“The saga of Steven P. Jobs is so well known that it has entered the nation’s mythology: he’s the prodigal who returned to Apple in 1997, righted a listing ship and built it into one of the most valuable companies in the world,” Randall Stross reports for The New York Times. “But the Jobs of the mid-1980s probably never could have made Apple what it is today if he hadn’t embarked on a torment-filled business odyssey.”
“Mr. Jobs was relieved of operating responsibilities in a company reorganization in May 1985. But he was still the company’s chairman. Apple was ailing: sales of the Macintosh, introduced the previous year, were falling well below expectations; inventory was piling up; and the company seemed headed for its first-ever loss. In September 1985, Mr. Jobs resigned from Apple to start a new computer company he called Next,” Stross reports. “Suppose Mr. Jobs had not left in 1985. Suppose he had convinced the Apple board to oust his nemesis, John Sculley, then chief executive and president. Under Mr. Jobs’s uninterrupted direction, would Apple have arrived at the pinnacle it has reached today, but 12 years earlier?
MacDailyNews Take: One thing’s for sure: Without NeXT, there’d be no Mac OS X/iOS and, therefore, possibly no Apple, at least not as we know it today.
Stross reports, “It took 12 dispiriting years, much bruising, and perspective gained from exile. If he had instead stayed at Apple, the transformation of Apple Computer into today’s far larger Apple Inc. might never have happened.”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Lynn W.,” James W.,” and “iWill” for the heads up.]
Maybe. Perhaps. You just never know.
Maybe. Perhaps. You just never know.
I think Steve would agree…
FInd the phrase, “My second story is about love and loss” in the following text of the speech…
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts
It’s even better if you search for the video in YouTube. VERY interesting speech. Recommended for everyone.
I think Steve would agree…
FInd the phrase, “My second story is about love and loss” in the following text of the speech…
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts
It’s even better if you search for the video in YouTube. VERY interesting speech. Recommended for everyone.
Then again, he may wiped the floor with Bill Gates. Business would use only Macs now and Windows computers would be the niche market. Billions more save every month and US productivity would be triple what it is today!
Yea, sure, we may never know.
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Then again, he may wiped the floor with Bill Gates. Business would use only Macs now and Windows computers would be the niche market. Billions more save every month and US productivity would be triple what it is today!
Yea, sure, we may never know.
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What happened to Scully. Is he living in a cave in Pakistan?
What happened to Scully. Is he living in a cave in Pakistan?
Plus, Pixar might not have done so well. And that would suck too…
Plus, Pixar might not have done so well. And that would suck too…
Whatever the rest of us think, Steve Jobs himself said in his Stanford commencement address:
“I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple.”
If you love your life now, you can’t discard anything from the road that got you here. Change the past and the future (today, that is) is likely to be entirely different. It might be even better, of course. But then again…
Whatever the rest of us think, Steve Jobs himself said in his Stanford commencement address:
“I’m pretty sure none of this would have happened if I hadn’t been fired from Apple.”
If you love your life now, you can’t discard anything from the road that got you here. Change the past and the future (today, that is) is likely to be entirely different. It might be even better, of course. But then again…
Another question: What would have happened to Pixar?
Another question: What would have happened to Pixar?
Computers would be like Minority Report by now. The Winblows era was the like Dark Ages that preceded the Renaissance.
Computers would be like Minority Report by now. The Winblows era was the like Dark Ages that preceded the Renaissance.
@ Cubert,
Yeah, but we wouldn’t have porn. Think about it.
@ Cubert,
Yeah, but we wouldn’t have porn. Think about it.
What I’d love to know is what he would have done with NeXT & WebObjects if Apple had bought Be instead. What was *his* Plan B? He wouldn’t have quietly faded away.
What I’d love to know is what he would have done with NeXT & WebObjects if Apple had bought Be instead. What was *his* Plan B? He wouldn’t have quietly faded away.
“If he had instead stayed at Apple, the transformation of Apple Computer into today’s fr larger Apple Inc. might never have happened.”
Bullcrap. Jobs was ousted for his inability to wok with a “Salesman” CEO. True to form, Scully wanted to milk the Mac for all possible revenue before introducing anything resembling a major upgrade. Jobs, on the other hand warned to upgrade the MacOS to UNIX. amazing, isn’t it, that UNIX and the Mach kernel was the heart of NeXT, and the OSX?
“If he had instead stayed at Apple, the transformation of Apple Computer into today’s fr larger Apple Inc. might never have happened.”
Bullcrap. Jobs was ousted for his inability to wok with a “Salesman” CEO. True to form, Scully wanted to milk the Mac for all possible revenue before introducing anything resembling a major upgrade. Jobs, on the other hand warned to upgrade the MacOS to UNIX. amazing, isn’t it, that UNIX and the Mach kernel was the heart of NeXT, and the OSX?
Read somewhere that Steve went to India (?) and kinda did a sabbatical. I would like to know more about that. Maybe he will tell us in his autobiography.
Read somewhere that Steve went to India (?) and kinda did a sabbatical. I would like to know more about that. Maybe he will tell us in his autobiography.
Greg has it right. It ended up taking 15 years to do with the Mac OS what Steve wanted to do in 1985. He also wanted a fully networked office built around the Macintosh and laser printers. It took, arguably, 10 years for Microsoft to finally bring that to the table. It would have happened much sooner and much better if Apple had been able to understand Steve’s vision, though. Now, with him in charge, it doesn’t matter who does or doesn’t understand his vision; they (the board, etc…) just need to realize he’s almost always right, which they do. Just hang on and enjoy the ride.
This isn’t to say he’s not a better CEO now than he would have been had he not had his exile. That’s pretty hard to quantify with all the “what ifs” involved. The vision has been there all along, though.