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Steve Jobs' Legacy to Live On in 'Apple University'

I'm struck by one of his tenets being perfectionism. I've always been the same way and been fought with for it, but damn if something isn't to be said for determination to not just get things done, but to get them done right. I'm glad to see something like this school being planned. Here's definitely to all of the "crazy ones" who live by Steve's philosophy :apple:
 
Living legacy

'Jobs reportedly identified specific tenets at Apple that he believed was responsible for Apple's success. Those included accountability, attention to detail, perfectionism, simplicity, and secrecy. Jobs is said to have personally overseen the creation of the courses and had sustained an interest in it since its inception. According to the LA Times, Jobs' other successful company, Pixar, also uses a similar corporate University model.'
- per 'Macrumors'


My condolences to Steve's family, and all who loved him.

This university of sorts may be exactly what Apple needs. My concern for Apple, and the greater world who love their products, is that with Steve Jobs untimely passing Apple will have lost the irreplaceable captain of their ship. To the extent that passion, determination, and vision are encapsulated in one person, they have. All the more so as embodied in a CEO with the authority to make his dreams reality. But to the extent they carry on in his spirit it may best be helped by such a university idea.

Fortunately Apple is rich with talent, has a capable CEO with Tim Cook, and a healthy bank account to see it through. But none of this alone will prove very helpful if some way is not found to substitute for the key vision Steve lent Apple. In two years or so we will begin to learn how successful Apple has been in adapting to Mr. Jobs loss, and of envisioning the next steps in computing without his assistance. It may not be easy, but to the extent they realize how grave this loss is from a business standpoint, and seek to carry his sense of vision forward in various ways, then they may well succeed far into the future. That would be a solid legacy for Steve Jobs, and surely as he would have wished.

;) In the meantime we might all mourn this loss, most especially those closest to Mr. Jobs. And in sympathy wish that Apple become all the more as Steve would have led it if able.
 
MacRumors said:
The LA Times provides some new details about an internal project at Apple designed to take the company succesfully into the future despite the premature passing of Steve Jobs.
Click to expand...

I don't quite understand the use of the word "premature" in this situation. Yes, in essence every death is premature. But the reality is no one can live forever, especially with a certainly-fatal illness.

This man had been living with one of the worst types cancer for, at least, seven years. This man had to endure too many painful medical treatments, especially ones with unfavorable survival rates. In addition to the many others we may never know about, Randy Pausch and Patrick Swayze both publicly battled this same fate, but on a much, much faster pace after they were symptomatic.

I don't look at this as a "premature" death. Unfortunate? Yes. Tragic? Absolutely. But not unexpected and definitely not premature. We all knew it was coming. We just didn't want it to. I look at this and am glad to have seen him on this earth for a few extra years. Perhaps they were his greatest.
 
honor Steve - fire the lawyers

idunn said:
...But to the extent they carry on in his spirit it may best be helped by such a university idea....

Fortunately Apple is rich with talent, has a capable CEO with Tim Cook, and a healthy bank account to see it through. But none of this alone will prove very helpful if some way is not found to substitute for the key vision Steve lent Apple....
Click to expand...

We'll only know how successful this is when Tim or others do an about-face and reject one of Steve's peeves. Continuing the turtlenecked one's petty grievances is disrespecting the Apple that Steve created.

Embrace Flash and Blu-ray - Apple's customers want them. Lay off the legal team that's trying to sue everyone else in the industry. Pay for other companies' IP that you're using, and forget the nonsense that a tablet form factor is a holy design.

Much of the value of the Apple brand is coolness, and all the lawsuits are very, very uncool.
 
If Apple University is what it appears to be, then Apple is deliberately trying to capture what made Steve great and nurture it in others. If it can create 10 people with 1/10th of what Steve was, it will be worth it.
 
Apple Community is important as well as iUniversity.

Apple is successful because what Steve Jobs and its employees have done. But most importantly because of a big Apple community who support & care about its products & the vision.

e.g. I really like what Apple community has dreamt of the new Apple iPhone 5. The secret is what the community dreams of what's the next secret product should be. It's also based on Apple PR idea seeding. Perhaps it should be a design model for iPhone 5.

My point is, in order to keep Apple as how & why it is, Apple community needs to support it by remembering his ways & by continuously contributing your ideas to the community & Apple.

Personally, I do care about the company & the culture more than any other companies or products in the world. It's the Apple culture appraised by the world.


p.s. Here is an unofficial "Remembering Steve Jobs" site to remember his legacy and memories. Please pay a visit to this site.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Remembering-Steve-Jobs/178104388934869
 
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Steve's legacy

The passing of Steve Jobs hit me like a fridge. It's outright ridiculous how much it affected me emotionally since I have never met him personally, but his products changed my life.

