Behind a Steve Jobs Keynote

Shree writes "The Guardian has an article about what it takes to prepare that smooth Steve Jobs-style keynote. When Steve launches iPhoto and says 'here we have 5000 or so photos', he actually means here we have 5000 or so carefully picked photos ... " From the article: "Objectively, Apple Computer is a mid-sized company with a tiny share of its primary market. Apple Macintoshes are only rarely seen in corporate environments, and most software companies don't even offer Apple-compatible versions of their products. To put it another way, Apple is just bit larger than Cadbury-Schweppes and about the same size as Nike or Marks and Spencer in terms of annual sales. Such comparisons come up short in trying to describe Apple's place in the world of business, because they leave out a key factor: Steve Jobs."

Comments

Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[jmp_nyc]

The power of Steve Jobs is that he is able to get people to notice what he's doing. Part of that includes his large following of people who hang on his every word. It shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that he works very hard to maintain the effortless appearance of his public persona in order to maintain that following.

Apple makes great products, sometimes jumping into market segments that have other businesses with a head start, makes them slick and easy to use, then markets the hell out of them. The iPod wasn't the first portable mp3 player, but it put the product on the map. If next week's keynote unveils a media-centered Mac Mini with DVR features, it won't be the first such creature (Microsoft's been trying to break into that segment for a while, and Bill Gates just demoed similar features in Vista), but I guarantee that Jobs will unveil products that are much closer to market, and that the proportional effect on Apple's sales will be tremendous...
-JMP

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[wiz31337]

In a highly complicated world with new technology popping up daily, Steve Jobs does a great job at simplifying things to make an outstanding and lasting impression. The image of Apple is depicted perfectly in every one of Jobs' keynotes, down to the last little detail Steve makes sure everything is perfect.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[theStorminMormon]

I've heard a lot of people say that a lot of (presumably other) people hang on Steve Jobs' every word. But somehow I've never met anyone who actually did seem to hang on the words of Steve Jobs. The buzz around Apple products seems grounded in reality - the buzz around Jobs seems like manufactured press.

He's like the CEO equivalent of Paris Hilton: everyone's sure he's famous, no one's really sure what he's famous FOR. No really, there a ton of sex tapes going around the internet - that's not enough to make someone famous. As far as I can tell Paris got famous because she was famous. As far as I can tell, Jobs is famous for the same reason: because he's famous.

-stormin

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[pHatidic]

Actually, the Rio 500 was what put the mp3 player on the map. 279 dollars for 20 or 22 low quality songs.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Microlith]

Why he's famous should be obvious.

He's the CEO that came back and saved Apple, giving us the iMac, iPod, and MacOS X.

He also presents his company's creations with a flair that Bill G. simply doesn't have, and other companies simply can't muster cause their products really don't have any style.

Paris Hilton is famous too, but honestly for reasons I cannot fathom. Is stupidity that popular?

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Have Blue]

That's not a fair comparison- Steve really is involved with product design and really does contribute ideas that steer development. In the 80s he was instrumental in making the platform viable and immediately after returning to Apple in the late 90s he fixed all the problems Amelio introduced and started the company moving in the direction it's going today. He doesn't code or sculpt prototype cases or anything like that, but it's Steve's high-level decisions that make those things happen.

So, while he may be "famous for fame" right now, that fame really did come from something concrete- unlike Paris.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[pHatidic]

I got mine for free from pointclick.com (click banners to get money during .com boom). My friends and I clicked on the banner ads for 72 hours straight right after it launched. When we had to be in school we'd go to the library and start opening so many new windows in IE that the whole OS would crash. We had one person assigned to crashing all the school computers, and another person assigned to rebooting them and getting them set up again. We just kept going in a big circle around the library for like three days until we all got life bans. I feel like I personally put that website out of business.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Ohreally_factor]

I got news for you. The problems Apple had were not introduced by Gil Amelio. Amelio kept Apple alive during his tenure. If Amelio hadn't been there, there would be no Apple for Jobs to come back to. Furthermore, it was under Amelio that Apple bought NeXT (or as some wags would have it, NeXT bought Apple for negative $400 million), paving the way for Jobs to retake the helm.

No, if you want to blame Apple's problems on anyone, it should be Spindler and Sculley.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[yog]

Keep in mind that when Steve Jobs left Apple the first time, he went off and founded Next Computers, which came out with a remarkable Unix-based GUI. He captured the public's imagination with the Next cube but made a couple of strategic errors such as initially restricting the product to the educational market. A reporter asked him how an ordinary person could acquire a Next cube and Jobs famously replied, "Enroll."

Jobs also co-founded Pixar Animation Studios, the premier animation film company that has created such blockbusters as Toy Story and The Incredibles.

Then when Jobs returned to Apple, taking over from a string of lackluster bean counter executives, he inspired the company to produce some world class products such as the iPod and the iMac. The iPod is the must have product of 2005, and the Mac laptops are at the top of their class.

I'd say Steve Jobs is more than just a showman, though clearly he loves the limelight. Microsoft is the white bread, corporate standby that does the heavy lifting on corporate and consumer desktops but is otherwise an uninspired market follower, not a market leader.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[imdx80]

Apple stuff gets ignored just as much as Nike's, it will kick off a blog storm get a story posted here (and maybe a dupe or two) and probably a link to the story on the front page on newsites. In won't be a front page story in major papers or 'top the hour' on a news show, non techie people won't be discussing it over drinks anymore than when Nike announced adding a 'powerbar' to certain shoes. The only techie storys that are normally seen on the main segments of news shows are when certain products, like the ipod, are selling in huge numbers (and when stocks are running low).

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Peter Cooper]

Who modded the parent post up? It's totally devoid of fact.

Steve Jobs initially became famous over twenty years ago for leading the company who developed the, then, most successful microcomputer of its generation, the Apple II. He then pushed his boundaries of fame with the whole Macintosh / 1984 commercial thing and became seen as a visionary and leader of the industry. This was no accident or coincidence.

He then bankrolled and managed (in the business sense, rather than creatively) Pixar for many years, eventually engineering a clever IPO and became a centimillionaire in the process (and now a billionaire).

To compare Steve Jobs to Paris Hilton is ridiculous. Jobs has put in a lot of hard work, a lot of money, and run himself ragged on his route to success.. he was no overnight sensation.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[soft_guy]

I'd agree except that I've talked to a lot of people at Apple both before,during, and after Steve Jobs return. He really is personally involved in the 5% of the most important decisions at Apple at any given time. That amounts to tremendous personal attention to the details of what is going on - and it also sets the tone for the other 95% of the decisions that get made when he isn't around.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Overly Critical Guy]

We need more perfectionists like that in this industry. This is an interesting read.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[charlieOReilly]

Man, this is horrible, but I'm automatically going to trust the guy with the three digit id.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Justarius]

At the end of the day, the CEO of a company is the top salesperson of that company. They're not necessarily pushing a product, but their pushing their version or vision of the future that the company is taking. Jobs does an excellent job at that - with or without the reality distortion field. I would actually say that a "reality distortion field" is necessary for any salesperson. You want the customer to believe in you, and one of the easiest ways of doing that is using ethos. Appeal to emotion - it gets you a lot further than using logos or pathos, for the gran mayority of people.

