Steve Jobs Biography

[iceman]

I finished reading this biography of Steve Jobs over the xmas holidays. Thoroughly loved it.

Served my geek tendencies as well as a really interesting story about the formation of Apple and the man behind it - he really wasn't always a nice guy, but he was always passionate about doing what he loved.

Highly recommended!

Steve Jobs - Amazon link (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1451648537/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=miksal-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1451648537)

I read it on the kindle reader on my iPad 2, the first real e-book I've read from start to finish. I think I'll buy most of my books in e-book form from now on.

[renormalised]

The Woz was the nicest of the two Steves, from what I've heard. Jobs could be a bit abrupt with people and nasty when he wanted to be. But he was pure genius.....Apple were gone for all money at one stage. If it wasn't for Jobs coming back, they'd be nonexistent by now...or very close to it.

[Omaroo]

Yep - great book. I read it the day it came out for my Kindle 4... well, over the next couple of days in reality. As someone who has taken direct interest in all things Apple since I bought my first Macintosh in 1985, I knew what a tough nut he was.

What surprised me were his hippy roots - and his incredible belief that if you hadn't tried LSD you almost certainly had no creativity in you. I couldn't ever go through what he did in the communes and apple orchards practising vegan vegetarianism with a religious dedication.

The guy was a fruit cake. Work for him? It was always a dream of mine to work for Apple within their industrial design team. After reading the book I'm pretty glad that never came to fruition, and it almost did. Jony Ives I reckon I could work with - Steve, not. He took pleasure, at times, in seeing people suffer - deriding their efforts until they just plain couldn't take it any more. He certainly took a polarised view of people - either you were either in, or you were out. There was nothing grey about him. If you found yourself on the outer you were dead to him.

Very enlightening. I finished reading the book thinking that the bloke was really weird, yet wonderful all at the same time. There is absolutely no room to doubt his brilliance and influence though.

[PCH]

That's a really interesting summary Chris. I didn't know anything about SJ, but having seen all the wow and flutter at his passing, you could have been mistaken for thinking he was some sort of saint in the making. Interesting to see he had some very 'human' traits, though not to take away from his brilliance.

[rainwatcher]

I do not follow the messiah attitude of many others, and frankly find the hero worship obscene. A great marketer, possible a great engineer, but remember if he had had control of the PC market we would not have PC's available to all regardless of wealth. His stuff was ludicrously priced and did not entere the realm of general availability until quite recently, perhaps forced to do so by economics. I have absolutely no professional relationship with Microsoft and they have not always been right, however they are the ones who have made computing possible for all. Those people who queued for days to buy the latest fad from Apple/Mac/iPod etc. in another realm would be called obsessive fanatics. I just think they were foolish people with more money than sense; the target audience for Jobs.

[Omaroo]

A little ridiculous I suspect. People do love their gadgets, and those who really appreciate the design aspect of a good product are called "fanatics"? Whatever :rolleyes: When and why does a love of something make you a "fanatic"? If you don't have an eye for beautifully-designed things then maybe you're simply unqualified to judge others who do. You seem to be calling many millions of people foolish - maybe you should get over your ingrained gripes and have a really good look at what they're going gaga about. Since when is boring and sensible the right thing to laud? Give me beautiful any day - I'm willing to pay for it because the beauty is often functional too, and deeper than a device's skin. Future generations of industrial design students will study what Apple have produced over time, and they certainly won't be looking at anything produced by Microsoft - there has never been anything ground-breaking from them, at all. I don't seem to be able to recall any time when Apple bothered to pinch any ideas from Microsoft..... whilst the opposite can't be denied.

The world isn't all about boringly functional beige boxes - and for that I'm very, very glad.

Oh yes, maybe read the book, and then come back and say you still don't understand why Apple are now the most successful tech company in history. That's the result of an awful, awful lot of dumb fanatics just like me who use their offerings in both our work and play.

[AndyK]

You might do better to actually read Walter Isaacson's biography of Steve Jobs before making statements like that ... :)

[Omaroo]

Correct... and a book that Gates has declared factual.

[iceman]

^^ what they said!

[mishku]

I choose to point you all to a site called Infoxchange, which aims to make technology available for all.

http://www.infoxchange.net.au/

If you're feeling inspired to investigate a little digital philanthropy, their "technology for social justice" message might inspire? :question:

A few years ago, I was involved in a project that accepted a large donation of 2 year old PCs from a giant Melbourne law firm, refurbished them with the help of some of Mission Australia's long term unemployed, and distributed them, along with some lessons in how to get online and a super cheap internet connection to Melbourne families who otherwise couldn't afford computers.

Sorry for the thread hijack, but a brilliant cause - and relevant to putting "technology for all" into practise.

Mish

[rainwatcher]

I am open to all your comments, arguments and disagreement with my views, in fact I welcolm them - its about time people fired up a bit on this site, however i did state 'people who queue for days' and I stick by this whether it be Apple stuff, a book, Kylie Mionogue tickets or whatever, those that queue for days to be first to buy any product are fanatics.

[spacezebra]

Probably need to go back a bit farther than Microsoft - to Bell Labs and the development of the transistor :) (sorry, couldnt resist)



Cheers Petra d (apple fanatic).

[Omaroo]

I agree with you - I probably wouldn't stand in a queue for hours, let alone days, either. Plenty of people do, and it's probably not for me or you to question their reasons and motives as to why. For many, grabbing hold of a product before anyone else and getting their opinion straight up on to Twitter or Facebook with a review of it is majorly "kudossal" (if there were to be such an adjective) to many. Their word is instantly around the world and being read by, potentially, millions. This probably doesn't describe all you'll find in these queues, but many - and I know a few - some of them work for me. LOL :screwy: Others simply look forward to experiencing the very latest - for may reasons, and especially if they know that something has been in the works for a long time.