Like most of you I am awakened in the morning by an iPhone. I then work all day on a MacBook Pro. Watch some TV shows that come from an iMac. I go to bed listening to an iPod.

All of that I do in a condo I could never have afforded if I hadn't realized just how much a game changer the original iPod was and invested around $6,000 in AAPL stock just before it went on sale. :D

It was always obvious to me that Apple affected everything I do (I work in a publishing house: desktop publishing wouldn't exist if it hadn't been for Apple.) Just how much Steve himself meant to me though, was something I hadn't fathomed.

As bad as his death at a relatively young age is, what would make his passing outright unbearable would be an Apple Inc. loosing its ways.

From what I can tell, Steve was the lens that focused all the creative efforts Apple undertook. He was by no means the only creative person at Apple, but he kept the rest of them on track. Hopefully Apple University will fill the void Steve's passing will leave at Apple.

Here's to a bright future for Apple, post Steve. Either way, I miss him already. Surely he could have made "one more thing" that's "insanely great" if he just had had more time.

- Sebi
 
It would be nice if we outsider can use the iUniversity.

There's always more to learn.

Thank you Steve for my 25 years in the creative industry, couldn't have done it without your vision.
 
Truth Hurts

Wow, what an honor! Like Hamburger U.

Jobs had no desire to see Apple succeed after he was gone. If you disagree, either you don't know Jobs or don't want to know Jobs. Exhibit #1: iPhone 4S.

RIP
 
To quote the Klingon

"It is better to die on your feet than live on your knees". For some, a safe and long life is the goal, for others the adrenaline soaked adventure is worth the risk that may cut it short.
No one approach is best, I tend to play it safe and sleep when I am tired, but my hat is off to those folks with the passion and dedication to bring about positive change.
Steve may have been a challenge to work with but if you shared his passion, he delivered the vision to help the great engineers at Apple reach creative fulfillment.

If his University-vision has legs and isn't scrapped by some MBA trying to cut costs in 10 years, then maybe future engineers can further contribute dramatically to the human condition!

In the end, we are all worm-food and only our contributions will matter; make your lives matter! :)
 
AidenShaw said:
We'll only know how successful this is when Tim or others do an about-face and reject one of Steve's peeves. Continuing the turtlenecked one's petty grievances is disrespecting the Apple that Steve created.

Embrace Flash and Blu-ray - Apple's customers want them. Lay off the legal team that's trying to sue everyone else in the industry. Pay for other companies' IP that you're using, and forget the nonsense that a tablet form factor is a holy design.

Much of the value of the Apple brand is coolness, and all the lawsuits are very, very uncool.
Click to expand...

No, Apple customers don't want the CPU eating, computer crashing, battery eating, virus portal known as Flash. Maybe YOU do, but as can be seen by the wide adoption of iOS, most Apple customers don't care.

The web and the world is moving forward to HTML5, and we have Steve to thank for pushing us there.
 
Perfectionism is a toxic way of life, Cancer is one of the largest businesses in the USA.

It's all part of the broader eco system. Neither will change anytime soon.

It is, what it is.

R.I.P. Mr. Jobs

You will be missed.
 
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

You have said it perfectly.

And honestly, I laughed when you said "go rub your dick on some Android POS"
 
millertime021 said:
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_4 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8K2 Safari/6533.18.5)

You have said it perfectly.

And honestly, I laughed when you said "go rub your dick on some Android POS"
Click to expand...

The mods deleted it...I'm gonna edit the insults and repost.

----------
Fluffy Bunny said:
Wow, what an honor! Like Hamburger U.

Jobs had no desire to see Apple succeed after he was gone. If you disagree, either you don't know Jobs or don't want to know Jobs. Exhibit #1: iPhone 4S.

RIP
Click to expand...

The 4S is amazing, and I said that from day one.

To think a man who devoted his life, even in the worst of health, to a company would want it to ever fail is just plain wrong.

You're just acting butthurt because you were one of the people who put all their faith in the idea of an iPhone 5, when all evidence (including the jump from the 3G to the 3GS) showed it would be a 4S. Every other year is an "S" year. Get over it and get used to it, or go rub your dick on an Android POS.

The best part is that If Apple had released the exact phone but in a different shell, many nay-sayers would be stroking their dongs over how awesome it is (fandroids not included, of course).
 
While I applaud the effort behind Apple University, part of me wonders if there isn't some sort of analogy to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: The more you try to codify and teach the sort of thinking that made Steve Jobs the guy he was, the less likely you are to end up with the desired results. And I don't think there is really room for more than one "Steve Jobs" in even the most creative and innovative company.

