To be fair, in 1984, everyone was a moron. To be even more fair, in 2026, everyone will think the people of 2010 were all morons (and they will be correct).
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Former Apple CEO John Sculley Reflects on Steve Jobs
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To be fair, in 1984, everyone was a moron. To be even more fair, in 2026, everyone will think the people of 2010 were all morons (and they will be correct).
I like how he said Steve didn't want to be IBM or Microsoft, but Sony because that really explains a lot. It took Jobs another 25 years but he's finally done it. The Apple of today is exactly that: What people in the 80's thought a futuristic Sony would be like.
I think it's great that Scully is calling his hiring a joke. Way to squat on everyone who rooted for ya.
Idiots like you are exactly who he's talking about. It's easy for you to take for granted just how accustomed you've become to a graphical user interface, but during the time this was something radical and alien to them. Once you've grown accustomed to it, its so EASY to take it for granted, but when something this radically new and innovative is introduced, it's hard for someone to wrap their heads around what exactly it is. Which is PRECISELY why Xerox rejected it, because they just couldn't wrap their heads around exactly what it is they had.
One of my favorite quotes is from Henry Ford, "if I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse." People simply aren't capable of understanding innovation like that, people are so used to thinking in terms that they're used to or things they've grown accustomed to. You, my friend, are proof of that, and it's very easy for you to take the simple things today for granted.
And your version of history is delusional to say the least. But what can you expect when your head is so clearly far up your own ass, I'd expect reality to be a little distorted for you.
Henry Ford would be proud
Steve Jobs: "How can I possibly ask somebody what a graphics-based computer ought to be when they have no idea what a graphic based computer is?"
Henry Ford: "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said 'A faster horse.'"
Steve Jobs: "How can I possibly ask somebody what a graphics-based computer ought to be when they have no idea what a graphic based computer is?"
Henry Ford: "If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they'd have said 'A faster horse.'"
I do believe everyone else is an idiot, I'll give an example: once I was in the apple store and these people were playing with an iPad and they go this sucks it's just a big iPod touch. So me being the nossey guy that I am and I look over and see that they are playing an iPhone game on it , and of corse it was not blown up. So they were complaining how much the game sucked and I lean over and tap the 2x button and they go awesome!. I explain why it was like that and they go this is better and they say they like the devise much better.
So not quite the example but it's pretty good, most people just buy the thing because it looks good and it's reputation, or if it's cheap. Most people that buy Mac get it because of all the main features and how cool it looks. Also they usually (at least the main stream buyer) goes and buys the basic model Mac, they see it's got the basics and for less the price, they don't know how a laptop that is right next to it that looks the same is more money, Whereas most people here are not to call us geeks but we look for ram, hd, screen, sd slots, processor speed well u get the idea.
So I agree with jobs people are idiots, they don't understand.
So not quite the example but it's pretty good, most people just buy the thing because it looks good and it's reputation, or if it's cheap. Most people that buy Mac get it because of all the main features and how cool it looks. Also they usually (at least the main stream buyer) goes and buys the basic model Mac, they see it's got the basics and for less the price, they don't know how a laptop that is right next to it that looks the same is more money, Whereas most people here are not to call us geeks but we look for ram, hd, screen, sd slots, processor speed well u get the idea.
So I agree with jobs people are idiots, they don't understand.
No, he just thinks YOU are an idiot.
I'd second that opinion
Some people thrive on painting Steve with a negative brush.
It's not so much they were morons, it's that their knowledge of technology and the universe around them was small compared to ours.
You created nothing. Steve Jobs, on the other hand, created products turning complete industries upside down. When he says X, you better listen.
And yes, everyone is an idiot. If he listened to people, the iPhone would have 5 USB ports and be 1 meter thick.
LOL
Suddenly I'm thinking of comments I've read on this site in the past and some of them make a LOT more sense to me now.
I would've said something creepy like 'He was quite the looker back then' but he's wearing suspenders, so no.
It should be noted that not all companies can benefit from Apple's product development model. Many companies are engaged in mundane businesses which have nothing to do with innovation, and they are run by people who aren't founders.
