Steve Jobs' Grand Vision

ejungle writes "The Toronto Star has an excellent article on Steve Jobs and his increasingly interesting role as head of both Apple Computer and Pixar Animation Studios. The article goes into the market pressures surrounding both companies, and goes a long way to explain their recent moves."

Comments

Pixar's Linux Render Farm

[Nakito]

An idle question: Has anyone ever seen Steve Jobs make any significant public statement about the fact that the Pixar render farm uses Linux computers? I'm sure he has an opinion on the benefits of Linux, but I don't know if he's ever expressed it near a reporter.

Re:Pixar's Linux Render Farm

[Ianoo]

On Intel Xeons, noless. That said, they built it signficantly before the G5 Desktop and the G5 XServe were available. No offense, but much as I want a G5 and like the look-and-feel of Mac OS X, you have to admit that a bunch of overheating 1GHz G4's were significantly less cost effective than a similar bunch of P4 Xeons at the time the render farm was built.

Re:Pixar's Linux Render Farm

[phatsharpie]

Well, the RenderMan Pro Server version 11.5 is already supported on the Mac.

https://renderman.pixar.com/products/techspecs/i nd ex.htm

AFAIK, many artists do their modeling using Maya then offloading the rendering to the server, and since Maya is available on the Mac also, it should be possible to do the whole production on a Mac as it is.

-B

Steve Jobs has vision

[cy_a253]

Steve Jobs DOES have vision, and a profound understanding of the principles of technological innovation, no matter what some people might think. For example, he wrote that famous text himself: http://www.apple.com/thinkdifferent/

Re:Jobs going overboard?

[phatsharpie]

Personally, if there IS a Pixarland, I'd go in a heartbeat, and I'll bet millions of people would too. Consider how long Disney has been around versus Pixar, and in time I think Pixar - if it continues to make smart decisions in its productions - could have a wide reach than it does now. However, it would probably take at least a couple generation of leadership - like Disney. I doubt Steve Jobs can do it all, but maybe he is Superman in disguise.

-B

Disney came out ahead on Pixar deal!

[callipygian-showsyst]

Disney got the better end of the deal when DISNEY dumped PIXAR. (Not the other way around, as the Steve Jobs faithful believe.) Here's why:

1. Under the current deal, Disney has the copyrights to the existing movies and can continue to make revenue off of them, licence merchandise, etc.
2. Pixar is still committed to making two more movies
3. Movies are a "hits" business. You can't predict if future movies will be successful. Steve Jobs wouldn't deal unless he could get the rights back to the existing movies. Disney would have been CRAZY to do this--those movies can bring in a few BILLION over the next decade.
4. To trade away the Toy Story/Nemo/Monsters franchise in order to bet that Pixar will continue to make hit movies is a bad bet. Nobody stays on top forever in this business.

Re:Disney came out ahead on Pixar deal!

[snStarter]

But PIXAR will, at least, have control over its own destiny and no longer have to put up with having each film it produces going into the Disney "great animation" hall of fame.

In fact Disney has begun to fail more often than succeed. Pixar may produce a lesser film than any so far, but they would have to sink a long way in order to reach the currest state of Disney offerings. Or any other American company's for that matter.

You are falling for the same drivel that Hollywood believes - that it's only a "hit" business.

Re:Disney came out ahead on Pixar deal!

[cujo_1111]

1. Under the current deal, Disney has the copyrights to the existing movies and can continue to make revenue off of them, licence merchandise, etc.

But Pixar still receives a percentage of that revenue stream. That revenue could be enough to keep Pixar afloat in the lean times between hit movies.

4. To trade away the Toy Story/Nemo/Monsters franchise in order to bet that Pixar will continue to make hit movies is a bad bet. Nobody stays on top forever in this business.

A few years ago people were saying "Pixar is taking a huge risk to move away from the Toy Story franchise and make Monsters Inc." and then more recently "Pixar is taking a huge risk to move away from the Toy Story/Monsters inc. franchises and make a movie about fish."

They probably are sitting on more than a few movie scripts that are complete gold, we don't know. But I am willing to bet that Jobs knows what he is doing here and the split from Disney will be a success.

Jobs and the Disney/Comcast Merger

[paxcirca]

The article fails to mention that Jobs can also play an increasingly large role in the proposed Disney/Comcast merger. Comcast's CEO, Brian Roberts, is trying to pursuade Steve Jobs to join ranks with Comcast. Since Pixar has been directly responsible for a very large portion of Disney's recent success, and since Pixar will be severing ties with Disney, if Steve Jobs endorses the merger and decides to renew the contract with Disney (because of the Comcast deal), stockholders will be significantly more inclined to approve the merger.

Re:Why?

[ibmman85]

the market share thing is really strange... I keep seeing more and more and more macs out there (especially powerbooks).. most of the linux market share has to be in servers. I'm at RIT and I think about half the people I see now have apple laptops, its really insane. even the members of the Computer Science House (special interest housing) about half have mac laptops, despite most also having desktops running windows or linux or windows and linux.. Apple's market share definitely is not decreasing at least.

interesting little nugget

[sootman]

the most interesting bit from the article--"Jobs bought Pixar from LucasFilm in 1986, during his exile from Apple...
[Lucas] sold [Pixar] to Jobs for a bargain because Lucas needed cash for a divorce settlement."

is that really true?