Couple the appeal to emotion, an apparent genuine enthusiasim for the company, a good speech writer (using NLP, if necessary to change tempo, tone of voice and speed to keep the audience keen), and good ad-lib, and you've got them sold on whatever it is at first sight. Of course, to keep this going, you also need products that reflect that vision. Whatever your opinion may be of the performance/ease of use/or some other technical criteria of the macs may be, they are some of the coolest or well designed products out there in the industry for consumers/pro-consumers today. The products reflect whatever Jobs is saying, the image is sold along with the product and it becomes a cultural icon. Many other companies have pulled this off in the past in other industries - i would venture to say that IBM has sold a similar concept of "coolness" in the corporate world (different criteria, such as stability, servicibility, or whatever you want to call it) with their adverts - something that other companies have yet to do in that same segment.

Think about it this way: in what other industries does the product reflect the feeling or image that the company is trying to push? I would say the Mini Cooper is probably a close example. I think Sony has pulled off the idea pretty well in the past, specially with the Walkman in the late 80s/early 90s.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[SyncNine]

Uh, maybe you and I are thinking about different Rio 500s. My Rio lasted about two weeks before a solder joint internally that connected the battery to the rest of the unit broke. When I opened it to fix it I realized that the idiots had soldered a think stranded wire directly to a metal plate as opposed to running it through something or mounting it in any way shape or form. After applying some flux to actually make it stick, it lasted for a few months before the thing just *stopped* playing MP3s.

If that's what you mean by 'indestructable', I'm thinking that 'indestructable' doesn't mean what you think it means.

In all rights, however, I could have just had a lemon Rio. Doesn't mean that the design wasn't shoddy, just that mine was particularly shoddy. Thank god I got it for free.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[mkiwi]

To compare Steve Jobs to Paris Hilton is ridiculous. Jobs has put in a lot of hard work, a lot of money, and run himself ragged on his route to success.. he was no overnight sensation.

And Paris Hilton is some kind of sensation? I'd call her a whore.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[theStorminMormon]

I'll try to clarify my point for you then.

Steve Jobs was likely just about as brilliant, full of leadership, etc. in the 1980s as he is now. I'm sure he's grown and changed some, but for the sake of argument let's say he's roughly the same person. Yet in the 1980s very few people knew who Stever Jobs was. Now a lot of people know who he is. Clearly, then, to a large degree his fame is not a result of who he is.

So the second possibility is that the fame is a result not of who he is, but of what he has done. Clearly Apple is more successful (in terms of public perception) than NeXT. Fine, but the question is why? I'd say there are two problems. 1 - I'm skeptical that Steve's influence on Apple is that pervasive. Do you think that if you were an engineer you'd go from creating something like the Rio to something like the iPod just because Steve was now your boss's boss's boss's boss? 2 - Even if Steve was responsible for development of the creation of the specific products (which I doubt) the fact that those products are so important to our society now and at this time is something entirely out of Steve's control. He didn't invent MP3s, he didn't influence America's deeply materialistic culture, etc. etc.

What this all demonstrates is that there is a whole barrage of reasons for Steve Jobs fame that have nothing to do with who he is or what he specifically did. And yet we attribute the success of Apple to him anyway because he's the man in front. And we, as people, like to have things clear cut. We like to be able to blame the incredibly complex system that goes into a major corporation on the behavior, quality, and decisions of men and women that we'll never even meet in person for 5 minutes.

What does this have to do with Paris? People like celebrity in and of itself, not just celebrity for something. People like to turn individuals into icons. Sometimes a buzz becomes self-sustaining (nothing draws a crowd like a crowd). All of these factors, I believe, have a lot more to do with what we think of Steve than Steve himself personally does.

-stormin

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Kadin2048]

Now I'm usually a big fan of Apple, but I think you're not really giving credit where credit is due (although not your fault, virtually nobody does). The decision to kill Copland and buy someone else's OS -- the key decision that led to the return of Jobs, the production of Mac OS X, and perhaps saved the company -- was not Jobs'. It's usually attributed to Ellen Hancock, originally of IBM, and who Jobs ridiculed and later basically ran out of the company.

Jobs is brilliant, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure that the credit for Mac OS X and for acquiring NeXT should be entirely his. If it hadn't been for Hancock, someone from outside the company who basically had to tell them when it was time to pull the plug, Apple might have continued along the twisted road that was Copland until finially running out of steam. And the acquisition of NeXT, along with Jobs, might never have happened.

See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copland and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellen_Hancock

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[shess]

I've heard a lot of people say that a lot of (presumably other) people hang on Steve Jobs' every word. But somehow I've never met anyone who actually did seem to hang on the words of Steve Jobs.

You've obviously not met the right people. I can't recall if I've actually met Jobs (he certainly wouldn't know me), but I once sat two places down from him at a lunch with a small group, and have been in some relatively small audiences when he spoke, and some relatively large audiences of course. I'm generally a very negative person, I nit-pick movies to death and am a really unfortunate person to sit next to in an audience. That said, Jobs definitely has that reality-distortion field. When you hear him talk, you believe. In a smaller group, you believe even more. It's really amazing, and it's something I've not really experienced with any other famous speaker.

Often enough, though, a half hour later you're out in the lobby talking to your colleagues, and you're wondering what the heck that was all about. When he manages to combine the Jedi Mind Trick with actual substance, it's really amazing to behold. He manages this often enough to keep Apple going. There are enough great hits that it keeps a certain segment of people coming back time and again, hoping that this hit will be the one.

[Personally, though I sometimes flirt with going back into the fold, I've been ex-NeXT/Apple for 7 years and counting. I eventually got sick of the manipulation.]

And don't kid yourself that he's just a pretty face for the company: Jobs makes things happen. Some of them are good things, some of them are bad things, but he motivates people to get stuff done, and that's why it all works.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[dal20402]

To expand on what the other reply said...

Amelio didn't make great product decisions, and it certainly took Jobs, the iMac, etc. to get Apple back into public favor.

But Amelio, not Jobs, was the real financial savior of the company. When he was hired, there were going to be losses as far as the eye could see -- Apple really had not got its costs under control, and seemed to have no motivation to change old losing business practices such as custom-building all components and pricing without considering the rest of the market. Amelio, not Jobs, really got Apple to move toward industry-standard components and better inventory/distribution practices; Apple, while continuing to shrink, stopped losing money on his watch. It turned from Mercedes-Benz circa 1991 into Porsche circa 2004.

Like the other guy said, no Jobs without Amelio. I wish people would give him his due.

Jobs, for his part, is successful because he's a showman. People like entertainers, pure and simple. (That's why Paris is a mystery... she's not entertaining in any way...)

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Ohreally_factor]

I think it's the Dewey Decimal number of the Beast.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[Andrew Tanenbaum]

Bill G lacks flair? Haven't you seen his DOOM video?

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[ceoyoyo]

Apple doesn't seem to go for the "it's good enough that they won't sue us" quality level that most corporations do. It's refreshing. Sometimes they screw up, but most of the time they do a good job. More importantly, they WANT to do a good job, and there's pride in the work, right from the bottom to the top. Pretty old fashioned. We need more of it.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[drsquare]

Hi Steve.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[SteeldrivingJon]

" Clearly Apple is more successful (in terms of public perception) than NeXT. Fine, but the question is why?"

The issue is not really success, but quality of work. NeXT did excellent work. They weren't as "successful" as Apple, but then they were in an entirely different situation. Arguably, Apple's current success is to some extent the result of giving NeXT the much larger resources and market position of Apple.

Pixar has long done excellent work. Pixar didn't take off until they started making feature films with distribution by Disney, but it's clear from their early short work that the ethos of high standards has always been there.

