Thank You Steve Jobs
by Brad Schaeffer“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me.… Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful—that’s what matters to me.”
R.I.P Steve Jobs. He was the patron saint of entrepreneurs. Newton once reflected that if his vision extended farther than others’ it was because he stood upon the shoulders of giants. One of the giants has left this iWorld a much more interesting place.
Others will write volumes on this incredible man’s achievements. I do not possess the eloquence to encapsulate so amazing a life nor his impact on the way we live today and will in the future. All I can say from a personal standpoint is that Steve Jobs, through Apple and Pixar, represented to me what possibilities exist in this great country when brilliance, vision, chutzpah and a whole lot of confidence in one’s own assessment of what the public desires combine into one formidable force. (Oh, and as the Occupy Wall Street mob might want to remember as they tweet on their Apple, Inc. iPhones and iBooks, Jobs’ start-up also demonstrates how vital unfettered investment capital from the private sector is to finance said vision—in this case, $250,000 in1977 dollars from Mike Markkula, whom I imagine today would be classified by these same protestors as an “evil millionaire”.)
As the days pass the pantheon of memories of Mr. Jobs’ legacy will also include, rightfully, some failures as well as his many undeniable successes. Eli Lehrer at the Heartland Institute points out a few: The Apple III was bug-infested. The Lisa was prohibitively expensive. The Apple G4 Cube sold poorly and he never made a mark in the applications software arena.
Still, as any creative person knows, and certainly those in business will tell you, the road to ultimate success is often paved by initial failures, so long as they are viewed for what they are: a treasure trove of valuable lessons.
After all, as Thomas Edison so famously (allegedly) replied to a NY Times reporter’s question re: the incandescent light-bulb and about how it felt to fail seven hundred times:
“I have not failed seven hundred times. I have not failed once. I have succeeded in proving that those seven hundred ways will not work.”
One can imagine Jobs saying the same thing as he rolled up his sleeves and dived into the task of, as he told John Sculley, changing the world. Mission accomplished.
I am happy to have lived in that world after Steve Jobs left his mark upon it. It was a lot more boring before he came along. And it is a little more so again, now that he is no longer with us. But I think his vision will continue. As another great entrepreneur, R.J. Reynolds, said as he was dying: “I have written the book. All you need to do is follow it.”
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44 Comments
iRIP Steve Jobs.
A true visionary. Obsessed in a good way to achieve the impossible. R.I.P. Steve. You will be missed.
He sure loved his slave factories in China. Call a spade a spade, folks. Apple factories work 24 hours a day with two overlapping shifts. Workers are housed in prison style barracks, stacked three high in rat and insect infested buildings. Propaganda is piped in all hours of the day. The conditions never got better, and in fact, got worse in 2010, and are worst this year.
You made an excellent point and observation.
Because of Union labor, and uncertain trade practices here in America, Steve Jobs had to relocate his manufacturing capabilities in China in order to remain cost competitive.
Thank you for your very valid contribution in pointing this out.
"the road to ultimate success is often paved by initial failures,"
The only thing that separates Mr. Jobs from the wall street protestors is PERSISTENCE.
It is the AMERICAN way to risk all, fail, get up and try again, only to fail, to eventually be successful. I don't know why all these gonards in NYC don't get that.
Just throw your hands in the air, and demand someone else do the heavy lifting for you.
" Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you, may your chains rest lightly, and may posterity forget you were our countrymen." Samuel Adams
Just wondering…..
Could the argument be made that those Chinese slaves are better off in a city job putting together computers than they were hunched over all day planting rice in the wet paddies?
Is this kind of sh** job the first step on the ladder to a better paying job with better working conditions?
We should also thank Ms. Mona Simpson. As an unwed mother, she decided she wasn't being 'punished by a baby'. She 'chose' to have her son and gave him up for adoption. He was adopted by Mr. and Mrs. Jobs, and the rest is history.
If there is a statistician out there, please figure out the odds that Steve Jobs would have been born today.
Do you own any Apple products, Mr. Yannaccone?
Those factories are doing the jobs Americans won't do….but demand the product.
Start your own. I'm sure there are plenty of dissatisfied workers that would love a raise.
From Wall Street Journal editor Robert Bartley's book, The Seven Fat Years, chapter 9, "Boom."
"for most portentous of all, The Seven Fat Years witnessed the development of the personal computer. In 1981, when the Apple II was a hackers' toy, a little over two million personal computers were in use anywhere in the country. That years, IBM introduced its first PC, and Apple followed with the the Mac in 1984. By 1985, the two million PCs had exploded to 45 million. Of this number, roundly half were in homes….
"…but even microchips do not procreate by virgin birth; someone has to invent the technology, recognize its possibilities and organize its production. Someone has to take the risk of raising funds, building facilities, making the product known to buyers, delivering goods and somehow seeing that the sales cover the costs of all of this. In the Seven Fat Years, how were the technological possibilities harnessed?