Jobs buys Disney...actually a good idea.

[MsGeek]

Awww heck, why doesn't Apple just go ahead and buy Disney and keep all those profits they were trying to get Disney to give up? :)

Well, oh Anonymously Cowardly one, this is actually a damn good idea and one that makes complete sense. Remember when it looked like Apple or Pixar or both were going to buy Universal Music? I remember mentioning that it made more sense for Apple and Pixar to buy Universal Pictures for a guaranteed advantageous home base to release Pixar movies. I believe that Jobs can marshal enough money to beat the Comcast offer, and would be looked upon very kindly as a "white knight" versus Comcast's hostile bid.

Apple, Pixar, Disney, ABC TV (USA) and Disney Cable Networks? A match made in heaven. Do it, Steve. Do it.

Re:Jobs buys Disney...actually a good idea.

[The_Steel_General]

Agreed....and I think that's been the plan for awhile.

Does anyone else remember this:

Apple buys Next in order to have a source for its next generation operating system. Steve Jobs gets a bunch of stock options. Some months later, when the stock isn't doing so well, he suddenly dumps them with a comment about how he doesn't think the company is ever going to come back -- coincidentally driving the stock down even more. Soon after, the CEO of Apple is out and, oh look, Steve is in.

Compare with: Disney partners with Pixar for a number of successful films. Some years later, the stock isn't doing so well and a major shareholder starts a campaign to get rid of the CEO. Suddenly, Steve Jobs ends negotiations to continue the relationship.

Think it's a coincidence that this gave the CEO a bunch of trouble at a time when he didn't need it? That it was just as annual reports and proxy cards were going to shareholders?

Think Steve would allow Pixar to be merged with Disney if he replaced Eisner? Me too.

TSG

Did Eisner drop Pixar to avoid Comcast?

[kwandar]

Given the failed discussions that Disney had with Comcast, and the subsequent hostile takeover offer, dropping Pixar through being unable to reach agreement, may make a lot of sense.

If the big bad cable company trying to take you over wants content, killing value by dropping an agreement with a major content provider (Pixar) might just be the way to go.

Anyone else think Eisner would do that to fend off Comcast and keep the keys to the Kingdom to himself?

Re:Did Eisner drop Pixar to avoid Comcast?

[painandgreed]

If the big bad cable company trying to take you over wants content, killing value by dropping an agreement with a major content provider (Pixar) might just be the way to go.

Anyone else think Eisner would do that to fend off Comcast and keep the keys to the Kingdom to himself?

No, if anything I think it was done by Steve to force Eisner out. Disney loses Pixar, Roy Disney is up in arms about Eisner ruining Disney ( savedisney.com ), and an election of the CEO coming up. Roy says that Eisner is killing Disney and Pixar leaves then board votes. With two films left to go, it seems early for a splitting of the ways (perhaps not as I don't know what they have planned or how long it takes to put it out). We'll see if Eisner gets the boot by shareholders and if Disney and Pixar kiss and make up afterwards.

What are Steve's plans for Apple? I think he's stickign with the killer app theory and moving into various nitches. He doesn't have to be the best computer all round. he simply has to be the best computer for graphics and video. IF apple puts out the best, that's what people will buy. An extra thousand or so really doesn't matter when it can save you ten thousand in time. Combined with the video apps that Apple has bought and is now making, this seems a the way it's going. The Xserve seems made from day one for cheap render farms. It doesn't matter what Apple's market share is because if Apple can just maintain these two markets, there's plenty of money to keep a computer company afloat.

From there, it's just a matter of picking another niche and moving into it. They've got some with the ease of use home segment using OS X as a killer app and at the same time sucking in *nix people in the laptops.

Music seems the next killer app they're moving into. They've bought and are producing apps for music production. They bought Emagic and Logic and have put out music apps from Garageband on up. Eventually they'll be the standard in music as they are in video (and already are depending on who you ask).

What will Apple do next? Who knows. Look to see what Apple buys next because the problem hasn't been that Apple didn't license out clones but that Apple stopped publishing their own apps. People will use what ever computer does the job. What computer does the job is dependant on the Killer App. From now on, I expect Apple to make both the computer and the Killer App.

It's the vision thing

[GrahamCox]

Hmmm, I don't worship Steve Jobs by any stretch, but I do appreciate his vision and his company's products. The world needs more like him. Great designs rarely come from committees - in fact, can you name one? Concorde, maybe. Most "classics" are usually one person's vision.
As for the drop in market share, that is not SJ's fault, it was John Sculley's, and the cluless mob that followed after him. Apple was about to go tits up when SJ returned and used his vision to put the company back on track. In fact, SJ's biggest error was bringing Sculley over, then making an enemy of him. One can only wonder at the shape of the industry today if that had not happened. I'm sure one Bill Gates would have far less influence, power and money, that's for sure.