Don't get me wrong - I've been very impressed with the Apple executives we've seen over the past couple of years. And I think Apple has every chance of continuing its amazing run of great products. But teaching genius is a bit like trying to capture lightning in a bottle.
 
guch20 said:
No, Apple customers don't want the CPU eating, computer crashing, battery eating, virus portal known as Flash. Maybe YOU do, but as can be seen by the wide adoption of iOS, most Apple customers don't care.
Click to expand...

You can't say that most "don't care".

Anything useful (or entertaining) eats CPU - what's your battery after a six hour Angry Birds rampage? My tablet gets from 7 hours to 90 minutes battery life, depending on what I'm doing. (Light surfing/email - 7 hours. Visual Studio project builds with a couple of busy virtual machines - as low as 90 minutes.)

All you can say is that Apple users have either weighed the options and have decided that an Itoy is good for them even without flash support - or they're clueless and probably wouldn't even understand the question.

And, by the way, Android outsells IOS - and Android supports Flash.
_________________

Anyway - my point wasn't an argument for/against Flash.

It's that if Apple is really true to Steve's legacy, Tim&Co won't be afraid to try things.

Steve said that nobody read books - now we have Ibooks.

Steve said that nobody wants to watch videos on a handheld - right.

Steve said that Apple wouldn't make a phone - yeah, sure.

Steve has reversed course on lots of things - often because the hardware evolved. It would not have been possible to make a color video Ipod with acceptable battery life when Ipod I was released. A few years later, however, no problem.

If the A5 has the power, and Apple makes the acceleration APIs public so that Adobe can use them - it would be very "Jobs-like" to have a keynote and trumpet that "The Iphone 5 supports Flash".

People who don't realize that would flunk out of "Apple U".
 
The visionary passing the baton onto the next several generations. This is where his legacy will be long lasting. He didn't keep all of that magic to himself, he has decided to spread it around. He is not just giving us a fish, he is teaching others how to fish. So with this, the magic that is all things Apple will be around for a while. I can see the business model being recreated as many places as it will contain - places where ideas are free flowing, creativity is abundant and a captain at the helm making sure the ship stays on course.

Steve was always looking to where Apple was headed next, he never rested on his laurels and he never settled. Once again, he is giving the world "one more thing".
 
vrDrew said:
While I applaud the effort behind Apple University, part of me wonders if there isn't some sort of analogy to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: The more you try to codify and teach the sort of thinking that made Steve Jobs the guy he was, the less likely you are to end up with the desired results. And I don't think there is really room for more than one "Steve Jobs" in even the most creative and innovative company.
Click to expand...

Excellent point - and it is essentially the same as the "white water canoe" message earlier.

"Steve Jobs" was not a set of rules that could be taught by rote and passed along. He had a philosophy and approach to techonology that was partly rational and partly emotional.
 
A small part of me wished Steve's son Reed (I believe is his name) was interning at Apple and would one day step up to the stage and present the iPhone 8 or 10 or basically, just work for Apple so the Jobs legacy would continue on. I feel pretty good with Tim and company but would just be cool to see the son of such an innovator carry the name/company on...
 
Harry Seldon? Did Steve also create a holographic time capsule that will open years from now to see if Apple is on track with his vision?
 
vrDrew said:
While I applaud the effort behind Apple University, part of me wonders if there isn't some sort of analogy to the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle: The more you try to codify and teach the sort of thinking that made Steve Jobs the guy he was, the less likely you are to end up with the desired results. And I don't think there is really room for more than one "Steve Jobs" in even the most creative and innovative company.

Don't get me wrong - I've been very impressed with the Apple executives we've seen over the past couple of years. And I think Apple has every chance of continuing its amazing run of great products. But teaching genius is a bit like trying to capture lightning in a bottle.
Click to expand...

Very well said, you have a point here, might be too much to try and pass on these exact principals, but hopefully there will be in a way that does indeed work and provide Apple with a solid foundation moving forward... I think we will know in maybe a year or two when Apple will be expected to come out with the next "great product" and if they do that and it once again revolutionizes the world, then we will know if Steve's plan worked.
 
I never really knew who he was until my senior year in high school when my teacher introduced his stanford commencement speech. It was groundbreaking. I was fascinated by the way he was able to express age old cliche’s and rejuvenate them in a seemingly original way. Sadly, the titan of the information age who had impacted the entire culture of our world recently passed away and I am sad that I was unable to meet him in my lifetime. However, he has left humanity with immeasurable knowledge from his own experiences.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.” [Stanford commencement speech, June 2005]

A quote that I continually read from time to time in order to remind myself that life is so very short and it would just be downright sad if I left the earth with regrets.

Thank you Steve Jobs.
 
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