The question is, who is the gatekeeper at Apple and Pixar. Who steers the company, who sets quality standards, who has final go/no-go authority on products, who has the authority to decide that a product is not good enough? Who do the engineers and designers and creative types ultimately have to impress? That's Steve Jobs.

He's not necessarily the engineer or designer coming up with the ideas, but the problem is never coming up with ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen. The trick is squelching the bad ideas and designs and helping bring the good ones to market without letting them become sucky on the way.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[alset_tech]

Maybe Steve just has a much more powerful impact on his own company than CEOs do in general, but I've always figured that CEOs did more with broad-picture stuff and were somewhat disconnected from the detailed operations.

It has been reported that Steve Jobs decides the order of the applications in the Dock when a new machine cold boots. Of course, someone must decide the order of these apps. The significance is that the CEO considers it important enough to have a hand in it.

Not so disconnected, I think.

Re:Not surprising. That's what Jobs does.

[jcr]

Well, for one thing...she's "hot".....

Dude, you really need to get away from the TV.

-jcr

Title and summary

[MasterOfUniverse]

are completely different.

Re:Title and summary

[vertinox]

Title and summary are completely different.

They were trying to think different.

Comparison with Nike and M&S is specious

[Snamh Da Ean]

It is a strange comparison because, even though revenue may be in the same ballpark figure as these other companies, they are not growing as quickly as Apple has done since it launched the iPod, and while Apple may be medium sized now, it is steadily getting larger. It is also well known to anyone aged 16-30 - how many American readers know what product M&S sells, or what its famous for.

I also don't understand why he appears to suggest that announcements made by the CEOs of other companies are scrutinised by brokers and other analysts. It was interesting to see all the work that goes into Jobs' presentations, but I think the author of the article was over-egging the importance of these presentations by attempting to diminish the size of Apple's importance and comparing the impact of the announcements to those made by other similarly sized companies. A bit dishonest I feel

Re:Comparison with Nike and M&S is specious

[dchallender]

Well, the Marks and Spencer quote may not mean much to Americans - but that quote *was* from the article - which was from the website of a UK newspaper. I do not think the UK has yet got to the point where all articles are written with an eye to being fully understood in the US, they still have hints of local flavour (and spelling ;-)

It's the industry, folks

[JamminBen]

Steve Jobs doesn't do anything that anyone else in his position wouldn't do. The reason he's such a personality and driving force is because he sells awesome gadgets to the exact people who want them. Jobs is like Ralph Lauren or Steven King. He gives his people (customers) what they want and has a personality to boot.

People who use Macs picture themselves as a blend of geek and artist. A shiny, beautiful piece of equipment that is easy to use and gets the job done is like a little slice of heaven to them. So when Steve Jobs does his dog and pony show, everyone laps it up.

The difference between Macs and clothing or books is that the personal computer industry, being the interface between pop-culture and the mysterious world of high tech, gets more press and money thrown at it than most other industries. So when there's a new marketing effort it gets picked up by more of the world than similar efforts in other industries.

This isn't to say Steve Jobs doesn't deserve credit for being good at what he does, but I don't think he's particularly unique in his approach or methods.

Re:It's the industry, folks

[jtnishi]

The reason he's such a personality and driving force is because he sells awesome gadgets to the exact people who want them. Jobs is like Ralph Lauren or Steven King. He gives his people (customers) what they want and has a personality to boot.

I always thought that Jobs didn't give people what they want, but rather give them a product that they realize that they want when he gives it to him.

Power of the Reality Distortion Field at work. You might not want it now, but once Jobs presents it, and you see it, it becomes so much harder to not want it.

Showmanship and Attention to Detail

[Ohreally_factor]

None of this scrupulous preparation should be a surprise, coming from Jobs. He's always had a flair for the dramatic, and he knows how to achieve it. Contrast it with the disastrous keynote given by Gil Amelio:

There were bad omens from the beginning. Instead of having a speech laid out word for word, Amelio would speak from a detailed outline. According to Amelio, his writer (whose identity has yet to be revealed) was behind schedule and making excuses. Revisions continued to be made up until show time.

To make matters worse, the TelePrompTer malfunctioned, garbling most of the text that had been loaded on it.

The other presenters did not fare so well either. Nobody had told them where they would enter the stage or how to stand so the cameras could pick them up.

Because of the malfunctioning TelePrompTer, Amelio had to ad lib the order of appearances and ended up inadvertently snubbing Muhammad Ali. What was scheduled to last for 1-1/2 hours droned on to 3 full hours, ruining the finale of Steve Wozniak appearing with Steve Jobs.

Macworld San Francisco was a disaster, and Amelio was in the middle of it. The press had a field day with his poor performance, spawning a new term in Apple parlance, a droneathon. Amelio was embarrassed by his performance and took the blame for it. Only later was it revealed that he was largely a victim of the mistakes of others.

Source: 500 Days at the Helm: The Rise and Fall of Gil Amelio by Tom Hormby

Re:Showmanship and Attention to Detail

[Gulthek]

Have you ever given a public speech? It is FAR better to speak from a detailed outline than read something word for word.

Of course, this means you have to know what the hell you're talking about. It seems like the only serious problem was the teleprompter and lack of a stage director. There is absolutely no excuse for the lack of a physical backup for the prompter OR for a competent stage director for a coordinated presentation.

Re:Showmanship and Attention to Detail

[Ohreally_factor]

There's public speaking and then there's show biz. An actor doesn't memorize an outline of a script. He memorizes the script. Jobs is all show biz. He's not up there giving a speech. He performs. I guess you gotta see it with your own eyes.

Re:Showmanship and Attention to Detail

[The Fun Guy]

I've given lots of public speeches, and I've been in a number of plays, and it completely depends on the audience and the intention of what you are trying to do as to wether you should work from an outline or a script.

If you are simply trying to convey information, then working from an outline is fine, since you can move sentences and phrases around and still deliver the same content.

If you are trying to elicit a specific emotional response, then you *must* script it out, down to the length of the pause between phrases and when to nod your head. In theatre, a ton of time is spent on "blocking"... establishing where to stand when saying one line, when to move to another mark for the next line, wether the emotional impact of the line is better if delivered facing stage right vs. house right, etc. All of this stage business will either enhance or detract from the emotional impact of your lines.

You simply cannot effectively manipulate the emotional response of your audience by going out there are winging it. Jobs isn't trying to simply introduce a new product - any marketroid could do that. He's trying make people fall out of their chairs with excitement at sight of the new product. A standing ovation in the room is what builds excitement, word of mouth, brand loyalty and market impact. A round of polite applause heralds a product with no lasting impact.

Re:Showmanship and Attention to Detail

[c_forq]

Only in movies, not in live theater (which this is). In live theater if you try to adlib you are quickly dropped (actors usually memorize the ends of lines of others to know when to give their line, so if someone adlibs it can throw the other actors off). If Steve had multiple takes I'm sure he would do the same as the movie actors you cite.

influence

[phiber9]

"...To put it another way, Apple is just bit larger than Cadbury-Schweppes and about the same size as Nike or Marks and Spencer in terms of annual sales..." Apple influences IT market as much as AMD or Intel do. Sometimes even more.

interesting...

[cj7wilson]

The things that impressed me most about the article were the apparent commitment to excellence that Steve Jobs has; His hands-on, detail-oriented, perfectionistic level of involvement; and the demi-god status he appears to receive from his employees. That's why he's so successful, IMHO.

the show's worth it

[escay]

honestly a steve jobs' show is as exciting as an episode of Desperate Housewives (though no cleavage is involved) - it's not the dull drone of a corporate talk. it's quite fun to watch and i regularly watch all of his addresses - can't wait for his MacExpo keynote! no wonder a lot of work goes into it - who can forget the priceless moment where he pulled out the ipod nano out of his coin pocket in his jeans!that's good stuff...