Pixarland

[solprovider]

it'd cost you several hundred dollars to get in, everything would be stark white with accents of brushed steel and a few aqua bubbles. There would only be 3 rides, and they'd be the really old ones "ported" from Magic Mountain, and before you entered the park, there'd be a little tutorial demonstrating how powerful and intuitive everything is.

So you've been to Epcot?

The Innovation buildings are SO EXCITING. Their "future" of computer hardware is stuff most Slashdotters already have.

---
Given Steve Job's ability to create great usable interfaces, Pixarland may be the first themepark that would not require a map to find your way. It would keep the lines down to 10 minutes even on weekends. It might cost "several hundred dollars", but you would spend all the times on rides rather than waiting in line. At that price, your fast-food concessions can be buffet-style, eliminating the overhead of cashiers inside the park. The justification is that if you are eating, you are not making the lines for rides longer.

Would you pay twice the ticket price for the Magic Kingdom if the lines were half as long? You could see every attraction in fewer days so you could keep the trip shorter and save on hotel nights. And remove the boredom of standing on line for an hour for a 2-minute ride.

---
Pixarland will not happen soon. Since all the past and current movie releases were for Disney, Pixar will have to wait untill it has a few hits on its own. Then buy land. Design rides to fit the land and the movies. Build the rides. Hire people to run everything. Safety tests. Usability testing. Fix anything confusing. Repeat until anybody from 5 to 95 can understand the layout. Finally we mortals are allowed to enter.

I guess they need 5 great movies (at one movie per year) before even starting. Another 5 years to design, build and test the first 10 rides. (I am assuming one adult and one child per movie.) So Pixarland opens in 2015. The grand opening will do well, and adding a few rides each year to match the latest movies would keep people going back.

Where is the Pixlet codec???

[goombah99]

Aha, I found it!..Pixelt seems to have vanished from view. Here's the description of Pixlet from apple's website.

Pixlet, the first studio-grade codec for filmmakers that was developed in conjunction with Pixar to deliver breathtaking HD-quality video on the Mac that is free from visual artifacts.

"High-end Video Codec
Pixlet is the first studio-grade codec for filmmakers. Pixlet provides 20-25:1 compression, allowing a 75MB/sec series of frames to be delivered in a 3MB/sec movie, similar to DV data rates. Or a series of frames that are over 6GB in size can be contained within a 250MB movie. Pixlet lets high-end digital film frames play in real time with any 1GHz G4 or faster Panther Mac, without investing in costly, proprietary hardware."

You may recall Jobs demoed it in october. He showed in particular how you could use the scrubber to move through the film in faster than real time to any place and the codec kept up with the presentation. And the quality was near DVD. very impressive.

So where is it? it vanished off Apple's main web pages though you can find it in their archives. It vanished about the same time as "home-on-ipod" vanished. I assume panther, ilife and ipod ate its brain share. Perhaps its going to be held back as a premium product to differentiate final cut pro. any guesses

Re:My major concern with this deal...

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't think movie theater chains would kill an incredible revenue source like Pixar. How much leverage does Disney have at this point anyways? What if they threatend to halt distribution to theater chains that didn't do as told? I'm sure that would frighten some theater chains into compliance (not showing Pixar films and such), but are Disney's current box offices draws really worth it? Why not get on board with Pixar instead?

Pixar has consistently delivered a string of hits that continue to bring bodys to the theaters. Disney, on the other hand, has a solid, but shrinking box office draw. Do you go with Pixar and dump Disney, or do you place it safe and stick by Disney?

Of course Disney could jump into the theater chain business. But that doesn't seem likely since they're hurting right now. I'm not saying they're going away any time soon, but even big companies struggle. Pixar sees the potential of manuvering around and utilizing Disney's current weakness.

Wouldn't a power shift be fun to watch over the coming years?

Counterpoint

[SuperKendall]

1. the whole personality cult surrounding Steve Jobs (face it - Steve Wozniak is the real genius)

I would agree that Wozniac is the greater technical genius. I have not been that impressed with Jobs in the past, but to discount what he has done over the last few years is to fail to recognize real talent. You cannot deny he has brought Apple a huge amount of mindshare and given them a great technical direction over the last few years

2. a futuristic vision that only about 40 years out of date. Take the ipod - it looks like it came straight out of the movie '2001', which was released in 1968

Related to the aforementioned skill of product design above is knowing when retro will sell, and when to move away from it. You'll note that they don't sell candy-colored computers anymore (though they are starting to sell colored iPods).

3. rabid myopic fanboys. Yes, I am aware of the irony of posting this on Slashdot.

They exist for any platform.

4. product deficiencies that are actually features. For a great example of this, bring up the single mouse button thing to a bunch on Mac fanatics. You will be informed that a single button is better, that you can compensate by doing this and that and this, and that you don't really need more than a single button anyway.

I've never heard anyone argue that. I use a three (or more) button mouse for an external mouse, but I do have to say that I personally prefer a single button on a laptop as I am always accidentally hitting the right one on most PC laptops. Since my hands are on the keys all the time anyway I find chording to work better on laptops and two buttons to be very inefficient.