“Ex-Apple CEO John Sculley takes a similar look at his stint at the top of Apple, and says the company made a big mistake when it hired him as CEO,” Kahney reports. “It’s the most surprisingly frank admission I’ve ever heard anyone make about their career.”
Interview extract – recommended – here.
Full interview – recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: Mr. Obvious. Frank or not, that sonuvabitchin’ unprepared sugared water salesbozo signed away Apple’s crown jewels via a poorly-written contract with Microsoft and very nearly killed the company. As least he seems to know it and is willing to admit it.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Arline M.” for the heads up.]
Scully would’ve done better staying with Pepsi. He was being groomed to be the CEO of PepsiCo (which owned Pepsi along with many other big brands), and was either married to, or engaged to the daughter of the then-current CEO of PepsiCo.
He was a rising star. And to give Scully credit, he was a driving force behind Pepsi’s rise from an also-ran to a top brand in the Cola wars. That’s why Jobs noticed him.
I think, in the end, Scully staying at Pepsi (and moving on to run PepsiCo) wouldn’t have hurt the food industry, and definitely would’ve helped the personal computer industry./
@maclouie
The fact is, this mistake was the result of bad judgement and there’s a lot of blame to go around.
Could’ a, should’ a, would’ a…
In six-days we’ll all be psyched over the realm of possibilities for Macintosh and what’s in store for the company’s flag-ship product.
It’s easy to see where Jobs’ attention is focused now. As was stated in the article, Jobs can only deal with a hundred people at any one time, so until he saw the successful launch of Apple’s newest platform, he could only give his entire attention to one great thing at a time.
Now that iPad is underway, it’s time to elevate Mac computing to loftier levels. Namely, using synergy. The Macintosh will once again become the center of Apple’s existence and for me, the iPad is its remote control, that doubles as a handheld computer ideally suited for dealing with subsets of data from the Macintosh.
The iPad and Macintosh show plenty of promise working together to extend the desktop metaphor. The Macintosh needs every ounce of energy to produce our most demanding work, something the iPad couldn’t possibly do, like 3D, video editing, and large database manipulations, for example.
However, if the Macintosh’s work was broken out, into smaller data subsets, I see no reason a device like the iPad couldn’t share the workload. For example, a search query of a massive database could yield a workload easily managed by the iPad. Or perhaps, the iPad could be used to edit rough drafts of a larger video project, through the use of proxies and placeholders.
For me personally, I wish Maya, even ZBrush could offload select regions of a 3D project to my iPad for further editing. The fact is, many of my Maya models yield file sizes in the 75-800KB range because they are just ASCII (text) files.
But, as with most large projects, we tend to break them up into smaller chunks, or subsets, and work them individually, something a device like the iPad would be well suited for. Saving various stages of work isn’t done on the iPad, it’s sent directly back to my Mac, updating the original.
Anyway…
I expect to hear great things about the newest addition to Apple’s ecosystem; the data center and how it will become the hub of the Apple universe and by extension, increasing the productivity of my Mac and I.
On my wishlist, is to someday upload work too big for my Mac to handle, to Apple’s servers, during idle periods, to render my videos and 3D animations, producing them in the proper format.
I can dream, can’t I?
@maclouie
The fact is, this mistake was the result of bad judgement and there’s a lot of blame to go around.
Could’ a, should’ a, would’ a…
In six-days we’ll all be psyched over the realm of possibilities for Macintosh and what’s in store for the company’s flag-ship product.
It’s easy to see where Jobs’ attention is focused now. As was stated in the article, Jobs can only deal with a hundred people at any one time, so until he saw the successful launch of Apple’s newest platform, he could only give his entire attention to one great thing at a time.
Now that iPad is underway, it’s time to elevate Mac computing to loftier levels. Namely, using synergy. The Macintosh will once again become the center of Apple’s existence and for me, the iPad is its remote control, that doubles as a handheld computer ideally suited for dealing with subsets of data from the Macintosh.
The iPad and Macintosh show plenty of promise working together to extend the desktop metaphor. The Macintosh needs every ounce of energy to produce our most demanding work, something the iPad couldn’t possibly do, like 3D, video editing, and large database manipulations, for example.
However, if the Macintosh’s work was broken out, into smaller data subsets, I see no reason a device like the iPad couldn’t share the workload. For example, a search query of a massive database could yield a workload easily managed by the iPad. Or perhaps, the iPad could be used to edit rough drafts of a larger video project, through the use of proxies and placeholders.