Apple

[revery]

I think describing Steve Jobs as a rock star of the business world is fairly accurate. People forget that no matter how much technology changes or how many articles talk about the evolving nature our society, people are still primarily influenced by their reactions to others as individuals. For whatever reason, Jobs captivates those around him. He demands a reaction, and it is frequently visceral. What's more, is that he is able to make it work for him instead of against him (we all knew people in high school who had, to some degree, this type of personabut for whatever reason, it was their greatest handicap). It's the kind of thing that other CEO's, though they may be more financially successful than Jobs, are frequently jealous of.

Just my 2 cents.

Re:Apple

[Quiet_Desperation]

I think describing Steve Jobs as a rock star of the business world is fairly accurate.

In the modern lexicon, maybe, but it's still annoying. The Discovery Channel was running promos for their King Henry VIII special, and some historian was calling him a rock star. Bleah...

It's OK if once in a while something in this universe *isn't* hip, folks.

Re:and what a job he does...

[Ohreally_factor]

My guess is that Phil Schiller is the heir apparent. If (God Forbid) Jobs were to drop dead, I'm sure the market would (over)react*, but Apple has succeeded not just because of Steve's leadership, but also because of the team he has put in place. He doesn't run the company single-handed, despite his legendary status and mythic qualities.

*Buying opportunity!

How you deliver is important

[mcwop]

10 years ago I went to see the band Helmet, and it appeared that they were getting on stage to play as the lights went dim. Instead they played that 12 minute Michale Jackson video (the one with teh black panther in it). The audience was very irritated, becuase not many Helmet fans probably like MJ. However, when the band got up there, and the video ended the audience went nuts. It was very effective.

Jobs knows how to show a product to enhance the consumer's understanding. Example, I went to Sandisk's site yesterday to check out their upcoming mp3 players. The site does a horrible job letting the consumer know things like size (Apple shows the tiny Nano in someone's hand), I have to read a all the text (not that I mind reading, but the impact is not the same). Jobs, and his helpers, know how to deliver a pithy, and flashy message.

Infectious

[thunderpaws]

When Steve Jobs speaks he shows enthusiasm for Apple and the products, which is expected of someone in his position. What makes his keynotes so notable is the way he invites the audience and the faithful to join in his enthusiasm, as if all are participants rather than customers.

a mac-head by any other name....

[thatshortkid]

funny how the guy that wrote the very pro-steve and pro-apple piece is named mike evangelist.

can't make this stuff up......

Well... yeah.. So people prepare and rehearse

[loraksus]

And, as a result, they don't look like idiots when plugging in a scanner BSOD's their box in front of a couple of thousand people ;)
That all said, even non-fanboys have to admit that there is something about an apple keynote that is a bit different than what the rest of the industry has. You don't see people actually "excited" about a Microsoft event (or really, any computer related event).
The vast majority are actually quite boring and to be completely honest, I think the only "excited" people at these events are those getting free food, swag or the latest copy of vs.net and a xp pro CD.
I'm not saying that the events aren't informative, and I'm not advocating that people turn release events and conventions into E3, but it would be nice if some events tried to be a bit more like apple.

Steve Jobs spoke unto me

[Dystopian Rebel]

And my myopia, plantar fascitis, and unibrow were cured!

Steve Jobs is...

[Billosaur]

...the greatest carnival barker ever. "Step right up and see the iPod... no looking behind the curtain... Step right up, get your first look at the new Intel Macintosh... No sir, no touching the merchandise unless you plan to buy..."

Behind a Jobs keynote?

[fak3r]

Obligitory:

• smoke
• mirrors
• reality distortion machine
• black mock turtle necks
• Steve practicing saying "It's insanely great!" and "...and it's available immediately!"

Hey, hey, hey, I love Apple as much as the next guy, but you have to admit Steve is quite the showman (salesperson).

I know why he's famous....

[wandazulu]

...because if there is anyone in the industry who could be described as an oracle to what the future holds, he's it. But more than just predicting it, he directs the company to make it. The NeXT machine heralded the future back in 1988....Unix-based, security-focused OS with a great GUI and awesome development tools. Did he actually write any of it? No, but unlike another operating system (*cough* Linux) that has awesome tech but remains a bit ... unfocused ... and an operating system that seems focused on the wrong things (*cough* Windows) Steve Jobs had/has a clear vision of what he wanted, and where things should go. And frankly, whether you like him as a person or not, he seems to have been pretty much correct.

Consider this example: The original iMac had no floppy drive and used USB ports instead of ADB. People *howled*, but time has proven him right...the iMac did more to jumpstart widespread adoption of USB than anything else (I had two PCs that had USB ports that went to the junkyard without ever having been used). On top of everything else, I'm sure companies did a good business for awhile selling ADB-to-USB converters and USB-based floppy drives.

Jobs is the only guy who has the cajones to risk alienating everyone to push the tech world further, and the world always catches up. *That* is why he is deservedly famous.

BTW, contrast this to Wozniak who is also decidely famous, but as the wizard who made it all work. It's too bad the two of them didn't collaborate on more things...maybe those warp drives wouldn't be so far off after all...

Re:I know why he's famous....

[Johnny Mnemonic]

Consider this example: The original iMac had no floppy drive and used USB ports instead of ADB.

An oft cited example, but I think a more crucial one was the use of 802.11b in the original iBook. That has also spread wildly.

One could argue that Jobs is good at spotting successful trends early, and directs his hardware development accordingly, rather than dictating the direction of the market, but who cares? Often technology you see in Macs today you see in PCs in 2 years.

That said, there's been a number of mis-steps, too, usually the tech that was developed in house at Apple eg FireWire. Disappointing that they don't even include it on their new iPods--does make one wonder if it's going away. Fewer and fewer peripherals bother to support it at all, now, in favor of USB 2.0. BlueTooth is another example--while widely supported on Macs, it just still kinda sucks when trying to find and use a non-Apple BT product. That trend has yet to take off.

Re:I know why he's famous....

[daviddennis]

Asking someone to die because he likes Steve Jobs seems a little extreme, no?

Wozniak has come and gone, primarily because he made enough at Apple to live for the rest of his life in comfort. That was his motivation, and so he did it and now he's a schoolteacher. I can sympathise. Making high-tech products is a tough job. A lot of people who make their pile get sick of their tough jobs with little social interaction and go on to someone else. I'd consider JWZ to be another excellent example. He made his pile at Netscape, and he created the DNA Lounge, which I'm sure gives him as much of a social life as anyone would want.

Steve is a different type of guy. His single goal is to make Great Products. I don't think he's personally even that interested in selling them at a profit. The profit is means to an end, so he can make still more Great Products.

I'm typing this on a 17" PowerBook running MacOS X right now, and I can tell you, it is a Great Product. That's why I'm an Apple customer. Steve Jobs guides the technical people and makes sure they aspire to greatness instead of mediocrity.

I know in my own mind, as a technical person, how easy it is to say "Hey, this is good enough, let's go on to the next thing" instead of "Hold it, it's not great yet, let's do this and make it best in the world." I try to be my own goad, to make sure my product is the best. But it's hard and that's because Steve's role is hard, and necessary, in any company that wants to truly aspire to greatness, instead of creating stuff that's "just OK".

