Steve Jobs' 1991 FBI File Released, Reveals Consideration for Presidential Appointment

[kas23]

Take Steve Jobs out of Apple.

What's left? Not a whole helluva lot. Now, put Steve Jobs back into Apple, and you've got where Apple is and what they achieved today. None of it would have worked without him.

Really? Should we all run and sell off our stocks? Hmmm, I just bought a Mini from a Jobs-less Apple, a corporation that is now much more compassionate btw, and it seems to work fairly well. Wait...they did eff up 10.7.3...you may be on to something.

It can be nothing but true.

Had Gil Amelio not brought Jobs back, there wouldn't even be an Apple to see today.

Had it not been for a little device that plays compressed music files, Apple would not be around today. Yes, Jobs told Jony to design a slick little music device, completely based on well-established existing technology. Let's keep this all in context. Apple, a struggling company that up-to-then only produced computers, came back to life due to an mp3 player. This success enabled the design and production of a cellphone. If you believe these were monumental accomplishments in the struggle of the human race as we know it, then so be it, I guess.

 

[kas23]

Delete

 

[3282868]

… but so am I.

Admire people for what good they've done. ... Normal human beings that try to do good and often make errors...

Thank you for that honest and sincere comment. I just finished watching "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close," and after reading a few of the comments on the character of a man we will never personally know I am saddened that humanity seems to have lost humility. I encounter this quite often online.

Every second of every minute of every day seems to escape us as we stare into glass paned diodes, ferociously typing away at complete strangers. Most often I notice people forget common courtesy and respect; maybe it's the result of the physical and social disconnect from a world revolving around electronic communication, or perhaps it's from a lack of experiencing life from the vantage point of others. Regardless, Steve Jobs was a human being, flawed, arrogant perhaps, steadfast for certain, but human without a doubt. Humanity seems to be forgetting about its own humanity. We type to people we have never met, and most likely will never meet, perhaps to ascertain our own existence through 1's and 0's. Ironic that general society has never seemed more disconnected and alone than today.

So we'll continue to post online to each other, some forgetting that there is another human being behind that glass screen reading the same words as others. Did Steve Jobs change the world? Perhaps, however one man cannot change the world unless the collective world allows themselves to be changed, for better or worse. Was he flawed? Absolutely. We're all flawed. We wouldn't be human otherwise.

When it's my time to leave this world, I hope I don't leave behind nothing but 1's and 0's. Those don't make a person "human." I'll never know Steve Jobs or JFK or even the man across from me on the train, and I can't pass judgment on anyone. I hope the legacy Steve Jobs and Bill Gates and others such as them leave is not one of distant communication, but one of redefining how we communicate. It saddens me that much of that communication is passed on through discourteous and uncivil discourse, and less physical interaction with others in the world. I've always believed that one should think twice before sending a letter or saying words while in an emotional state. You can't take back what is written and said, but you can remember that just like Steve Jobs, we're only human.

- from another flawed man

 

[davisjw]

Steve Jobs created the Mac? That's news to me.

Wait...what's that? You mean APPLE COMPUTER and a group of employees designed the Mac....yeah, that rings a bell.

So many people on this site think Jobs built/designed everything. He built/designed nothing. Apple has/had teams of employees that designed/built products. Sure, Jobs likely had his approval/input on a LOT of the designs...he probably thought up a few concepts which turned into products...but let's give credit where it's due.

Depends on how you view Jobs. As an artist he is the creator. He envisioned it, put the team together, and had final say on all the parts. It's like saying Walt Disney didn't create Snow White. Disney had a whole slew of people working on it, but it was his leadership and his idea that created it.

Without Jobs, the Mac would not have happened. Fact.

 

[scott911]

wow -
sounds like he behaved no better than many a footballer with too many concussions.

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[/COLOR]

No, his friend bought the house. Jobs then gave the friend money. He never gave anything to Lisa's mother. He was a complete ******* about it.[/QUOTE]

 

[OrangeSVTguy]

"...with some questioning his honesty and making reference to his ability to "twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals".

Might as well have ran for president...

 

[mutantteenager]

So did they find the Apple mothership that was going to take all the Apple faithful up to Apple heaven on judgement day?

 

[ixodes]

It's rather interesting & quite revealing how quickly some people forget Steve Wozniak...

 

[Rodimus Prime]

The most telling thing is at the end of the report over at cnet they have a photo of a few paragraphs from the report. In the last paragraph it says; “Several Individuals questioned Mr. Jobs’ honesty stating that Mr. Jobs will twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his own goals”

 

[the8thark]

No kidding, I'd be mad if I was a design engineer or UI tech at Apple and someone else was getting all of the credit. Let's be real, he didn't create iOS, or the iPhone, or any of the products. The apple engineers did, the ones who's names we will never know because we don't bother to look into patent filings.

