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Huntn

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May 5, 2008
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The Misty Mountains
"Steve had the best and worst qualities of a human being," says one Mac veteran. "They were both in him, living side by side."

If it has not been mentioned, the Oct 2011 Rolling Stone Magazine has a most excellent article on Steve Jobs. While he might have been a genius, and made millions of us happy with his companies products, the kudos for the great products has to be tempered with some not so insanely great human qualities, in fact based on what I've read, some below average qualities. My guess is he matured a lot in the years after denying parenthood and throwing his girlfriend out after she became pregnant with his child. I realized this happened decades ago and maybe he changed for the better over the years. Of interest, as early as a teenager, he thought he would die young.
 

Huntn

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May 5, 2008
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Regarding the genius of Steve Jobs (reference Rolling Stone) many of you probably know this, but I did not:

Jobs couldn't get top management at Apple to agree (to the Macintosh concept), so he simply hijacked a team working on another project, took the best ideas form Xerox and elsewhere, and added some of his own. The result was a renegade team at Apple, hidden away in a building off the main campus, that was tasked with creating the first Macintosh.

The big lesson for capitalism is that Steve, deep down, did not believe the consumer was right. Deep down, he believed he was right. And the consumer would respect a strong aesthetic point of view, even if it wasn't what they were asking for.

However Jobs quest for perfection backfired on him when after being ejected from Apple he would show them by building the perfect computer at a company he founded called NeXT. What he created there was "strikingly distinct". Consumers who bought NeXT computers still swoon over the most beautiful machines ever built, but they were too expensive for the market place ($10 grand), machines from the onset that were headed to the computer museum as "artifacts built by an obsessively perfectionist man who had confused art with commerce."

How interesting that the NeXT OS proved to be the savior of Apple. Job's genius prevailed turning Apple into one of the most successful companies. :)
 

entatlrg

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Mar 2, 2009
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whoathere

macrumors 6502
Feb 8, 2006
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Rockford, IL
It'll be interesting to see how this announcement will "feel". My guess is it will feel a lot like something is missing... Unless Tim ends with "..one more thing."
 

thirteen1031

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Mar 23, 2004
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His Most Stunning Accomplishment was Apple

I wish he could have introduced the iTV.....that would could end up being one of his most stunning accomplishments.
If we remember that Steve never "invented" any of these items, that his genius was in being that magical middleman knowing how to adjust the invention--what to demand of the inventor design-wise to take it from useful to brilliant, and how to present it so that intended users of the invention knew why it was brilliant and how it was going to change their lives...

If we remember that, then we know his most stunning accomplishment was and always will be the company that, presumably, will maintain that magical touch. There's no doubt that it's going to be hard to watch the keynote this time. It will be missing that Steve Job's delight and enthusiasm, the energy that made us feel like we were being given a glimpse into some amazing future. But no matter how amazing whatever device--new or old--that they plan to present to us, I don't think we can say that Steve will be missing his most stunning accomplishment; his most stunning accomplishment was Apple.
 

MHardee

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Feb 18, 2008
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laurenr

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Jan 9, 2008
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Enjoyed reading this as I also have liver cancer and was operated on December on at the same hospital and stayed in the same room as Steve did.. So far so good!
Wow! I wish for you, nothing but a VERY long iLife!;):apple: I have a Cousin who was successfully operated on for the same disease.He is now 8 glorious years Cancer Free!:D:D
 
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