
celoyd wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

His consistency seems really important to me, but it isn’t as remarked upon as, for example, his perfectionism. When you look at Apple’s product timeline, you can see he’s always thinking several years ahead. Plenty of good products were just bridges to great products. Some products didn’t make any sense until later. Probably one reason that people like to speculate about Apple’s plans is that Apple actually uses pla…

> I doubt Microsoft or Google could give more accurate pictures of where they’ll be in 10 years. I doubt that 10 years ago SJ could have guessed Apple would make money mostly on phones and music player.

I bet he had a pretty good idea. Looking back on the way products were introduced, I think it’s the theory that best fits the facts. (Of course there was also some luck – Jobs is smart but not magic.)

Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#12

Post by comatose_kid »

Talking about Commodore & Atari 8 bit machines: "I consider those a brochure for why you should buy an Apple II or Macintosh. I think people have already determined that the sub-$500 computers don't do very much. They either tease people to want more or frustrate people completely."

Seems like he's believed that you can't make a good computer at the $500 price point for a long time now (his take on netbooks is pretty much the same).

Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#13

Post by delackner »

Some really amazing quotes in there including some off the cuff observations that became truly prescient:

"If, for some reason, we make some giant mistakes and IBM wins, my personal feeling is that we are going to enter sort of a computer Dark Ages for about 20 years."

iPhone, OS X growing like wild today. About... 20 years after he said that. And Mac OS 9 (yes, the mac also started to suck), Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows XP, Windows Vista, what better description than a dark age.

Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#16

Post by aarlo »

CoreDumpling wrote: post #10

Compare & contrast, Playboy Interview with Bill Gates (1994): http://www.playboy.com/articles/bill-gates-playboy-interview... Of particular interest are the somewhat different take on the established giants like IBM, as well as this new "information highway" development.

Yeah! This interview is great. Get to know bill gates and his take on microsoft strategy in the 80s and 90s.

Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#17

Post by frou_dh »

comatose_kid wrote: post #12

Talking about Commodore & Atari 8 bit machines: "I consider those a brochure for why you should buy an Apple II or Macintosh. I think people have already determined that the sub-$500 computers don't do very much. They either tease people to want more or frustrate people completely." Seems like he's believed that you can't make a good computer at the $500 price point for a long time now (his take on netbooks is pretty…

Thing is, you can do essentially everything on a netbook, just not in Aluminium & Aqua luxury.

Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#18

Post by patio11 »

delackner wrote: post #13

Some really amazing quotes in there including some off the cuff observations that became truly prescient: "If, for some reason, we make some giant mistakes and IBM wins, my personal feeling is that we are going to enter sort of a computer Dark Ages for about 20 years." iPhone, OS X growing like wild today. About... 20 years after he said that. And Mac OS 9 (yes, the mac also started to suck), Windows 3.1, Windows 95,…

what better description than a dark age.

The largest, fastest, most important rollout of technology in the history of mankind. Seriously.

Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#19

Post by epo »

brc wrote: post #8

I love the absolute irony of an article, printed in its day to carefully explain to people what Silicon Valley was, what a computer was, and what it was all about. Preserved for eternity on the internet and readable only on computers.

Sorry, that's not irony either, you perhaps mean an amusing coincidence.

Not being a gramar nazi but the word "irony" has a very precise meaning, misusing it devalues the language. Explicit in the notion of irony is contradiction, e.g. saying one thing while meaning the opposite (such as saying about the Kin mobile phone "now there was a successful product").

Sorry, personal bugbear, my problem.

Re: Playboy Interview with Steven Jobs Circa 1985

#20

Post by [deleted] »

epo wrote: post #19
brc wrote: post #8

I love the absolute irony of an article, printed in its day to carefully explain to people what Silicon Valley was, what a computer was, and what it was all about. Preserved for eternity on the internet and readable only on computers.

Sorry, that's not irony either, you perhaps mean an amusing coincidence. Not being a gramar nazi but the word "irony" has a very precise meaning, misusing it devalues the language. Explicit in the notion of irony is contradiction, e.g. saying one thing while meaning the opposite (such as saying about the Kin mobile phone "now there was a successful product"). Sorry, personal bugbear, my problem.

[deleted]
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