Jonathon Ive is the real design genius at Apple.

 

[Sol]

Isn't it ironic that the FBI would be passing moral judgement on Steve Jobs for a Presidential Appointment during the Bush era? I mean Steve Jobs may have been a notorious micromanager but he backed it up with successful results like the the home PC revolution, the Macintosh, point and click GUI, iMac, iPod, iPad, Apple Stores, OS X, iTunes, etc. The Bush White House on the other hand failed to act on intelligence that Al Quiada were preparing terrorist attacks on US soil, started two wars (one under false pretences), withdrew the US from the Kyoto Protocol, was negligent in its handling of Hurricane Katrina, undermined the United Nations, took the US economy into a deficit, compromised the freedoms of US citizens with the Patriot Act, blew the cover of a CIA agent to get back at her husband, gave tax cuts to the rich, etc. I'd say that whatever Steve Jobs' shortcomings were, they pale in comparison with George Bush, his puppet masters and all their cronies. Perhaps since the FBI considered themselves experts in moral judgements they could have passed some moral judgement on their President to keep any accusations of micromanaging and admissions of drug taking in perspective.

 

[vladi]

Nothing but a positive. 150%. The industry is living inside the "distortion field" today - and desperately trying to do it justice, but with varying degrees of success.

We can thank Jobs and all his qualities - positive AND negative - for the modern mobile devices we have today (to name just ONE contribution of his), from which we have the luxury of making our self-righteous forum posts.

Without Apple and Steve Jobs, the industry would still be fumbling around in the dark ages of tech. Jobs humanized tech and made it usable for everyone.

You realize you are idolizing a single person. You do realize that single person can't accomplish nothing without the help of others. Idolization is the worst thing you can do. Respect what Jobs brought to the table and how impacted you but do not idolize people. Whatever Jobs did so can you, maybe not in a field of technology but somewhere else like cooking (I am not talking about being famous and a CEO of a corp, thats doesn't count as success really).

On a side note I have to disappoint you, Jobs was a lousy human being.

 

[vladi]

Depends on how you view Jobs. As an artist he is the creator. He envisioned it, put the team together, and had final say on all the parts. It's like saying Walt Disney didn't create Snow White. Disney had a whole slew of people working on it, but it was his leadership and his idea that created it.

Without Jobs, the Mac would not have happened. Fact.

He did not put the teams together, at the stage of Apple that we all remember him from, he always relied on one person to do the managing and make contracts. If you do enough research or ask Apple employes around here they will tell you who it is.

Steve Jobs was a sales man first and everything else second. The only true thing he ever mastered is how to create the hype and he was the best at it. He always wanted to be a designer/artist and thats why he positioned himself like that everytime he had a chance while actually he was one of the best sales people ever. Example is iPod that Jobs gets credit for turning around Apple, well element that makes iPods instant recognizible is the dial and person who came up with that was the young designer under Rubi's supervision so Rubi himself has nothing to do with except liking it and taking it to Steve to present it. Something similar happened with a choice of white wires for earbuds. In other words neither Steve or Jon came up with anything signature regarding iPod, not even with it's name.

 

[ixodes]

There's enough dueling opinions and fuel to keep this thread burning with controversy for a very long time.

Just the kind of thread to keep things interesting during those slow news days

 

[Eidorian]

Isn't it ironic that the FBI would be passing moral judgement on Steve Jobs for a Presidential Appointment during the Bush era? I mean Steve Jobs may have been a notorious micromanager but he backed it up with successful results like the the home PC revolution, the Macintosh, point and click GUI, iMac, iPod, iPad, Apple Stores, OS X, iTunes, etc. The Bush White House on the other hand failed to act on intelligence that Al Quiada were preparing terrorist attacks on US soil, started two wars (one under false pretences), withdrew the US from the Kyoto Protocol, was negligent in its handling of Hurricane Katrina, undermined the United Nations, took the US economy into a deficit, compromised the freedoms of US citizens with the Patriot Act, blew the cover of a CIA agent to get back at her husband, gave tax cuts to the rich, etc. I'd say that whatever Steve Jobs' shortcomings were, they pale in comparison with George Bush, his puppet masters and all their cronies. Perhaps since the FBI considered themselves experts in moral judgements they could have passed some moral judgement on their President to keep any accusations of micromanaging and admissions of drug taking in perspective.

The George H. W. Bush of 1991...