But the Jobs model seems to work well for companies that are founded by people with vision, manned by engineers who came on board because they were attracted to that vision, and where management has a personal incentive, beyond mere profit, to do something revolutionary for its own sake rather than strictly for the satisfaction of shareholders on a quarterly basis.
Also, you can't expect a John Sculley to come in and be viewed by employees like a Steve Jobs, who has an aura all his own... He and Woz are regarded as legends in personal computing. Jobs is a very charismatic guy. There's a great story on Folklore.org about how he convinced Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson and others on the Mac team to incorporate the now ubiquitous "round rectangle" (with proportionally scaled, rounded corners) because they're everywhere in industrial design.
How many people will follow a Carly Fiorina through the fires of hell, and for what?
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (for lack of a less sociopathic example among the Gen-Y entrepreneurs)... these are larger than life figures who played key roles in transformational businesses. And not everyone who starts up a company will be a Gates, Buffett, Jobs or Zuckerberg. These men were in the right place, at the right time, with the right resources and people... and for every one of them, there are thousands of others who failed.
But the Jobs model seems to work well for companies that are founded by people with vision, manned by engineers who came on board because they were attracted to that vision, and where management has a personal incentive, beyond mere profit, to do something revolutionary for its own sake rather than strictly for the satisfaction of shareholders on a quarterly basis.
Also, you can't expect a John Sculley to come in and be viewed by employees like a Steve Jobs, who has an aura all his own... He and Woz are regarded as legends in personal computing. Jobs is a very charismatic guy. There's a great story on Folklore.org about how he convinced Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson and others on the Mac team to incorporate the now ubiquitous "round rectangle" (with proportionally scaled, rounded corners) because they're everywhere in industrial design.
How many people will follow a Carly Fiorina through the fires of hell, and for what?
Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg (for lack of a less sociopathic example among the Gen-Y entrepreneurs)... these are larger than life figures who played key roles in transformational businesses. And not everyone who starts up a company will be a Gates, Buffett, Jobs or Zuckerberg. These men were in the right place, at the right time, with the right resources and people... and for every one of them, there are thousands of others who failed.
About 8 years ago, had a friend who was conversing with a VP of marketing for apple. Through the conversation, he was told that they were going after Sony and they were gonna take them down.
Now 8 years later look how things have changed. Sony back then was what everyone wanted. The Vaio laptops, desktops, walkmans, etc..
Now it's Apple..
Nice shot of them back in the day on the Stanford campus. I think half the Apple engineers came from that school at the time. If you look at the look in each others eyes, it is not the friendliest of post. IMO, Steve though he could bring in a guy like Scully and play the stuff shirt. Ironically, Steve was played and shown the door.
Also IMO, the non-Steve years was nothing but Apple surviving off the creative momentum that he got going with the first two generations of the Macintosh. The Mac II gave it the open architecture it desperately needed and Scully worked Wall Street and the Fortune 400 boardrooms maxing out the profits.
Then the Newton came in; Scully wanted it to be "his Mac" and it crashed.
It was too much too soon. John left Apple and managed his teflon parachute to blame its failure on the engineers whom left right around the dot-com boom. Most of them August, Capps, et. al. did well.
Then there was Spindler, the biggest Fortune 400 fall guys in decades which gave way to Amelio.
Amelio was a man that Steve could play the way he wanted to play Scully. The rook and bishops moved across the board in all the right places and Steve was back. His passion, final word, fire-on-the-spot-if-you-don't-know-your-job management was very authoritarian but it worked. No wonder the liberal press is in love with him, he reminds them of their editors.
However, Scully got the final word in his realm getting the whole consumer photography business to switch over to digital.
Nice post.
Apple would be far different and probably not even here if Jobs never left. He had to leave and grow up a bit.
Simple, look at the first forty years of Ford Motor and that is what Apple would have been like. Henry had a great time bashing GM across the highway for decades every time they did a conservative move and followed Henry's ideas.
Nathan Fallon to play Steve Jobs
Is it just me or does Steve look like Firefly's Nathan Fillion in this pic?
Is it just me or does Steve look like Firefly's Nathan Fillion in this pic?