maflynn
macrumors Broadwell
Actually that was definitely a win by Apple. I absolutely loved how the icons looked in OS X 10.0 and beyond.
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Was Steve Jobs ever wrong?
- Thread starter Bubble99
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When Steve Jobs was in charge Apple was big on Skeuomorphism.
It was Microsoft that ended Skeuomorphism with Windows 8 and started the trend and Tim Cook sign off on this with later updates.
chrfr
macrumors G5
Sure, but design trends change. iOS would be very dated if it still looked like it did in 2010. But you also don't know that Tim Cook "hates" skeuomorphism, either.
The Windows Vista and Windows 7 the using Windows Aero seem to be new trend now with Apple liquid glasses.
Windows is becoming more Skeuomorphism now. But Mac OS is still flat other than app icons that more Skeuomorphism now.
Extremely likely equals certain in this case. Look at the original Mac. Closed case requiring special tools to open, soldered RAM, nowhere to add a hard drive and no SCSI port at first either. Everyone was surprised given how open the Apple II was.
Jobs swung hard and had plenty of strikeouts as well as plenty of home runs.
You mean this one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K
If so it had 128 KB RAM and not even enough to load picture into RAM.
The built-in display is a one-bit per pixel, black-and-white, 9 in (23 cm) CRT with a fixed resolution of 512 × 342 pixels………
I had no idea that computer monitors in the 80s where black and white. The screen is really small by today standards.
"Right" and "wrong" are subjective terms in a business context. Sure, you could say if something's profitable, it's "right", and if not, it's "wrong". Most of the products Steve Jobs started after returning to Apple were profitable, so you could say they were "right".
Where does that leave NeXT? NeXT developed some great technology for its time, and the NeXTSTEP OS is well known as the forerunner of Mac OS X. But NeXT was never profitable. Does that mean it was "wrong"?
Jobs was a visionary, but IMO he sometimes had too much vision, at the expense of what was needed to be commercially successful. The Mac didn't really start to gain traction until the 1986 Mac Plus with a high-speed SCSI interface, and even more so with the 1987 Mac II with expansion slots and color, two capabilities that Jobs adamantly opposed for the Mac when he was at Apple. Does that mean he was "wrong" about them? He had his concept of what a computer should be, much of the market wanted something different in the mid-1980s.
Where does that leave NeXT? NeXT developed some great technology for its time, and the NeXTSTEP OS is well known as the forerunner of Mac OS X. But NeXT was never profitable. Does that mean it was "wrong"?
Jobs was a visionary, but IMO he sometimes had too much vision, at the expense of what was needed to be commercially successful. The Mac didn't really start to gain traction until the 1986 Mac Plus with a high-speed SCSI interface, and even more so with the 1987 Mac II with expansion slots and color, two capabilities that Jobs adamantly opposed for the Mac when he was at Apple. Does that mean he was "wrong" about them? He had his concept of what a computer should be, much of the market wanted something different in the mid-1980s.
Wow Steve Job did not want expansion slots and wanted black and white monitors.
At least he Steve Job invented the GUI and mouse.
This may be off topic, but...
The Newton--which Steve Jobs had nothing to do with, other than to cancel it--is often cited as failure, and was the butt of many jokes, but I think the truth is more nuanced. Sure, it was a commercial failure, and had a lot of problems, but by putting it out there, Apple got people thinking about, and getting used to, the "personal digital assistant" idea. I believe this paved the way for the later success of the Palm Pilot, the iPhone, and the modern smartphone.
I bring this up because I feel Apple products have gotten too "safe" over the past 10+ years. All of the smartphones since 2019(?) have been virtually identical glass slabs. It would be nice to see Apple, or somebody, start taking some product risks again.
And, no, a folding phone isn't an innovation. Folding a large display area so it's easier to carry is something that newspapers pioneered hundreds of years ago.
The Newton--which Steve Jobs had nothing to do with, other than to cancel it--is often cited as failure, and was the butt of many jokes, but I think the truth is more nuanced. Sure, it was a commercial failure, and had a lot of problems, but by putting it out there, Apple got people thinking about, and getting used to, the "personal digital assistant" idea. I believe this paved the way for the later success of the Palm Pilot, the iPhone, and the modern smartphone.
I bring this up because I feel Apple products have gotten too "safe" over the past 10+ years. All of the smartphones since 2019(?) have been virtually identical glass slabs. It would be nice to see Apple, or somebody, start taking some product risks again.
And, no, a folding phone isn't an innovation. Folding a large display area so it's easier to carry is something that newspapers pioneered hundreds of years ago.
jent
macrumors 6502a
I don’t think this counts as being “wrong,” but the original iPhone launched without an App Store. Apple / Steve’s idea is that mobile webpages is how it would work. Less effort from developers (just code a page), instant easy access for users, and no Apple as the middleman.
In his shoes at that time I probably would have had the same thought, but with the success of the iOS App Store and the whole mobile app economy, it seems obvious in hindsight, and it feels like a rare Apple miss to not have envisioned or predicted a demand for third-party apps.
In his shoes at that time I probably would have had the same thought, but with the success of the iOS App Store and the whole mobile app economy, it seems obvious in hindsight, and it feels like a rare Apple miss to not have envisioned or predicted a demand for third-party apps.
Apple is slow for Folding phones because the technology is not there yet as it seems Apple wants crease free.
Where Samsung and others have crease when Folding. It also really expensive starting price $2,000
Controversial reply, no. This would have been even worse.
Yes, it’s easy to sit and point out all of the flaws that modern technology has brought to society.
But it’s even easier to point out the benefits.
Especially in the world of accessibility, plenty of people who never could have used a computer, never could have gotten a job, never could have communicated with the world without the modern technology that we have.
Whenever people say “I hate technology, I wish it never existed, let’s go back to the 60s yatayatayata” it always comes from such a privileged place. There are some people who would’ve been basically completely out of luck, unemployed, broke and unconnected without the Internet and modern mobile devices.
Also, and I feel like this doesn’t really need pointing out, but there were problems in the world before technology. Big, big problems. Just as big as the problems of today, arguably some even bigger. Just because you didn’t have to know about them, because everyone in the world was pretty much siloed off into their own little bubble pre-internet, doesn’t mean that they didn’t exist.
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I was an early adopter. Loved it. But it was too ahead of its time. The hardware was not there to support the handwriting recognition.
I miss the third party graffiti keyboard that eventually made its way to Palm Pilot PDAs. I wish that was an optional keyboard on iOS. I found it very efficient.
I miss the third party graffiti keyboard that eventually made its way to Palm Pilot PDAs. I wish that was an optional keyboard on iOS. I found it very efficient.
GMShadow
macrumors 68020
Being Mac only was what got the record companies on board later for the iTunes Music Store, because "it's a small part of the market, it's low risk!". They had to renegotiate later when bringing it to Windows, but by then everyone except Sony was more than happy to sign on.
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
And the engineers of the Mac pushed back on that a lot. It’s one reason Apple was better then: engineers had more power than they do now
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
And like always, Wozniak was right. He’s the kind of person we don’t have in the tech world enough because it’s been taken over by grifters due to all the money and power you can get there
I got one with my blue and white G3 minitower. I never used it because by that time I preferred Logitech cordless two-button mice. I still have it, but over time, the rubbery coating has become very sticky.
maxoakland
macrumors 68000
And they course corrected and fixed that. Hopefully Apple today does the same thing with their ridiculous soldered ram and storage