 

[Sol]

The George H. W. Bush of 1991...

You are right. I missed the date in the original article.

George Bush Jnr. was still a morally bankrupt US president.

 

[vrDrew]

To me the biggest irony was looking at the crappy photocopied, typed and scribbled reports and memos from various FBI field officers. Even the computer-generated reports have the unmistakeable hideous fonts of the dot-matrix printer.

Think of how Steve Jobs contributions to technology have changed the very reports that todays FBI agents submit.

Back in 1991 the letters "CC" stood for "carbon copy" - meaning that someone actually sandwiched a piece of carbon paper between two pieces of paper before rolling them into the platen of an IBM Selectric.

Steve Jobs interest in a calligraphy course meant that the standards for typography, and what was expected and acceptable in a professional written document, changed forever.

Todays FBI agents probably type up their notes on a laptop sitting in a car. They probably submit reports, or call up photographs or other information on their subjects, on a smartphone. They still carry badges and guns. Have conservative haircuts and suits and polished shoes. But the day-to-day tools of their trade have changed immeasurably in the years since they trolled through Steve Jobs personal life.

 

[kdarling]

Isn't it ironic that the FBI would be passing moral judgement on Steve Jobs for a Presidential Appointment during the Bush era?

The FBI wasn't passing moral judgement; the people they interviewed did.

A background check is intended to find out if you can be trusted with sensitive information. What's important to the FBI beyond the usual criminal and financial check is: Could you be blackmailed because of something in your past? Are you someone prone to telling falsehoods? Have you given false info under oath?

Steve Jobs interest in a calligraphy course meant that the standards for typography, and what was expected and acceptable in a professional written document, changed forever.

The 1981 Xerox Star already had proportional fonts. As for typography, printers also had computers to do all that before the Mac came along.

Now yes, being able to use nice fonts on a personal computer meant "regular" people could make nicer looking documents. Interestingly, studies have shown that the amount of time to type up a memo has actually risen since computers replaced typewriters, since now people can spend more time editing what they wrote.

Todays FBI agents probably type up their notes on a laptop sitting in a car. They probably submit reports, or call up photographs or other information on their subjects, on a smartphone.

Professionals were using tablets and smartphones years before Jobs got interested in them.

 

[h4lp m3]

http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.pnghis ability to "twist the truth and distort reality in order to achieve his goals"/QUOTE]

That's just awesome

 

[SeaFox]

Why wouldn't they redact his SSN? Am I the only one who thinks it's completely wrong for that to become public information, even posthumously?

SSNs are reused. So it's really not his SSN anymore and may already be assigned to some else (someone very young, obviously).

 

[mijail]

Had it not been for a little device that plays compressed music files, Apple would not be around today. Yes, Jobs told Jony to design a slick little music device, completely based on well-established existing technology. Let's keep this all in context.

The context of the sea of MP3 players which existed and which got eaten by the iPod, even though it was famously ridiculed on arrival?

Apple, a struggling company

It's better if you say "beleaguered Apple". Trust me. Or google that for a laugh.

that up-to-then only produced computers,

And had produced also printers and digital cameras and some other thingies.
Also, produced as in "Dell produces" tends to be different to produced as in "Apple produces".
(Do we want context or not?)

came back to life due to an mp3 player. This success enabled the design and production of a cellphone.

... which in a few years changed the face of the industry and caused a change of seas which still is moving everything.

If you believe these were monumental accomplishments in the struggle of the human race as we know it, then so be it, I guess.

Yeah, and in fact the Earth never stopped rotating or anything. So insignificant!

 

[leroypants]

And yet he changed the world of consumer tech, several times over, and arguably, some of the world at large. Genius? Certainly. A bit of madness? Maybe. But from this man of curious contradictions and singular vision, came Macs, OS X, iPods, iPhones, iPads . . . and look where we are today. It's this man's vision that's come alive and driving the industry.

But then again, to achieve all that, Steve Jobs *had to be* all those things. All of which ended up being an asset. The government's loss entirely.

And yet they allowed someone like Henry Kissinger to go as far as he did. And so many others like him afterward.

I don't mean this as a personal attack but are you really completly incapable of saying anything bad ever about Apple or Jobs or are you doing some sort of schtick?

 

[emmawu]

I remember a long ago journalism professor who told the class, "You can't libel the dead".

Anyone can say anything, post anything.

I still think the world lost a genius, SOB or not.

 

[AidenShaw]

I don't mean this as a personal attack but are you really completly incapable of saying anything bad ever about Apple or Jobs or are you doing some sort of schtick?

We have the answer:

My use of deliberate/forceful language isn't anger. It's technique.