So few people make great products, because most people are willing to settle for lousy ones, like Windows or cheap PCs. But for those who love great products, and can afford them, it's Steve we have to thank, because he had the strength to demand only the best from technical people, including Wozniak.

D

Re:Great Story

[Slashcrap]

This story has been on digg TWICE already. /.'s a little slow on the uptake here.

Yes it has hasn't it? And I am going to demonstrate the reason why most of us don't give a shit for your Digg advocacy by reposting some of the intelligent and insightful comments from the discussion :

Nick says, "lets not forget, He is a sociel engineing king, he knows how to say anything and wont say it unless he knows it will stick"

Matthew says, "I posted this yesterday: http://digg.com/apple/Behind_the_magic_curtain"

Dickyducky says, "God!"

Fudgebrown says, ":-("

The rest of them are variation on Digg or No Digg. And the thing is I'm not even trying to make the users look retarded. Those were pretty much the best comments.

So yeah, Digg may well have posted this before. But how long did you spend reading the discussion? I am assuming it wasn't long because personally spending more than 5 minutes on Digg makes me want to exterminate the entire human race.

Welcome to the Corporate Meeting industry

[cirby]

I do this sort of stuff for a living, and while most of the shows I do are more on the "hey gang, let's do a meeting" level, when someone's spending a couple of million bucks to fly in a few thousand folks, put them in hotels, and cram them into one ballroom, there's a very high level of expectation.

Sure, a lot of companies have Really Dull Meetings, but some others are much like the "Jobs Model." Slick, professionally-produced presentations, lots of cool videos and music, light shows, several HDTV-level projection screens, 100 kilowatt sound systems, and expensive pro talent to help entertain the crowd between product demos.

You also get stuff like Larry Ellison rappelling down from the ceiling of the ballroom, the head of a soft drink company crashing a golf cart through a frangible projection screen, rotating platforms for the audience (to turn them to different stages) for another soft drink company, or any of a hundred different Big Show stories.

You also get the Big Disasters when they don't prepare right. Like the above-mentioned rotating platforms not turning when the weight of the crowd is actually on them, or a full-sized luxury car on a raft in a lake doing a quick 180 degree roll and ending up suspended under water...

Starting to change?

[mbadolato]

Apple Macintoshes are only rarely seen in corporate environments

I wonder if that is starting to shift at all? I know from my own experience, our company is about 32 people or so, and I can count 10 or 11 Mac users. Not one of them is involved whatsoever in graphics or design. Most are developers, but the Sysadmin, CEO, COO, and VP of Product Development all use Macs, and the VP of Sales is a Mac user at home, but chooses a Win laptop just for compatibility sake when she's onsite @ client's offices.

Roughly 30% of our company is Mac. And barely any support is ever needed for any of them.

Yes

[mrcparker]

I imagine that Jobs knows pretty much where Apple is going to be in 90 days/180 days/a year. I don't think that he has such a unique vision - it is just that he has a vision. From reading the article, it seems like the guy knew exactly what he wanted from the presentation, no matter how unreasonable it seemed.

You know, if a Linux company had half the focus of a Steve Jobs and had a clear vision they would sweep the market (k/ubuntu is getting getting better each day). So many FOSS-based companies seem very passive to me when it comes to defining their product.

Re:you're right

[Kupek]

NeXT was the basis for OSX.

Re:Great Story

[Thalagyrt]

I also find it amusing how here on Slashdot, everyone complains when there's a dupe, but on Digg as far as I can tell everyone seems to love seeing the same article twice...

Re:Great Story

[utexaspunk]

so true, and so sad. digg gets good stories, and they make it to the fron page faster than /., but the comments are totally worthless because they're not threaded, and thus no real coversations ensue, and thus few actually bother to comment or read the comments.

Imagine if digg's comments worked the way /.'s do, or if /.'s stories were user-moderated the way digg is.

What's the /. editors' hangup on having control anyway? I guess that's the only way they can ensure Roland Piquepaille, **BeatlesBeatles, Sterling Allan, and whomever else pays to get on /. actually get what they want...

alas, even if the stories are lame, the discussions are usually interesting enough to keep me coming back. It would be nice to see a site that lived up to potential, though...

Re:At least he's visible

[Jearil]

At least we know a CEO that actually does something (in the eyes of the public) that justifies a high salary.

You bet your ass he works hard for that $1 a year salary.

Peons like us can only dream of that sort of thing :)

Re:you're right

[Varkias]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X

Despite its branding as simply "version 10" of the Mac OS, it has a history largely independent of the earlier Mac OS releases. It is based on the Mach kernel and the BSD implementation of Unix, which were incorporated into NEXTSTEP, the object-oriented operating system developed by Steve Jobs's NeXT company after he was forced from Apple in 1985. Meanwhile, Apple attempted to create a "next generation" operating system of its own (see Taligent and Copland), but with little success. Eventually, NeXT's OS--by then called OPENSTEP--was selected to form the basis for Apple's next OS, and the company purchased NeXT outright. Jobs was rehired, and later returned to the leadership of the company, shepherding the transformation of the programmer-friendly OPENSTEP into a system that would be welcomed by Apple's primary market of home users and creative professionals, as a project known as Rhapsody. After some missteps which threatened the loyalty of independent developers to Mac OS, and changes of strategy to ease the transition from Mac OS 9 to the new system, Rhapsody evolved into Mac OS X.

I'd say that Steve Jobs WAS right in predicting the future. Many elements of Mac OS X are derived from the operating system developed at NeXT. Supposedly the next version of Windows takes many cues from the current Mac OS X.

Re:you're right

[gb506]

Come on, man. Nobody uses Commodore 64 or Amiga anymore, but that does not mean they didn't have an impact on computing. The insinuation that Jobs has not had an effect on computing is preposterous and worthy of ridicule.

Say what you will about NeXT, but it was a super OS.

Re:Great Story

[nine-times]

But there's room for improvement too. My earlier comment basicaly was to indicate that /. got scooped on this story.

You can only get 'scooped' on a story if you're a reporter, i.e. you're writing your own stories. Otherwise, you see, we'd have to say that the Guardian scooped everyone. They had the story first. But that's because they actually had a writer write the thing, and Slashdot/Fark/Digg/whoever are just news aggregators (and discussion groups) that provide links to the story.

News aggregators, however, can only be accused of being "too slow". Is Slashdot "too slow"? Well, the story is dates yesterday, and the story isn't so old as to be irrelevant or out-of-date, so I'd say no. Insofar as it's a news aggregator, since I got the story in a timely fashion, I don't see room for complaints. That someone else got to the story slightly faster is far less important to me than a) whether I got the story, and b) quality of the user-experience of the news aggregator.

Re:Really

[Seriocomical]

"The average Asian OEM PC maker sells more computers then Apple. OBVIOUSLY these companies know what consumers want. Apple ( or rather, Steve Jobs ) does not. Apple firmly wants to remain in a niche market, or at least, Steve Jobs does."

It's not necessarily so bad to be a niche player. To draw an analogy to the auto industry, Porsche, Ferrari and BMW could be described as niche players who do not sell nearly as many vehicles as the GMs or Fords but are nevertheless financially successful and famous worldwide for building high quality, exciting and desirable products. The world of cars would be much less interesting if poorly-designed, shoddily-made, mass-market gas-guzzlers were all that was on offer. Similarly, the computer world is better off for having Apple and its products available as a choice, even if they might not alwawys be the cheapest or most widely-used ones on the market.