"The prototype for the decade's industrial development, Apple Computer Inc, issued its for public stock in 1980. Steve Jobs and Stephen Wozniak invented the first personal computer in Jobs's garage in 1976. Their Apple I and II machines beat IBM to the market, indeed created the market IBM started to tap in 1981. Apple consolidated its success with the introduction of the Mac in 1984. By the end of the decade, Apple was 95th on Fortune's list of 500 industrial companies. Jobs and Wozniak were gone from the company, but the two college dropouts had founded a new industry.
"…there also had to be economic mechanisms and a political climate that allowed these upstarts to do their work…..for this, US capitalism has developed an industry, too. Its called venture capital…
"Genetic engineering is of course precisely the kind of technology that various philosophers have in mind in advocating 'industrial planning' by some omniscient bureaucracy in Washington and, they dream, Cambridge.
Rank in order the most likely recipient of capital from an industrial planning bureaucracy:
*Steve Jobs' garage
*IBM
*A company in the district of the most powerful congressman.
"Welcome to the real world, and so much for that idea."
I read an interview where a higher up at Intel was asked why they did not open more factories in the U.S.A. He stated that cost of regulation, alone, added approximately $1 Billion to the cost. That was a few months ago, it is probably a lot more today.
Y'all notice that Chuckles got strangely silent?
I imagine today if you were going to try and create something in your garage the local/federal government would have some idiotic regulation to keep you from doing so. The man was a visionary. As much as I dislike them moving all the factories to China in order to keep costs down, this too is a lesson for the times. Fewer government regulations, taxes, and union pressure may have allowed all his products to be made in the ole USA.
RIP Mr. Jobs and thank you for your tenacity.
Isnt' that odd. It has been my experience that when I try to engage in conversation or to ask them to explain their point of view more thoroughly–as opposed to just hurling insults back and forth–the conversation never gets off the ground…..
I've always wondered what it would be like to feel the glee that Jobs and Wozniak felt as they walked into Xerox's engineering department on an invitation to view Xerox's newest breakthrough, the computer graphic interface program. (the mouse & screen cursor)
The story goes that as the lead engineer was about to demonstrate it, Jobs leaned in and said, "Don't worry, this won't hurt".
To which she replied, "Wanna bet?" Yeah, she, as did Jobs and Wozniak, knew what Xerox had, but the suits were clueless and wouldn't listen to their own engineers.
RIP Steve Jobs.
Steve Jobs: NOT A REPUBLICAN.
I dont think that's what they're doing. I think they're pissed that they are leaving college with a mountain of debt and an unemployment rate above the national average for people under 24.
They feel they've been lied to and have gotten the shaft. If you cant understand that the problem is all yours.
So what?
What's your point?
Sorry Cowboy but you and your GOP cohorts can blame unions for this all you want but it's not true.
It's about companies wanting to maximize profits and even if you paid American workers five bucks an hour corporations would still be getting a better deal in the third world.
My sister was an exec with a large apparel manufacturer with a huge overseas manufacturing base and she told me that with American labor mark-up was near 100% but when they outsourced labor it was 400%. Unions didnt kill our manufacturing base. Corporate execs looking for bigger salaries did. Any wonder that the average CEO has gone from making 25 times what one of his employees made to 425 times?
That is really the beauty of a free market economy; it makes zero difference to any of the participants whether their boss or employee or buyer or seller holds the same or different views, as exemplified by this short clip of uncle Milty and the pencil http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5Gppi-O3a8
Similarly, the Green Bay Packer's stands were packed with fans who all got along because they were there in the common pursuit of enjoying a game of football. A few weeks later, Wisconsin looked like a war zone–could these be the same people who a few weeks ago sat next to each other and probably gave high fives??!
The only time that politics becomes an issue is when one side or the other tries to use the force of government to gain an advantage over a competitor or consumer or provider.
Sorry Scooter.
You are wrong.
Study any industry.
The railroads in the 60's.
The steel industry in the 70's.
The apparel industry in the 80's.
The furniture industry in the 80's.
The airline industry in the 80's.
The auto industry in the 2000's.
UNIONz broke 'em all.
OK. It is not just unions. It is the cost to the corporation of complying with government regulations, health care, taxes, lawsuits, etc. etc.
Tell me, do you own any Apple Products? How much would you be willing to pay to have them made in the US? Do you have that much money? Even if you did and wanted to spend it all on Apple products, I can assure you that not too many others would.
They WERE lied to and have gotten the shaft. It just wasn't because of Wall Street.
Well, getting back to the topic at hand, Steve Jobs – well, he didn't go to college beyond one semester. I don't think any of these unwashed fools could make a paper airplane in their own garage even AFTER the college degree.
Ok Chuck. Just several questions to see if you are stupid enough to believe what you read.
1. Name the three China cities where Apple has factories
2. Name the primary ODM that Apple uses for their products (name one, any one)
3. How many times YOU have personally had your marxist boots on the ground at AN APPLE FACTORY
I will wait for your answers to see if you know what you are talking about.
I've never owned an Apple product but I certainly appreciate the tremendous strides in manufacturing that had to be invented for so many of anything to be made so quickly. Without vast strides in robot and high speed transfer of parts and the flexibility of non-union shops to change with the times, we'd still have back-orders on Apple IIe s.
