It looks like no one's mentioned this so far, but the remarkable message of the story isn't what Apple's done in the past. More importantly, it's about Apple's future now that Steve Jobs knows how to leverage a platform with the iPod+iTunes combination.
The article mentions Sculley's Newton and how it barely interacted with the Mac and was instead intended to supplant it. A few years later the Palm Pilot would clean up because it integrated with the desktop so successfully. Similarly, one of the the key selling points of the iPod was, and continues to be, its tight integration with iTunes, an application that people really like.
Further, the author goes on to sketch a vision of how Apple could have been Microsoft through evolutionary improvement - first with backward-compatibility from the Mac to Apple II software, then the Newton as a peripheral. He points out that this would have involved Microsoft-style parlaying of dominance in one platform into dominance in another. This too is exactly what Jobs is doing, with the popularity of the iPod promoting the use of iTunes Music Store, to the point that almost 2% (!) of legally sold music in the US is sold through iTunes Music Store.
They are smart enough to develop common tools that they (and us) can all use while keeping those things that make them special in-house.
But are they developing tools that are made public? It sounds like they're keeping everything on top of Linux proprietary. It's fine that they can get some use out of the OS, but it'd be nice if they'd open-source some of their work.
And the Pepsi Challenge was brought to you by John Sculley when he oversaw Pepsi's marketing. It was originally invented by their ad agency in Texas where they were getting beaten by Coke, but he realized that it would work in other markets if TV viewers saw people taking the challenge in their own cities at concerts, amusement parks, etc. Remarkable stuff. He talks about it in his book "Odyssey".
Don't waste his time with cutting-edge distractions. Let him acquire a good CS foundation with Abelson and Sussman's Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs aka The Wizard Book. Its used in the introductory CS courses at MIT, Berkeley, etc.
If he's really into EE, check out what the top EE depts teach.
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The article mentions Sculley's Newton and how it barely interacted with the Mac and was instead intended to supplant it. A few years later the Palm Pilot would clean up because it integrated with the desktop so successfully. Similarly, one of the the key selling points of the iPod was, and continues to be, its tight integration with iTunes, an application that people really like.
Further, the author goes on to sketch a vision of how Apple could have been Microsoft through evolutionary improvement - first with backward-compatibility from the Mac to Apple II software, then the Newton as a peripheral. He points out that this would have involved Microsoft-style parlaying of dominance in one platform into dominance in another. This too is exactly what Jobs is doing, with the popularity of the iPod promoting the use of iTunes Music Store, to the point that almost 2% (!) of legally sold music in the US is sold through iTunes Music Store.
They are smart enough to develop common tools that they (and us) can all use while keeping those things that make them special in-house.
But are they developing tools that are made public? It sounds like they're keeping everything on top of Linux proprietary. It's fine that they can get some use out of the OS, but it'd be nice if they'd open-source some of their work.
-ewagner
And the Pepsi Challenge was brought to you by John Sculley when he oversaw Pepsi's marketing. It was originally invented by their ad agency in Texas where they were getting beaten by Coke, but he realized that it would work in other markets if TV viewers saw people taking the challenge in their own cities at concerts, amusement parks, etc. Remarkable stuff. He talks about it in his book "Odyssey".
-ejwagner
So, do you hire them?
How about a Lego device that violates the DMRC?
If he's really into EE, check out what the top EE depts teach.