By the same token, if there is a new release of operating system out, or upgrade to a program I rely on then I'm always first in line to get it. I'm not one of the types who is afraid to get past Windows XP until Windows 7 is at least 10 years old and "stable". I go for the newest of the new - I find exploring it exhilarating and fun. I'm also experienced enough (been in the IT industry since 1979) to know when relying on new advances is risky or not.

Anyway - back to the book. It's an eye-opener for sure. Jobs positioned Apple more successfully than any other company before it to produce product that is really, really wanted - before the populace even realises it. Very, very clever - and the best application of human psychology ever applied to industry. Kudos Steve. Kudos. Committee-driven marketing which aims to satisfy "want" doesn't float the boat any more. The public doesn't know what it wants - that's the point the book makes - beautifully.



You obviously haven't been here very long... ;)

[Poita]

It is amazingly true, the public often doesn't know what they want until they get to see it and touch it.

The prime example of this to me outside of Apple is this Simpsons episode
http://smotri.com/video/view/?id=v3907255940

Start at about 14 minutes in...

[Zaps]

Mark Stephens' (aka "Bob Cringely") 'Triumph of the Nerds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFL9IyJ_qHk)': Still the definitive documentary on the early days (late '70s-'80s) of the personal computer biz.

[Omaroo]

Meh... kinda :) In reference to Jobs himself, most of the personal inter-company internal play described in the new book has only come to the surface over the past couple of years while the book was being researched. Jobs released information that he had not been willing to prior. It was generally a good doco though, no denying. The original book "Accidental Empires", which the documentary was based on, was obviously far more detailed.

[Poita]

I was at the Mac developers conference all those years ago when Steve returned to Apple in a 'consultant' role. It really gave an insight into how he worked and related to people that I hadn't seen represented until the current biography.

I personally enjoyed working with Apple during those years, I work fine in an environment where you have to fight for what you want to do, and justify it and sometimes have to let it go. Many don't, it is tough and can seem cruel and uncaring at times, but I personally never found it that way. I guess working with film directors kind of prepares you for that kind of working environment.
I'll have to see if the video of that developers conference is available, it was fascinating at the time, and I wouldn't mind watching a tape of it.

[Omaroo]

I agree Peter - fragile sensibilities have a tough time surviving in environments as dynamic as this. Great ideas are nothing more than great ideas unless they are quickly able to be realised. That takes stamina, guts, cash and a dose of educated good luck to pull off most of the time.

I worked for both Logical Solutions and Avanté Systems years ago as their Pick Systems integration expert - and as the country's two largest channel dealerships, we were pretty close to a lot of the action at Apple. Best time of my life.

[Poita]

Turns out youtube has the whole conference:

http://youtu.be/GnO7D5UaDig

He really gets the boot in and is amazingly honest.

One of my favourite bits is here when a developer mentions the demise of OpenDocs which was a contentious thing at the time.

http://youtu.be/udyy2gQyNso

A developer takes a shot at him later because of it, and I really like Steve's answer.
http://youtu.be/FF-tKLISfPE

You wouldn't see a 'consultant' talk this frankly about their company any more. This is what I enjoyed, you knew exactly where you stood, you often got told no, you didn't always agree, but often, if you were actually right, you would go away, make your case and get it heard. Sometimes you got a yes, often you still got a no, and that was hard, yet most of the time in retrospect, the no was the right decision. Even when it wasn't the right decision, it at least was a company that had a solid direction and would make actual decisions and move on.
I loved that environment, not reacting to the press or crystal-ballers, opinion polls or 'focus groups' many hated it, and thought it was the wrong way to go. Many had valid points, but I would like to see a bit more of that kind of leadership from time to time.

[spacezebra]

I am up to Chapter six and I am finding it difficult to put the book down!

What an excellent read.

Cheers Petra d.

[eamsie]

I was wondering if this book was worth reading, as I prefer to read biographies. Kind of surprised that the book came out almost immediately after his passing!

Heard a lot about him being quite a ruthless guy but from looking at the products he helped create, it's not that surprising at all. A lot of top businessmen and geniuses (not comparing the two in any way, but some are!), know what they want a lot of the time and are extremely committed to get it even if it means being mean and at times selfish (heard a lot about how he missed on a lot of his children's upbringing). But like some of you have said, that's how these industries work and if you want sucess, you usually have to sacrifice a lot of things.

Just a question for those that have read it. Is this quite a techie book? Or is this (http://www.zanui.com.au/furniture/office-furniture/) more about his life/career? Wasn't too sure what aspect of his life would be focused on.

[Omaroo]

Hi Jesse - read in confidence. It isn't technical - it's his life story. Some product development is discussed, but only in reference to his approach to it. Read it - you'll love it. It's a great read.

[eamsie]

Maybe I might get it on iBooks :lol:

[iceman]

I read it on the Kindle reader on my iPad 2 :)

[bert]

I read the book over the last couple of days, and it is a warts and all summary of his life.

It was expensive read... I ordered an ipad after reading it.....


Brett

[stephenb]

I got the book for Christmas and didn't put it down for three days until I finished it. I was just as fascinated (if not more) about both the developments and the machinations of computing history throughout the 1970's and 1980's as I was about SJ's life, including the relationship with Apple and Microsoft and other important software and hardware companies during this time.

[iceman]

haha nice one :)

[iceman]

ditto, Stephen. It served my inner geek really well.

[Octane]

I just bought it on the iPhone. :)

H