Slashdot Mirror
Apple Spins 'Real Artists Ship' Into 'Share Your Gifts'
theodp writes: "Have you ever made something wonderful but were too afraid to share it?" asks Apple's heartwarming "Share Your Gifts" 2018 holiday ad, which features a girl who keeps her creations secret, until they're let out into the world by her dog and enjoyed by everyone around her. Arguably deserving writing credit for the ad is the late Steve Jobs, who thirty-five years ago preached a similar "Real Artists Ship" message to the original Mac team as he led them on a holiday "death march" to get their creation out into the world.
Andy Hertzfeld recalls: "The software team worked hard over the Christmas break of 1983. [...] By the first week of January, the software team was working around the clock, testing and fixing problems that were found. [...] Randy Wigginton brought in a gigantic bag of chocolate covered espresso beans, which, along with medicinal quantities of caffeinated beverages, helped us forgo sleep entirely for the last couple of days." Seeing Apple spin "Real Artists Ship" into "Share Your Gifts" -- which Adweek honored as the 9th Best Commercial of 2018 -- would no doubt be appreciated by master of Reality Distortion Jobs.
Andy Hertzfeld recalls: "The software team worked hard over the Christmas break of 1983. [...] By the first week of January, the software team was working around the clock, testing and fixing problems that were found. [...] Randy Wigginton brought in a gigantic bag of chocolate covered espresso beans, which, along with medicinal quantities of caffeinated beverages, helped us forgo sleep entirely for the last couple of days." Seeing Apple spin "Real Artists Ship" into "Share Your Gifts" -- which Adweek honored as the 9th Best Commercial of 2018 -- would no doubt be appreciated by master of Reality Distortion Jobs.
All that work and what was produced? Nothing meaningful. None of the crap they produced in 1983 is still in use today.
I like the commercial. It's nice. I wasn't a huge fan of the no-CLI Mac, though I do recognize several of it's advances. But attempting to link these two and give Jobs accolades for *the commercial*? Really? Yeah, not so much.
Give Up Your Life
Stupid ones. (Knowingly self-indulgently ironic is only a half-step behind.)
was it worth it?
so glad he is dead.
Without Apple, my own life would be meaningless. Thank you Apple for everything you do.
I am so confused by this summary. Is it just an ad?
Funny to see this call out Jobs as the "master of Reality Distortion" with such a heavy handed and distorted summary/article.
Is this the kind of thing Slashdot needs to get by since it has long lost its status as a tech site? CmdrTaco was once considered a real shaker and mover in tech reporting, his creation is now like the looper.com of the nerd world. And I use the word nerd loosely.
...but also a sadistic sociopathic fuck in pursuit of his own success.
-Styopa
What a beautiful composition, very literary and containing more than a hint of poetry. I was really surprised to read it here. Well done sir or madam. :-)
Perhaps Slashdot has a future after all. From the ashes of what used to be a tech site, an artistic seed finally finds its way into the light, transforms into a literary phoenix, and launches into flight. :P
I'll be honest, I've questioned the "real artists ship" idea ever since I did one ship that just wasn't meant to be. #WordplayOrDeath
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I didn't RTFA (or WTFA), but did it include hours and hours of paid promotions, buying instagram followers, needless tweets, networking, posting to other blogs "oh, i love your work, here is my unrelated website with my art" or etc.
How do you get heard when there are literally millions of hours of videos on youtube each day, and hundreds of podcasts, and so forth? Especially when we're slaves to "recommended posts" or "recommended videos" algorithms which make it hard to find related content.
Is the artist is greeted by a mighty yawn of nothing. The book author especially struggles because who wants to read an unproven author. My proof: when was the last time you read a book you didnâ(TM)t âoehear about âoe
How Apple Lost the iPhone 4: Until now, Apple's legendary security has always worked perfectly. Perhaps there was a blurry factory photo here, or some last-minute information strategically whispered to some friendly media there. But when it comes to the big stuff, everything is airtight. At their Cupertino campus, any gadget or computer that is worth protecting is behind armored doors, with security locks with codes that change every few minutes. Prototypes are bolted to desks. Hidden in these labs, hardware, software and industrial-design elves toil separately on the same devices, without really having the complete picture of the final product. And hidden in every corner, the Apple secret police, a team of people with a single mission: To make sure nobody speaks. And if there's a leak, hunt down the traitor, and escort him out of the building. Using lockdowns and other fear tactics, these men in black are the last line of defense against any sneaky eyes. The Gran Jefe Steve trusts them to avoid Apple's worst nightmare: The leak of a strategic product that could cost them millions of dollars in free marketing promotion. One that would make them lose control of the product news cycle. But the fact is that there's no perfect security. Not when humans are involved. Humans that can lose things. You know, like the next generation iPhone 4.
You really need a mental health examination.
Huh?
He just doesnt have internet or a butler, like the rest of you. Feel free to drop by and show him the internet and have a glass of water. No? Too busy?
"We've taken away local removable storage. You've already shared your gifts with us; any time we decide we want them they're on our server."
Only release so he can build a walled garden around it and bilk it for every $ possible
"Corporation commissions and broadcasts advertisement." Why is this news?
"Real artists ship" is more about pushing through the drive for perfection that stops people from sending out 80-90% completed projects because they are not perfect...
Share your gifts is more a message to those people producing excellent work, probably even finished work, but being too afraid to let others see what they have done.
One is about letting something go, one is about dealing with fear...
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Share your gifts, like the BSD kernel, in such a way that Apple can monetize your work, claim it as proprietary, and even charge you for a copy.
Remember, everything that you do is part of common culture. Anything that Apple does is highly imaginative and deserving of the best IP protection that money can buy.
Why do you keep posting that?
I ship tyrus
This coming from a corporation that has shipped garbage since about 2013-2014, and that's being generous.
Keep your gifts to yourself, refine them and THEN release them when they're fucking finished properly, instead of beta testing hardware and software on thousands to millions of people for fuck's sake.
Current release is beta. Last release is Stable. Older releases are Old Stable.
Why? Because apple can't break a given version of their OS in new and infuriating ways with patches once they drop support for it.