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Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

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Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#41

Post by lionhearted »

This one, too -

--

“When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in business to give people what they want. It’s the truth.” [Wired, February 1996]

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#42

Post by lkozma »

anon5 wrote: post #30
m0nastic wrote: post #10

Folklore.org seems to be down right now, but my favorite Steve Jobs exchange is the following: We worked our way up to the front of the crowd to get a good look at the units [Osborne 1] that were on display. We started to ask one of the presenters a technical question, when we were suprised to see Adam Osborne himself standing a few feet from us, looking at our show badges, preempting the response. "Oh, some Apple fo…

Did some digging about Adam Osborne. Made me quite sad for him... It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs: "on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was the…

"was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs"

I think you mean that he was considered to be a "competitor" or someone "playing in the same league". Contemporary means someone who has lived at the same time, which he certainly was.

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#43

Post by revorad »

rbanffy wrote: post #9

Two of my favorites are not there: "I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." and "I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success — I have no problem with their success. They've earned their success, for the most par…

One thing I really like about that first quote is his humility and pragmatism. He didn't say something dramatic like "and if the answer is no, I stop and change everything then and there". No, he knows sometimes you have to do stuff which you don't like, but it shouldn't become a habit.

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#44

Post by rbanffy »

charlieok wrote: post #21
rbanffy wrote: post #9

Two of my favorites are not there: "I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: "If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something." and "I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success — I have no problem with their success. They've earned their success, for the most par…

Actually the one about third rate products is in the article

True. Must have skipped that.

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#45

Post by wslh »

lionhearted wrote: post #41

This one, too - -- “When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in b…

Very Huxleian: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#46

Post by rbanffy »

anon5 wrote: post #30
m0nastic wrote: post #10

Folklore.org seems to be down right now, but my favorite Steve Jobs exchange is the following: We worked our way up to the front of the crowd to get a good look at the units [Osborne 1] that were on display. We started to ask one of the presenters a technical question, when we were suprised to see Adam Osborne himself standing a few feet from us, looking at our show badges, preempting the response. "Oh, some Apple fo…

Did some digging about Adam Osborne. Made me quite sad for him... It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs: "on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was the…

> It was the first true mass-produced portable PC

Erm... "portable" is not the word I'd use. Most would settle for "transportable". I'd rather use "draggable".

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#47

Post by rbanffy »

philjackson wrote: post #34

"We think the Mac will sell zillions, but we didn’t build the Mac for anybody else. We built it for ourselves." Seems contrary to advice I often read from people here.

Always build for yourself. You are the only client you really know.

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#48

Post by RyanMcGreal »

lionhearted wrote: post #41

This one, too - -- “When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in b…

In fact, the networks are in business to give their customers - the advertisers - what they want. Granted, what advertisers want is to reach eyeballs (though not all eyeballs are created equal) - but it's still optimization-by-proxy, and it still produces a distortion between what people want from TV and what they're willing to tolerate.

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#49

Post by mattgreenrocks »

lionhearted wrote: post #41

This one, too - -- “When you’re young, you look at television and think, There’s a conspiracy. The networks have conspired to dumb us down. But when you get a little older, you realize that’s not true. The networks are in business to give people exactly what they want. That’s a far more depressing thought. Conspiracy is optimistic! You can shoot the bastards! We can have a revolution! But the networks are really in b…

That quote kills me.

I've always had an aesthetic revulsion to committing to giving people exactly what they say they want. It belies a lack of imagination on the part of the creator, and smacks of a lack of integrity. However, most of the world is set up this way, despite my status as a 'professional.'

How do you claim more autonomy? I suppose this is part of the beauty of a startup.

Re: Steve Jobs' Best Quotes

#50

Post by anon5 »

lkozma wrote: post #42
anon5 wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did some digging about Adam Osborne. Made me quite sad for him... It seems he was a failed (relatively speaking) genius. He is credited with building the first computer for people. Also was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs: "on April 3rd, 1981 when a startup called Osborne Computer Corporation announced the Osborne 1 at the West Coast Computer Faire at San Francisco’s Brooks Hall. It was the…

"was briefly considered a contemporary of Bill G and Steve Jobs" I think you mean that he was considered to be a "competitor" or someone "playing in the same league". Contemporary means someone who has lived at the same time, which he certainly was.

Agree with you, it should be competitor.
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