Sheesh. This Jobs fascination is absurd. Wasn't there a character in Grapes of Wrath with that name? Wasn't there a guy in the Bible named Job? This guy, Steve, is not much different than Ron Popeil. Maybe it is a frame of reference issue. I started programming when there was nothing more than main frames, IBM 360s, compilers were only part of the language and we had IBM card punch machines. Those old IBM computers from the 60's/70's still do a hell of a lot more than any laptop has ever done. You just have to actually learn how to use a computer.
But… my single and complete objection to Jobs and Apple was the hideous access to the operating system. They were not going to license anything to anyone. Appleworks, in that era, cost more than a modern computer.
I don't hate him. He's just not ALL THAT, anymore than Gates or Larry Ellison. My life was just fine before there were computers. The government has taken computers and turned them against humanity. This government completely intends to change your constitutional rights and expectations. Google cannot do enough to help them. Schmidt and Jobs did not fall from different trees.
Like my wife always says, a college degree is just a piece of paper.
What she means is that some college grads like the OWS crowd lack the wisdom and the drive to apply their knowledge to better their lives. Hence, the college degree may as well be worthless.
Great observations and so true.
Nor was he a socialist expecting the gov't to provide his next job or idea, like the filthy mob in NYC.
Conditions are no different for Apple than any other company in Red China, foreign or domestic.
Cement industry in the '80s, too.
Yes, actually that argument can be made. The Chinese middle class is estimated at 200 million now, with 65 million able to travel the world.
30% of college graduates in China are engineers, computer scientists and mathematicians compared to 5% in the United States. These people graduate and go to work at the computer manufacturers, using their degrees.
Even the factory workers make more money and work less hard than they would in their village. They must be compensated adequately since they SAVE an average of 40% of their income!! Most are sending money home to their village.
Jobs did great things for the computer industry, and I'm glad, because I've always had Mac computers, but personally, he was a loser and I feel sorry for him. On his deathbed he said he wished he'd gotten to know his own children. Think of that. He was too busy making money to pay any attention to his family, and never really got to know his own kids. Speaking as a father, I can't think of anything sadder than that.
What good is all the success and money in the world if you never even have relationships with your own children? Jobs got his first girlfriend pregnant and then denied he'd done it, although in later years he gave in and supported her and the child. He didn't want to marry the second woman he got pregnant, either, but she wasn't having any of that. He never had any relationship with God, dabbling vaguely in Buddhism and other esoteric beliefs. These are not the actions of an upright and moral man. Business savvy he may have had aplenty, but personal integrity he seems to have lacked.
When Jobs first got cancer, he thought he could treat it with some silly New Age holistic diet, so he lost invaluable time goofing around with exotic food, and by the time he turned to real medicine, and bought himself a new liver, it was too late. All the money in the world cannot buy back life from the final stages of cancer.
Many of those who worked with him said he was a foul-mouthed jerk who had no respect for other people's feelings.
So, yeah, he did great things in the computer, entertainment, and business worlds, and all that is worthy of admiration, but from what I read about his personal life, I consider him a self-absorbed, arrogant fool and a loser, like the current occupant of the White House, and I wouldn't have traded places with him for any of his billions of dollars.
Thank you for proving the point. Unions and Government force jobs to move overseas.
Don't let Bill Maher hear you say that. On real time he said the left owned Steve Jobs and the republicans couldn't claim him. Better read up on current events before posting next time looney, you just dissed your own according to Maher. However, I'm not here to badmouth a good man on his passing… I'm just here to badmouth you for your total lack of class.
AnarchoSoc: NOT INTELLIGENT!!!! But that goes without saying. Hi there looney!
AnarchoSoc: Name implies Anarchist, yet uses all the wonders provided by CAPITALISM
(Hypocrite)
(bombthrower)
(left wing apparatchik)
( TOOL )
you make excuses for them. People succeed based on drive, and instincts to survive. A college degree is nothing but one tool to help you make it. The shame should be placed on their parents, because they raised a bunch of inept boobs. If they took a job, any job, then, worked hard, opportunity would eventually knock. But these morons think they should start at the top, and refuse to do any kind of work that is beneath them. The bottom line is, if the desire to survive is greater than the desire to sit on their ass, they would find work. There is always work for those that want it. They way I see it is, the only person giving them the "shaft" is them
He was a jerk and he may have brought us many new fangle toys to play with he still was a jerk. He gave NONE of his money to help anyone else.
Here is a great article on exactly how selfish and cruel he was:
http://gawker.com/5847344/what-everyone-is-too-po...
Why goes Apple never have a dividend? Then there would be more pies (Apple) for everyone who believed and invested in Jobs' dream.
Apple chose to reinvest profits into the business or keep them as cash for future business ventures, rather than to distribute them as dividends. It's a valid model and is one of the reasons Apple has a market cap of 360B.
And yet despite the millions and millions Bill Gates has given to charity, people still despise the man personally. How many lives did Steve Jobs touch with his products? Plenty. I think his accomplishments represent a greater contribution to the world than even the most "giving" and "caring" people have accomplished.
Ah, but that 360B is virtually dead because the investors can only receive income when they cash out. If investors could make a small continuous income then everyone would win.
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