For me personally, I wish Maya, even ZBrush could offload select regions of a 3D project to my iPad for further editing. The fact is, many of my Maya models yield file sizes in the 75-800KB range because they are just ASCII (text) files.
But, as with most large projects, we tend to break them up into smaller chunks, or subsets, and work them individually, something a device like the iPad would be well suited for. Saving various stages of work isn’t done on the iPad, it’s sent directly back to my Mac, updating the original.
Anyway…
I expect to hear great things about the newest addition to Apple’s ecosystem; the data center and how it will become the hub of the Apple universe and by extension, increasing the productivity of my Mac and I.
On my wishlist, is to someday upload work too big for my Mac to handle, to Apple’s servers, during idle periods, to render my videos and 3D animations, producing them in the proper format.
I can dream, can’t I?
Just tells us that any prediction about the future is pure crapshoot
Just tells us that any prediction about the future is pure crapshoot
Looking back is always 20/20 vision and better when one listens to Santayana’s words
Looking back is always 20/20 vision and better when one listens to Santayana’s words
Well, it was Steve Jobs who hired Sculley with that famous pitch: “Do you want a chance to change the world or sell sugared water for the rest of your life?”
None of it matters now. All turned out well and I like to think that things happen for a reason. Jobs needed that time out in the wilderness to hone his skills and deal with adversity. It seems he was an out-of-control brat when he was at Apple before he got fired.
Sculley just wasn’t a tech guy. I thought it was ridiculous when he gave himself the title of CTO. He was clearly losing it by the early-90’s. The Newton fiasco was the nail in the coffin.
Well, it was Steve Jobs who hired Sculley with that famous pitch: “Do you want a chance to change the world or sell sugared water for the rest of your life?”
None of it matters now. All turned out well and I like to think that things happen for a reason. Jobs needed that time out in the wilderness to hone his skills and deal with adversity. It seems he was an out-of-control brat when he was at Apple before he got fired.
Sculley just wasn’t a tech guy. I thought it was ridiculous when he gave himself the title of CTO. He was clearly losing it by the early-90’s. The Newton fiasco was the nail in the coffin.
dunno, sounds similar to Robert Strange McNamara’s apology about Vietnam…fortunately, Sculley’s “oops” didn’t cost 55,000 American servicemen’s lives. Fsck Sculley and fsck McNamara, they both knew exactly what they were doing.
dunno, sounds similar to Robert Strange McNamara’s apology about Vietnam…fortunately, Sculley’s “oops” didn’t cost 55,000 American servicemen’s lives. Fsck Sculley and fsck McNamara, they both knew exactly what they were doing.
Didn’t Sculley greelight Newton? Some credit due, I believe.
Didn’t Sculley greelight Newton? Some credit due, I believe.
Hey Sculley, better late than never.
Hey Sculley, better late than never.
Newton and the Knowledge Navigator concept gave a lot of young programmers direction.
Newton and the Knowledge Navigator concept gave a lot of young programmers direction.
Still, in reality, Microsoft would be better off with Sculley than with Ballmer.
Still, in reality, Microsoft would be better off with Sculley than with Ballmer.
I don’t know… without Apple’s near-death experience (for which Sculley is largely responsible) and the experience Steve Jobs gained while being away from Apple, there would not have been “Apple 2.0.” Apple is now close to being the largest cap company in the world; how could things have turned out any better than they have?
So, in hindsight, hiring Sculley may have been one of Apple’s BEST moves.
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I don’t know… without Apple’s near-death experience (for which Sculley is largely responsible) and the experience Steve Jobs gained while being away from Apple, there would not have been “Apple 2.0.” Apple is now close to being the largest cap company in the world; how could things have turned out any better than they have?
So, in hindsight, hiring Sculley may have been one of Apple’s BEST moves.
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MACDN is to easy on Johnny it was not a simple weak contract it was an old fashion payoff directly from Microsoft to Scully’s brother.
Follow Scully’s career the theif has been mixed up in a lot of shady dealings
MACDN is to easy on Johnny it was not a simple weak contract it was an old fashion payoff directly from Microsoft to Scully’s brother.
Follow Scully’s career the theif has been mixed up in a lot of shady dealings
Kiss ass Scully being frank and honest?
Oh.please. What’s his angle?
Kiss ass Scully being frank and honest?
Oh.please. What’s his angle?