Re:Really

[revscat]

In the end, I don't know what stranglehold or blackmail Steve Jobs has against other Apple execs, but if the rest of them were smart, they would drop Steve Jobs like a lead balloon. The only problem is, Apple execs have never shown one drop of intelligence in their entire history of the company.

Oh my fucking god, you have GOT to be joking. Apple is having (a) record growth (b) record profits and (c) a stock price that keeps going up and up and up. What in the holy hell are you talking about? They are respected and make excellent products that consumers love and have captured a large amount of mindshare. The executives would be completely RETARDED to get rid of Jobs. He's an excellent CEO. Much better than, I think, you are.

Put down the crack pipe, baby. Or maybe it's a anti-Jobs pipe? Whatevah, you need to think about quitting. :)

It's Not "Tiny" Marketshare: Here's why

[mpapet]

The way market share was calculated the last time I looked at the market research numbers a couple of years ago, Apple's market share for desktops and laptops was calculated against the sum total of all other windows OS brands.

At the time Apple was #1 by a good margin in laptops and in the top-5 for desktops. Yet their market share was always referred to as "miniscule."

I still don't understand why no one's bothered to mention this from the media side.

Re:It's Not "Tiny" Marketshare: Here's why

[BlueDjinn]

Yes and no. According to the latest figures available (3rd Quarter 2005), Apple is currently the 6th largest computer maker (after Dell, HP, Lenovo/IBM, Acer, and Fujitsu-Siemens). However, they also do have only a 2.3% market share:

http://www.systemshootouts.org/mac_sales.html

(scroll down past the 2 charts at the top)

Now, when it comes to installed base, I believe Macs are much higher, something like 8-10% or so, though I don't have solid proof of this (I think PC Mag did a study a couple of years ago which determined that Macs usually average a 5-7 year 'usable life' as opposed to 3-5 years for PCs, which would explain the higher installed base numbers)

Re:Really

[bdowne01]

While I don't necessarily disagree with any of your points, I do think you misinterpret Steve Jobs' view of Apple's role in the computer industry.

Along with your Steve Jobs profile, you paint a picture of an elitist, which is presicely where I believe he wants Apple Computer at. I think he perceives an Apple Computer to be an experience worthy of the cost, any cost; better than anything else by leaps and bounds, and worth the time and effort to make it so. He wants an Apple computer to equate to a Bentley automobile or some other ultra-luxurious item.

What you didn't hit upon is that there actually are people in the market that will pay (up the nose) for so-called "ultra-luxury" items. The same folks that pay $10,000 for a platinum-plated bathroom sink may just very well see Apple computers as that type item for their computing need--if only by appearance and price alone. While I have in no way gone out to actually see if higher income brackets prefer Apple computers to others, I do know off-the-cuff that an awful lot of famous people tend to have them (Actors, Musicians, etc)--and probably for the status/fashion appeal as well as the functionality.

Whether that approach it is right or wrong for the Apple Computer, Inc. and its stock holders is up for grabs, but the "image" he has built for his company has no doubt been reinforced by his self-promotion and mangement style. And I think that 5% market is exactly what he intended.

centimillionaire?

[aaronrp]

I think the parent means "hectomillionaire," as being a centimillionaire isn't all that exciting.

See the list of SI prefixes here.

Re:the most important part

[adisakp]

They forgot the most important things -- the Levis blue jeans and Gap black turtleneck sponsorships.

FWIW, Steve Jobs does not shop at the GAP -- he normally wears Issey Miyake black turtlenecks. It's BIG $$$ designer wear that just happens to look like something you can much cheaper. And if you have the $$$, you can wear it without giving an air of pretension because only those in the know will have any idea that you spent that much on your clothes.

Issey Miyake is a fashion designer whose cologne for men (L'eau D'Issey) seems a lot more common (not to mention a lot more affordable) than his clothing.

Re:you're right

[jacksonj04]

For the physical product, yes they are overpriced. For the sheer 'it just works' factor and the support, it's fair.

iPod and iTunes just work. iPhoto plays nice with both of them. They all integrate perfectly with OS X, which runs like a charm on my Mac Mini. The whole thing is displayed in perfect colour on a monitor which needed no configuration, and is controlled by a well designed and manufactured keyboard and mouse. This "it just works" is what you pay for. As for iPods playing more formats, some people aren't bothered by being able to play 101 formats of music on the train. AAC and MP3 work well enough for my music I want to listen to on a regular basis, OGG doesn't feature much in an environment trying to avoid format wars.

Next in line for this ease of use is Windows. Windows Media and it's swathes of music players works after a fashion, but is nowhere near as intuitive or reliable as Apple's solution. Drivers are mostly solid, but problems aren't dealt with elegantly at all. OS integration with things such as media is getting better but isn't there yet (Although the beta shows that it's well on the way for Vista).

Then there's Linux and Co. coming last in the ease of use charts. Improving, but ultimately a cobbled together set of individual components. I know this is the entire idea, and I love working with Linux for many tasks, but the fact it is just a set of loosely connected pieces with no unification (Where should config files live, for example?) relates to its free status. You aren't having to pay anybody to keep it together.

It's all about Steve

[Geoff]

A former Apple employee once told me that everyone there knew what their REAL job was -- making stuff for Steve's next demo.

And it works. Whatever is announced, the Apple Store will be swamped with pre-orders for it, and I will again be amazed at his ability to tempt me to pull my credit card out of my wallet and click on store.apple.com. :)

(Fortunately, I'm poor enough to resist, but I sure feel the tug!)

Geoff

Re: only a 2.3% market share

[mpapet]

And this is where I say the figures are spun against Apple.

Roughly 6th is about right and I'd guess they are within a few percentage points of being 4th. So when claims about top-ten PC shipments are made by the media and research firms, Apple should be in the top-ten. They are not because they specifically exclude Apple. Intention is impossible to establish. (Where's my tinfoil hat?)

The picture for Apple is only getting better. Now, with Longwait coming the fanboy hype is going to drown out the good work Apple and OSS is doing for an utterly mediocre product, but so what.

BTW, I don't even own a Mac though personally I quit windows a couple of years ago. Every client I've switched has only been happier for the change. I don't generate more money moonlighting by recommending Macs, but I get plenty of referrals as a result.

Insightful article...

[viksit]

I'd never thought I'd say this - but this was one of the most insightful articles into life at Apple. I'm not saying its a positive thing, knowing Jobs' famous tantrums and "getting things his way" attitude to whatever he does.

Nevertheless, It is an important aspect of post 1997 Apple, with all their products being released in this fashion, and I guess its important for them to spend so much time rehearsing things - after all, they can't afford to have Gates' fiasco at the Windows 98 launch (When the printer crashed the system on being plugged in!). But whats interesting is that Jobs comes across as a stickler for personalization and perfection - which in my opinion is commendable, when you're holding a job which can often lead to overlooking the finer aspects of things.

No wonder Apple products set the industry standard in terms of looks, design and most of all, presentations.

Re: only a 2.3% market share

[BlueDjinn]

"I'd guess they are within a few percentage points of being 4th."

Again, you're technically correct (4th place is Acer, with 4.7% vs. Apple's 2.3%), but in this case "a few percentage points" actually means that Apple would have to double their sales in order to make up that difference. I'm a major Mac advocate, and Apple is certainly kicking ass lately, but their actual market share is only just now starting to rise from it's all-time low (which was actually 2004, believe it or not). Again, however, market share isn't nearly as important as profitability.

"So when claims about top-ten PC shipments are made by the media and research firms, Apple should be in the top-ten. They are not because they specifically exclude Apple."

