The Dark Side of Steve Jobs

This Bill Gates Quote Summarizes What The Tech World Thought Of Steve Jobs

Excerpt:

To Gates, Jobs could only interact with people in one of two ways. Jobs was "either in the mode of saying you were s--- or trying to seduce you," the Microsoft leader said. ... Sometimes the wrath was part of the seduction. In 1981, rival Xerox came out with the Star, a computer that was supposed to be the hot new thing. Jobs visited Xerox. He was unimpressed. The Star ultimately flopped. A few weeks after his visit, Jobs called Bob Belleville, one of the Star's hardware designers. "Everything you've ever done in your life is s---," Jobs said, "so why don't you come work for me?" Psychologists have a word for this pattern of behavior: narcissism. Narcissists have a constant need for validation, a willingness to control people, and a ruthlessness in getting their needs met — which, interestingly, often makes them super-effective executives, as was the case with Jobs. "Narcissists thrive in ... leadership situations where they can dazzle and dominate others without having to cooperate or suffer the consequences of a bad reputation," Psychology Today reports. Sounds like classic Jobs.

Comment: Image source

Steve Jobs gave up Christianity at age 13

Jobs questioned authority all his life

Excerpt:

The book says Jobs gave up Christianity at age 13 when he saw starving children on the cover of Life magazine. He asked his Sunday school pastor whether God knew what would happen to them.

Jobs never went back to church, though he did study Zen Buddhism later.

Comment: Feed my starving children (one of many Christian social agencies)

He did not panic

How Steve Jobs beats presentation panic

Excerpt:

Steve Jobs had a serious and embarrassing Wi-Fi problem to deal with. It was plain to the thousands in attendance and the tons more people watching online: On Monday at the Worldwide Developers Conference, Jobs was struggling with wireless connectivity while attempting to demonstrate the new features of Apple’s iPhone 4.

“Our networks in here are always unpredictable, so...I have no idea what we're going to find,” he said. “They are slow today.”

What Jobs did next, according to Carmine Gallo, author of The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, was vintage Jobs (and a model for how presenters should deal with stage crises): He did not panic.

Comment: If you ever stand in front of people, you will appreciate this article. Last year I took a presentation skills class (which was largely a waste of time). At the final presentation, I did not rely upon PowerPoint or other technology. I just stood up (leaning on my crutches) and spoke without notes. I saw others in my class fumble when they had issues with technology. Our new thing at work (I think for the last 6 months or so for me) is Microsoft Live Meeting. So far it has worked well.

Steve Jobs on Flash

Jobs Attacks Flash As Unfit for iPhone

Excerpts:

"Flash was created during the PC era—for PCs and mice," said Mr. Jobs in the note published Thursday. "The mobile era is about low power devices, touch interfaces and open Web standards—all areas where Flash falls short."

...

Some market watchers took issue with the points raised in Mr. Jobs' essay Thursday. "I think he's a real good spin doctor," said Jeffrey Hammond, an analyst at Forrester Research. Yes, Flash is targeted by hackers, but that's because the technology is so common, he said.

Other points raised by Mr. Jobs are just wrong, Mr. Hammond said. HTML5 is a promising technology, but "not ready for prime time yet," and Flash is as close to open as a proprietary technology can be. It's Apple, Mr. Hammond argued, that has the closed system, including the right to block any app from its store.

Dave Wolf, vice president of strategy at Cynergy Systems Inc., a Washington, D.C., design firm, calls Apple's no-Flash policy "a pain." Mr. Wolf had planned to build mobile apps for clients using the new Adobe software; the apps cost upwards of $40,000 a piece, meaning that without such a tool most customers can only afford to build apps for one device. They almost always choose the iPhone, said Mr. Wolf.

Full Essay: Thoughts on Flash

Comments: I am not a big fan of Flash or Acrobat Reader. They are constantly under hacker attack. I've never had my Mac crash with Flash. One wonders if Jobs has an agenda here! Thoughts?