Wednesday, October 05, 2011

Thanks Steve, for everything

Real genius comes once or twice a century and we've been lucky enough to witness a little bit of it. Most of us wish we could accomplish with our lives what he had done in one year or even less...Anyway Steve, see ya down the road.

Thank you for having read this blog.

7 comments:

Chuck said...

The code for your "existence" embed is set to autoplay. Intentional?

The Right Guy said...

Only on the part of the website that hosts it. I just copy and pasted the embed code. I'll take a look.

The Right Guy said...

Fixed.

Charlie said...

Thought these Jobs biography excerpts would be fitting here.

Via the Huffington Post...

Jobs' Meeting With Obama

Jobs, who was known for his prickly, stubborn personality, almost missed meeting President Obama in the fall of 2010 because he insisted that the president personally ask him for a meeting. Though his wife told him that Obama "was really psyched to meet with you," Jobs insisted on the personal invitation, and the standoff lasted for five days. When he finally relented and they met at the Westin San Francisco Airport, Jobs was characteristically blunt. He seemed to have transformed from a liberal into a conservative.

"You're headed for a one-term presidency," he told Obama at the start of their meeting, insisting that the administration needed to be more business-friendly. As an example, Jobs described the ease with which companies can build factories in China compared to the United States, where "regulations and unnecessary costs" make it difficult for them.

Jobs also criticized America's education system, saying it was "crippled by union work rules," noted Isaacson. "Until the teachers' unions were broken, there was almost no hope for education reform." Jobs proposed allowing principals to hire and fire teachers based on merit, that schools stay open until 6 p.m. and that they be open 11 months a year.

Aiding Obama's Reelection Campaign

Jobs suggested that Obama meet six or seven other CEOs who could express the needs of innovative businesses -- but when White House aides added more names to the list, Jobs insisted that it was growing too big and that "he had no intention of coming." In preparation for the dinner, Jobs exhibited his notorious attention to detail, telling venture capitalist John Doerr that the menu of shrimp, cod and lentil salad was "far too fancy" and objecting to a chocolate truffle dessert. But he was overruled by the White House, which cited the president's fondness for cream pie.

Though Jobs was not that impressed by Obama, later telling Isaacson that his focus on the reasons that things can't get done "infuriates" him, they kept in touch and talked by phone a few more times. Jobs even offered to help create Obama's political ads for the 2012 campaign. "He had made the same offer in 2008, but he'd become annoyed when Obama's strategist David Axelrod wasn't totally deferential," writes Isaacson. Jobs later told the author that he wanted to do for Obama what the legendary "morning in America" ads did for Ronald Reagan.

Bill Gates And Steve Jobs

Bill Gates was fascinated by Steve Jobs but found him "fundamentally odd" and "weirdly flawed as a human being," and his tendency to be "either in the mode of saying you were shit or trying to seduce you."

Jobs once declared about Gates, "He'd be a broader guy if he had dropped acid once or gone off to an ashram when he was younger."

After 30 years, Gates would develop a grudging respect for Jobs. "He really never knew much about technology, but he had an amazing instinct for what works," he said. But Jobs never reciprocated by fully appreciating Gates' real strengths. "Bill is basically unimaginative and has never invented anything, which is why I think he's more comfortable now in philanthropy than technology. He just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."

The Right Guy said...

Ok...Well, I see it worked out better for Obama in the end...or did it? It seems a lot of industrialists can compartmentalize their political philosophies from their business philosophies. It's interesting to say the least. I usually call it duplicitous. None of this surprises me, except for Bill calling Steve odd...I had known someone that worked at MS and said Bill would rock in meetings sometimes...In case you don't know, he's most likely autistic, probably asperger's. There's nothing wrong with that per se in terms of value as a person, but Bill must be pretty odd himself. The difference between the two is left brain versus right brain. They are just that different and Steve couldn't see outside himself in that way.

As far as Steve's being Stubborn and prickly, look at it like this: Who accomplished more with their lives? Steve knew he was Obama's better in spite of what's ex-cathedra with Obama.

Obama knows how to get the job, but not deliver. Both Bill and Steve could do both.

Lastly about "his tendency to be either in the mode of saying you were shit or trying to seduce you."

In the Apple Realm, it is called the Steve Jobs Hero-Shithead Rollercoaster.

Charlie said...

I don't disagree with your analysis at all. I think Steve and people like him that are narcissists to begin with have a REALLY hard time with end of life issues. He wanted to destroy Android to protect his iOS legacy. He wants to force feed his preferred user experience in a way Microsoft never dared try.

We're all gonna face the dark unknown at some point. But I think it's exponentially worse for the megalomaniacs. Death came calling and their was nothing he could do about it. The patent lawsuits and such were his ego in it's last throes in my opinion.

I'll tell you this much though if there is an afterlife I don't think I wanna be anywhere near Steve's corner of it. He'll probably be lecturing on how you "should" experience eternity LOL!

The Right Guy said...

Oh, yes he was a narcissist and nuttier that a bag full of squirrels. He was arrogant and an arrogance based on he was right about everything. It's beyond narcism. It was insufferable. He was successful and left his mark, more than most of us ever will, crazy, arrogant and narcissistic. As far as heaven goes, I am sure he's redesigning the place.

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