And again, it depends on what you're measuring. If you include Macs as "PCs", a top ten list should definitely include Apple. If you're distinguishing "Macs" from "PCs" (which most people do, even though they shouldn't in this context), then of course Apple wouldn't be included.

Re:Yes, blame Bill Gates.

[theStorminMormon]

I'm extremely uncomfortable in this akward position of defending Bill Gates - but since I value the method of thinking about any given thought I'm going to do it.

In my opinion, Bill Gates is to be blamed... They are the result of Bill making money the center of his whole life. They are the result of his sneaky aggressive behavior.

Money is clearly not the center of Bill Gates life. If it was, he wouldn't be the biggest philanthropist of all time. This doesn't make him a saint (he may be in it for fame and ego) but it does indicate that money isn't his only idol. You quick assertion that it is indicates to me that you - like many of us - are quick to oversimplify and lay far more blame than can really be laid at the foot of corporate figureheads.

Note that Bill Gates suffers from depression. This is exactly what you would expect of a man who has spent his entire adult life acting out sneaky aggression. It's all fun and games to paint demonic horns and a tail on Bill, but in all seriousness you continue to indicate this desire - universal to humans - to live in a universe that is neat and tidy. Things happen because they are someone's fault, people's actions can be explained by their character - which is itself simple and comprehensible.

The points I'm questioning are bigger than either Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. It has to do with the way that we manufacture celebrity for celebrity's sake - just as we manufacture notoriety for notoriety's sake.

The truth is that sometimes things happen not "just because", but for a variety of reasons that are so complex that there's really no better explanation. A multi-billion dollar business is an incredibly complex structural organization. Of course a CEO can set the tone - it's about leadership. Steve Jobs appears to be a leader. But how much do you think that leadership translates directly into "cool new products?"

I think that there's a ton of luck that goes into it as well. I imagine there are probably many people who could do what Steve is doing, but who will never be in that position (and probably suck in whatever position they are in now because they don't have the temperment for it).

-stormin

Re: only a 2.3% market share

[BlueDjinn]

Hate to tell you this, but you're wrong on two points here:

1. My figures are based on ACTUAL SALES FIGURES from 2005. They are not 2 years old, nor are they limited to the United States (which people commonly get confused about--Apple's U.S. market share is higher than it's overall worldwide share).

2. Your figures are based on INTERNET TRAFFIC. That tells you what percentage of people browsing the internet are using a particular operating system, not what percentage of computers sold that quarter were made by a particular company.

Now, your figures would be more closely attuned to Apple's installed base, which is just fine, but that includes all computers currently in use, not new computer sold in a particular time period, which is what market share refers to.

Re:Non-techie running a tech company

[MacDaffy]

The essence of Steve's influence, I think, can be found in the following quotes:

"Ultimately it comes down to taste. It comes down to trying to expose yourself to the best things that humans have done and then try to bring those things in to what you're doing." -- Steve Jobs

"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste, they have absolutely no taste, and what that means is - I don't mean that in a small way I mean that in a big way. In the sense that they they don't think of original ideas and they don't bring much culture into their product...and you say why is that important - well you know proportionally spaced fonts come from type setting and beautiful books, that's where one gets the idea - if it weren't for the Mac they would never have that in their products...so I guess I am saddened, not by Microsoft's success - I have no problem with their success, they've earned their success for the most part. I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third rate products." -- Steve Jobs

I've seen the show live...and in color

[UttBuggly]

I am an actual former NeXT Registered Developer. I was CEO of a software company that developed expert systems for physicians on the NeXT. We were instrumental in getting the MUMPS language ported to the NeXT.

Steve, at the time, had a real hard-on for stuff that WASN'T another spreadsheet, word processor, etc. (although everyone loved the hell out of Lotus Improv and that was definitely Steve's baby) so we were one of the companies selected to show our stuff in San Francisco in Septmember of 1990.

This was the event where the NeXT Dimension color card for the Cubes was introduced, along with the NeXTStation pizza-box, and of course, NeXTStep 2.0.

We were in the building for 3 or 4 days before the big show getting our stuff working on almost hourly new builds of the OS.

So, more than a few of us took breaks and watched Steve rehearse his presentation. Trust me, he leaves nothing to chance...nothing. His air of casualness is the result of lots or preparation and practice.

He absolutely IS a showman, but he's also unquestionably, undeniably brilliant.

People remember the Apple IIe and the first (1984) Mac, but forget the Lisa. That "girl" was one of the greased skids for showing Steve the door. Not because it failed, but because Steve wanted about 500 million to 1 billion to build a better machine like it...the NeXT. No, that wasn't its name...but the idea was already there. The board balked, he got the bum rush from his own company.

NeXTStep was/is Mac OS/X. Avi Tevanian was at NeXT, he's Chief Scientist or something at Apple now. Testified at the Microsoft anti-trust trial, etc.

Steve didn't write the MACH kernel or bolt on BSD primitives and Display PostScript to NeXTStep, but damn sure knew what people to recruit and hire to get it done. And then took them back to Apple.

Considering that the Lisa and the seminal ideas for NeXTStep came about around 1985-86...about the time OS/2 and Windows were being created, I'd say the current state of the Mac OS and Windows shows the man ain't too stupid.

No, I am not a Mac fanatic. I have more PC hardware than NeXT and Mac hardware. I'm pretty much agnostic on this stuff...been doing it too long to be religious about any of it these days.

The point is that there's a whole lot to the guy doing the keynotes at MacWorld.

Steve is cool.

Re: only a 2.3% market share

[BlueDjinn]

Most of the quarterly numbers come from IDC and/or Gartner Group, research companies which specializes in compiling such figures.

For instance, here's the 3rd quarter 2005 figures:

http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123213,0 0.asp

Note that the figures quoted may be a bit off from the numbers in the charts I linked to, because of error corrections which were made after the article posted, rounding errors, etc.

Apple's own official figures can be found in the Investor Relations section of their website:

http://www.apple.com/investor/

Yes, Really

[theolein]

The average Asian OEM PC maker sells more computers then Apple. The average Asian OEM maker also makes and sells more computers than Dell, HP, IBM, Gateway and your mother, assclown, because they are also the ones that make the computers for dell, HP, Gateway and your mother.

Dumbass.

Re:you're right

[zoomzit]

Slashdot secret hint of the day:

How to be modded "5+ Insightful"

Begin by spouting lots of drivel that is pointless, meaningless nonsense. Draw a widely inaccurate troll-like conclusion from said drivel and conclude with "Of course I will be modded down..."

Slashdotters far and wide will assume your incompetence is brilliance and your quest for mod points as a sign of your freewilling don't-give-a-damn attitude. Watch them mod points roll in!

Damnit it's called reverse psychology! Why do slashdotters fall for this every time?

Not that I am calling out the parent alone on this. I am just sick of the phrase "Of course I will be modded down..." on the end of every semi-confrontational post.

Re:you're right

[laffer1]

Microsoft doesn't need to include anything from NeXT anymore. They've already used it. Hmm.. an object oriented framework for applications? Microsoft has that now. X's in the right hand corner to close windows... done. (not next specific, but one of the oldest oses i've used with it) Good networking capabilities... done. (well its not exactly bsd sockets.. but it works and offers some interop with protocols) WWW support. What do i mean by this? The FIRST web browser was written on a NeXT machine by TimBL. done. TextEdit is a lot like Wordpad wouldn't you say? Which is a lot like Write. done. The ability to run two apps simultaneously without crashing.. done. (well usually.. if its an engineering app thats another story) I don't feel like going on with this.

