Comment by dmazin
19 hours ago
If you want more on this, I recommend Steve Jobs and the Next Big Thing by Stross. I’m not sure, but it might be the only extensive book about Next other than this new one.
Though it’s essentially a long hit piece. The author really had it out for Jobs.
In fact it’s a completely uncharitable book now that I think about it. Hopefully this new book will be a lot less biased.
While maybe biased, also shows a bit about the real Steve Jobs without the distortion field, and why Apple hardware costs what it costs, even when the delivery isn't up to the premium price.
If you want another take from that period the 1997 book "Apple" by Jim Carlton (WSJ reporter) is pretty good. The inside jacket starts "Whatever happened to Apple Computer?" and the forward by Guy Kawasaki frames the book as an after action review of a company that has failed. It has its own problems, but by avoiding the confusion of Apple's later success I think it provides more interesting coverage of some the stuff they did in that middle period while Jobs was out.
Thanks
>>the real Steve Jobs without the distortion field
A lot of things come in full package, same person putting in the same effort(if not better) in a different place/situation doesn't give the same results.
I once worked with a senior engineer/leader at a electronics company who delivered great products/results and ran the shop to literal perfection for like a decade. The company got sold, and he moved on. He was just not able to replicate the same success after that ever, despite by his own admission he tried even harder else where.
Despite the fact that Jobs was like the greatest ever, Im sure without Apple, its culture and overall company inertia he wouldn't be able to do much either.
This is also why if you have some kind of a winning combination you are better off sticking with it even if its not entirely perfect. Anything else could be way worse.
Jobs did pretty well with Pixar and Next. So it seems he was able to do things outside of Apple.
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i read that book twice, and found it fascinating.
i agree it def feels like a hit piece, but reading it, my impression was more like 'damn, starting a business is hard' and felt more sympathetic in some weird way... like the steve as the tortured artist or something... '
also, stross does his research (mad respect, real journalism) and digs out lots of numbers and reconstructs the timeline when it was all fresh; def recommended
Nifty book by Rob Blessin and his son Luciano, _Inside NeXT_ which is worth looking up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJvxze8gZq8
Jobs really did make a lot of boneheaded decisions when running NeXT; this book just calls him out on it.
Maybe my memory is wrong. I haven't read it in years but I don't remember it being a hit piece. I remember liking it quite a bit and thinking it was a really interesting look at NeXT. It is an interesting artifact because it came out in 1993 and the author couldn't have predicted what would happen to NeXT or Jobs.
Why did it need to be charitable? Jobs was hardly a saint.
I remember that era well, working for an early (potential that never happened) NeXT software developer, then one of NeXT’s 1st commercial accounts. It was a quite horrible workstation, if pretty. The pre-release rumors about it _were_ enough to push Sun into the SparcStation 1 program (heard from a very connected person at the time). So, thanks Steve.
Why did the author have it out for him?
Jobs' life story makes me reflect on the choices we make in life. My impression is that yeah he changed the world, but he was really embattled with himself and the world, and he made a lot of enemies, partly because he stood on his principles and beliefs, come what may, but I'm sure there's more to the story
One can see a little bit about this in the stories from Folklore.org, e.g.,
https://www.folklore.org/Tell_Adam_Hes_An_Asshole.html
I've seen variations of this line so often from incumbents
I remember reading an account about NVIDIA from its Riva-128 days very early on where the incumbent 3DFX (later acquired by NVIDIA) came over to their booth with a condescending tone, and the Riva made 3DFX's flagship product look like a toy
It's always the damn condescension, it seems to trigger greek tragedy endings and honestly world changing products -- the Mac, the GPU, it's always some asshole disrespecting an underdog to the point of rage
Steve Jobs & the NeXT Big Thing by Randall E. Stross covers the NeXT years extensively and in period. Highly recommended also to do some “archeological” read/research into what it was like to sell computers in the late 80’s, early 90’s
Another book that focuses on this period is Becoming Steve Jobs
I love “Becoming Steve Jobs” much more than the official biography.
I bailed on the official bio when I got to the part where Jobs is (belatedly) crediting his adoptive father with showing young Steve the importance of (paraphrasing) "giving as much attention to the parts of the product that the customer will never see".
It was clear at that point that this would be a Jobs-directed bio and I saw no point in continuing to read that.
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Same
Yeah, that's definitely my favorite book about Apple/Steve Jobs.