In Praise of Bad Steve

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 2:10 AM UTC

jonnathanson wrote: post #34

ScottBurson wrote: post #6

I've never worked for Apple and never really aspired to, mostly because my interests didn't overlap with what I thought I would probably be doing there, but partly, I have to admit, because I had heard the stories of Steve the tyrant and was put off by them. Maybe my ego is sturdier now, because I wonder if I wouldn't have enjoyed the challenges he set people. One thing is for sure, you could know that if you did wha…

I've worked briefly at Apple, but had only one face-to-face encounter with Steve. It was intensely scary. He was loved -- LOVED -- on the Apple campus. But he was also feared. And I felt that fear when I saw him. He was, and remains, the only person I've been genuinely "star struck" upon encountering. A lot of that was born of admiration, but just as much was born of terror. In retrospect, I realized that I wasn't re…

Post by reledi » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 2:32 AM UTC

chaostheory wrote: post #24

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." Bernard Shaw

Post by vacri » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 2:46 AM UTC

msbarnett wrote: post #23

ajross wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think that's really justified. Jobs had a long career, and only two real industry-dominating hits: the Apple II (most of which was Woz's work) and the iPhone. A lot of the hyperbole we're seeing right now is because Jobs had the mis/fortune to die at the very peak of his hit. Had we all been doing the same analysis in the mid-90's when NeXT was failing and Pixar a mostly academic curiosity, I doubt anyone wou…

We could argue about the domination of the Mac or the impact and legacy of NeXT and Pixar, but... You really don't think the iPod was an industry-dominating hit? They sold hundreds of millions of them, and no other company ever really came up with a successful answer to them. It was left to Apple itself to kill them with the iPhone.

Post by ars » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 3:04 AM UTC

Alex3917 wrote: post #40

ars wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I always thought that was a terrible argument. So they weren't slaves like blacks in the US south, but they could have still been slaves. Slaves can have skill, families and pride in their work. Historically some slaves were trusted to go out on their own and do business for their owner, and not run away! Some slaves became so important to their master than they actually inherited the estate when the master died. So…

"So they weren't slaves like blacks in the US south, but they could have still been slaves." Relationships are complicated, maybe its best not to put labels on things. In all seriousness though, regardless of what their specific status was, most societies where people are building things like pyramids tend to be pretty messed up.

Post by gbsi » Fri, Oct 07, 2011, 4:15 AM UTC

nknight wrote: post #13

the_grind wrote: post #11

There is no doubt he left his mark on the world. However, I'd bet that > 90% of people who are praising him now would never have enjoyed working for him in any capacity.

I'll bet some of the people who willingly did so for years didn't really like "working for Steve". If you get enough satisfaction out of the results, though, that doesn't really matter as much. People sometimes stay in otherwise intolerably boring jobs for years because they really like their bosses and/or coworkers, and sometimes they stay in incredibly exciting and fulfilling jobs for years despite loathing same.