All graphical systems have components stolen from others. Apple steals from microsoft and microsoft steals from apple. KDE steals from both and both steal back. Gnome copies everyone else and .. oh wait. Parts of OSX remind me of OS/2 Warp 4 but you don't see me bitching at apple from robbing IBM. I don't even know who stole from who sometimes. Windows Vista is designed to catch MS up to apple's multimedia push from the last 5 years. Bill gates is counting on the new features to curb sales in large markets with apple stores. Apple is gaining customers in those markets. 45 minutes way there is an apple store and a dell both a few stores apart. Can you guess which one is busy? Its not the dell both. Quite a few people compare the machines and then you see them come out with apple bags or iBook boxes. Part of it is the operating system features. Remember when you got your first pc? If you were like me, you bought it on software that it came with. Hell I got a packard bell. The only thing about packard bell machines I can say is 1. they had a good software package, 2. they could run NT4 and OS/2 warp 3 well and 3. it lasted 7 years (gave to my mom). Software sells machines.. and i wanted an apple then but couldn't afford it. The IBM or Nec machines had nothing but windows on them. Microsoft needs this release. Most praised linux distros on slashdot are the bloated ones with 8000 programs that do the same thing. Why? People like software and consider it a feature. Its why ubuntu or redhat are talked about more than gentoo and debian.

If Windows Vista fails, its the beginning to the end of the MS monopoly. Consumers don't care what OS they run, just people like us do. Its like buying a toyota vs a ford. Who cares. Different under the hood, but it still gets to from point a to point b (or website a to website b). This multimedia approach is why that 5% is important because it effected Microsoft and it will effect Linux distros as more multimedia will be required for home and business adoption of the software.

The interesting thing is that windows vista will force people to buy new pcs to get it. No upgrades this time. Unless you're a gamer, you don't have a video card that can run it. Apple's switch to intel hit at a great time. People have to rebuy computers and it could mean a big market share switch for apple, Microsoft, and/or the linux community if everyone plays their cards right.

Moderators: I stand by what I said.

[Futurepower(R)]

Moderators: "Troll" originally meant someone in a discussion who is intentionally causing trouble. Now it has come to mean "If you disagree with me, you must be a troublemaker."

I stand by what I said in my parent comment.

I sold computers that came with Microsoft's first product, Microsoft Basic, which Bill Gates had a hand in writing. The sloppiness of Windows XP is identical to the sloppiness in Microsoft Basic. Both are, in my opinion, products in which the level of sloppiness is finely tuned so that it doesn't interfere too much with sales. Bill Gates set the tone for Microsoft products: They are not really finished when they are released.

It amazes me how weak-minded people are concerning public relations. Bill Gates makes billions of dollars making products so sloppy that they waste the time of millions of people worldwide. Then he gives back a little of that money, and instantly the abuses are forgotten.

Super-rich people like philanthropy because it helps them feel superior. They can spend a lot of time with people who are very happy with what they are doing, and who never voice disagreement. Giving away their husband's money is the pasttime of the wives of super-rich men everywhere.

Yes, it is good that there is money available to solve major world problems. But we should not stop realizing that Microsoft has cost tens of billions of dollars just in viruses for vulnerabilities of kinds that don't exist anywhere else in the world of software.

This week's vulnerability is an example. Graphics in Windows MetaFile format (WMF) are allowed to execute code!!! Yes, graphics files. You should be safe with other formats? No. Windows operating systems check .GIF and .JPG files to see if they are really WMF files, and, if they are, will execute any code in them!!! It's amazing.

More on Jobs' style.

[dr.badass]

Gates, Jobs, and the Zen Aesthetic looks at what makes Jobs' presentations so effective, contrasting with the dismal style that comes out of Microsoft.

Regardless of what you think of the products they are selling, or the cult of personality around Steve Jobs, I would recommend this article to anyone that ever has or ever will sit in front of PowerPoint or Keynote or Impress or who will give any presentation of any kind. The contrast is so sharp that I think everyone can learn something from it.

Re:Yes, blame Bill Gates.

[theStorminMormon]

You state the the assumption that there are many people who could do what Steve is doing is plainly incorrect because the US can not find a compelling candidate for president. That's flawed logic - the problem may be with the system we use for selecting candidates and not with the pool of candidates. I believe that to be the case. I think there are many men and women who could make a very good president - certainly far better than either Bush or Kerry.

I'm also not willing to follow your logic that Steve Jobs is a giant among insects - which seems to be your claim.

Finally if the influence of personality of the CEO on the organization as a whole is well documented than I am generally interesed in reading more about it. I'm not interested in hearing people try to tell me that Bill Gates is a tyrant out for world domination - especially if those same people are telling me that deep down Steve Jobs just wants to deliver quality products. Those are not people - those are caricatures.

In my day to day experience the people I meet are neither angels nor demons - and I could not categorize myself or anyone I know accurately in a short one or two line synopsis. And yet people continue to act as though public personalities - about whom we know the least - are some how fundamentally easier to know and understand than our own neighbors and co-workers.

Lives and people and the world in general are more complex than that.

-stormin

Re:It should be Spindler

[jcr]

Ok, in order:

Macs with slots, Color Quickdraw, Quicktime: thank Gasee and other technical management, not Sculley.
Newton: never came close to making back its development costs.
Hypercard: developed single-handedly by Atkinson. Presented to Sculley as a fait accompli, shipping it was a no-brainer.
PPC, powerbook, ADB: Again, thank the technical management that was left at Apple, not Sculley.

Here's an example of John Sculley's technical acumen.

What Sculley inherited at Apple was a commanding technical lead, which he managed to piss away over the following five years. Add to that his astronomical fuck-up with licensing the Mac UI to Microsoft, and you have the cause of Apple's near-death experience in the late 90's.

Sculley may have done allright as a minory functionary in Apple's marketing department. As CEO, he nearly caused the company's demise. By the time Spindler took over, the company was a basket case.

-jcr

Re:It should be Spindler

[jcr]

What Sculley inherited was a company with problems.

Which magnified, and went completely out of control on his watch, while he was trying to get appointed to a cabinet post in the Carter administration.

If anything, where he blundered was in not organizing around one vision.

Which is precisely the CEO's job, and which he utterly failed to do.

Here's a real blaspheme--If anything, Steve Jobs is picking over the bones of Apple.

That's not blasphemy, it's ignorance. SJ didn't pick over the bones of Apple, he rescued it from a near-death experience.

  Spotlight? Apple's V-Twin from the mid-90s.

Your comparison makes about as much sense as describing an RDMBS as equivalent to strcmp(). V-twin's code lives on in Spotlight's plain text importer, and that's about it.

V-twin is an index-building engine. Spotlight is the full integration of indexing into the filesystem. Not the same thing by a long shot, and if you simply compare the SearchKit API with the functionality of Spotlight, you might understand the difference. V-twin could only build lists of strings and their locations in files. Spotlight importers let an app developer decide what's significant to index.

Much of the cool stuff in Mac OS X had been developed at Apple (and was being dropped in Mac OS X)--QuickDraw 3D? OpenGL.

What's your next guess? OpenGL came from SGI, and Apple adopted it because it was the best choice. QD3D is a toy.

QuickDraw GX? Quartz.

Ok, that one's actually hilarious, and it happens to be one of my specialties. Quartz was Peter Graffignino's clean-sheet implementation of a replacement for Display Postscript. All that got into Quartz from GX were some of the typography ideas, and none of the code, which was hopelessly broken.

-jcr