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Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

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Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#61

Post by jameshart »

hi41 wrote: post #7

Much respect to Steve and the engineers at Apple. However, I hate using a product from Apple that actually causes me physical pain after using it. The magic mouse. I use that for 10 minutes and my palm and wrist hurt badly. Many have experienced the same symptoms and yet Apple hasn’t changed its design. I get that Apple is creative. Do they change their product design based on feedback from actual users in their crea…

I’m so confused. Your complaint is that Apple don’t make a mouse that you like?

Are you in some situation where you are being forced to use a Magic Mouse?

Other manufacturers make mice in every form factor you can imagine. I don’t believe any apple product comes with a Magic Mouse bundled - you’re not forced in any way to buy one.

Apple don’t make any headphones that I like. I don’t feel like this is a failing on Apple’s part?

Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#62

Post by [deleted] »

jazz9k wrote: post #17
yardie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not be overly dramatic about that period. Apple was not days away from going bust. They were months away from filing bankruptcy. They were still a multi-billion dollar company even then. They just had very bad supply chain management. A bunch of old Macs sitting in warehouses not selling and too many people on payroll without any clear objectives. As Steve put it, "the ship was sinking and Gil (D'Amelio) was wo…

It's funny how many people Jobs had to fire during this period, but is still seen as a good guy to many in the tech community. Not that different from when Musk took over Twitter.

[deleted]

Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#63

Post by kamaal »

pjmlp wrote: post #33
dmazin wrote: post #5

If you want more on this, I recommend Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing by Stross. I’m not sure, but it might be the only extensive book about Next other than this new one. Though it’s essentially a long hit piece. The author really had it out for Jobs. In fact it’s a completely uncharitable book now that I think about it. Hopefully this new book will be a lot less biased.

While maybe biased, also shows a bit about the real Steve Jobs without the distortion field, and why Apple hardware costs what it costs, even when the delivery isn't up to the premium price.

>>the real Steve Jobs without the distortion field

A lot of things come in full package, same person putting in the same effort(if not better) in a different place/situation doesn't give the same results.

I once worked with a senior engineer/leader at a electronics company who delivered great products/results and ran the shop to literal perfection for like a decade. The company got sold, and he moved on. He was just not able to replicate the same success after that ever, despite by his own admission he tried even harder else where.

Despite the fact that Jobs was like the greatest ever, Im sure without Apple, its culture and overall company inertia he wouldn't be able to do much either.

This is also why if you have some kind of a winning combination you are better off sticking with it even if its not entirely perfect. Anything else could be way worse.

Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#64

Post by helloplanets »

blipvert wrote: post #58
jazz9k wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's funny how many people Jobs had to fire during this period, but is still seen as a good guy to many in the tech community. Not that different from when Musk took over Twitter.

I must have missed the bit where Steve Jobs was trying to create “legion” of his offspring, supported far-right parties in Europe and tried to foment civil war in the UK. Guess I’ll have to buy the book

He isn't comparing Jobs to Musk in a general sense, but specifically the way Musk took over Twitter.

Not that I agree with the point. But I wouldn't assume the poster thinks Jobs and Musk are similar in a broad sense.

Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#65

Post by trvz »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #48
hedgehog0 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love “Becoming Steve Jobs” much more than the official biography.

I bailed on the official bio when I got to the part where Jobs is (belatedly) crediting his adoptive father with showing young Steve the importance of (paraphrasing) "giving as much attention to the parts of the product that the customer will never see". It was clear at that point that this would be a Jobs-directed bio and I saw no point in continuing to read that.

I think it was about the back of a cabinet, and that attitude certainly exists in woodworking. It's reasonable for learning to appreciate that as an adolescent to have a big impact on a person.

And even if that book were fully dictated by Steve Jobs, it can still be valuable to know what such a person thinks (or claims to think) about things.

Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#66

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

jazz9k wrote: post #17
yardie wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's not be overly dramatic about that period. Apple was not days away from going bust. They were months away from filing bankruptcy. They were still a multi-billion dollar company even then. They just had very bad supply chain management. A bunch of old Macs sitting in warehouses not selling and too many people on payroll without any clear objectives. As Steve put it, "the ship was sinking and Gil (D'Amelio) was wo…

It's funny how many people Jobs had to fire during this period, but is still seen as a good guy to many in the tech community. Not that different from when Musk took over Twitter.

I am no fan of Jobs, but ... his goal when he returned was to "right the ship" which is his mind translated into "create cool products". You might think that he & Apple succeeded at that, or you might not, but I don't think that you can dispute that this was the goal.

Musk had no similar goal for Twitter other than to turn it into a platform for his techno-fascist creed. The only complaints about Twitter that he wanted to act on were that too many people were mean to techno-fascists.

Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#68

Post by [deleted] »

WillAdams wrote: post #38
pjmlp wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bet if they had went the BeOS route instead, wouldn't be talking about Apple today.

Yeah, I was just about bodily ejected from a BeOS demonstration when I asked how the slides were printed (at that time, BeOS did not have print drivers).

[deleted]

Re: Steve Jobs in Exile – New book on his years at NeXT Computer

#70

Post by rbanffy »

jorisw wrote: post #21
zitterbewegung wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NeXT would have died and Mac OS would have been replaced by something . All macOS is is just a different window manager (to borrow a Unix term). Windows and Linux probably be more dominant . macOS is a better system than classic macOS when you realize you still have access to the NeXT internals and even many applications in utilities are really GUIs on top of command line utilities and you can roll back many features…

> and Mac OS would have been replaced by something The facts are: The only other contender was BeOS, after Talligent flopped and Copland imploded. But Louis-Gassée overplayed his hand. Source: all of the (other) Steve Jobs books

> But Louis-Gassée overplayed his hand.

Hence becoming Jean-Louis Passé.

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