News: 1662703270

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Apple co-founder Steve Jobs memorialized with online archive of emails, guff

(2022/09/09)


Comment At CodeCon 2022 on Wednesday, Apple CEO Tim Cook, former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive, and billionaire business executive Laurene Powell Jobs launched the Steve Jobs Archive, an online repository to honor the legacy of Apple's co-founder and CEO for many years.

"Steve’s legacy lives on in the company we are and the products and services we create," said Cook in a [1]social media post . "The Steve Jobs Archive was created as a place to spark a sense of possibility in everyone."

The online hagiography of inspirational quotations, messages, and related audiovisual recordings offers a reminder of Jobs's mastery of marketing and many accomplishments.

[2]

[3]The Steve Jobs Archive also contains some questionable material. For example, a 2010 email that Jobs sent to himself says, "When I needed medical attention, I was helpless to help myself survive."

[4]

[5]

That may not be correct. A [6]2011 Reuters article begins, "Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs refused potentially life-saving cancer surgery for nine months, shrugging off his family’s protests and opting instead for alternative medicine, according to the tech visionary’s biographer."

While [7]a 2016 medical analysis concluded it's unknown whether Jobs's outcome would have been different had he pursued surgery immediately after his diagnosis of a rare form of pancreatic cancer, it seems remiss to include Jobs's claim he was helpless with regard to health.

[8]

What's more, The Steve Jobs Archive neglects to mention the perception of Jobs outside of his admiring apologists: that he was " [9]a world-class asshole. "

Here's how writer Michelle Atagana in 2011 [10]described Jobs , based on Jobs's depiction by biographer Walter Isaacson:

He was a filthy narcissist, who didn't believe in showers, deodorant and apparently liked to dip his feet in the toilet. He was prone to childlike tantrums and apparently took credit for other people's ideas.

He was arrogant and a brutal boss who could reduce his employees to tears with phrases like: "fucking dickless assholes," and "That design looks like shit."

Several years ago, Elon Musk – described by Isaacson as " [11]the Steve Jobs of our time " – [12]told GQ , "[T]he one time I met Steve Jobs, he was kind of a jerk."

Not that assholery deters fawning over financially successful public figures. Perversely, being a jerk is seldom disqualifying and often rewarded in a leadership context. And in the decade since Jobs's passing, belligerence has become big business – it fuels the social ad business by driving engagement.

Thus today's sado-populists turn poor behavior into adoration and audience. As a recent US President [13]put it , "I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK?"

[14]NFT or not to NFT: Steve Jobs' first job application auction shows physically unique beats cryptographically unique

[15]'Prophetic' Steve Jobs autograph telling kid to 'go change the world!' among Apple memorabilia at auction

[16]Apple hits brakes on hiring amid economic uncertainty

[17]Apple-1 prototype hand-soldered by Woz up for auction, bids expected to reach $500k

The Steve Jobs Archive should present Jobs as he really was: complicated, to put it politely.

It should include how Jobs told a customer who wrote to him out of concern about iPhone 4 signal problems to just [18]avoid holding the phone in a way that interferes with reception .

[19]

It should include his [20]poor treatment of his daughter, his insistence that firings at Pixar be [21]done immediately without severance pay , his ability [22]to alienate talented employees , and his willingness to [23]berate service workers. It might also mention how Jobs, while at Atari, [24]cheated his friend Steve Wozniak out of a bonus .

"We are building programs, fellowships, collections, and partnerships that reflect Steve’s values and carry his sense of possibility forward," The Steve Jobs Archive declares.

The Steve Jobs Archive reflects only the whitespace of Jobs's life. ®

Get our [25]Tech Resources



[1] https://twitter.com/tim_cook/status/1567739003650048000

[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YxsOurGzo0k2w6H68s0YDQAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0

[3] https://stevejobsarchive.com/

[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YxsOurGzo0k2w6H68s0YDQAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YxsOurGzo0k2w6H68s0YDQAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[6] https://www.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-60029720111021

[7] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924574/

[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YxsOurGzo0k2w6H68s0YDQAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[9] https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/11/be-a-jerk-the-worst-business-lesson-from-the-steve-jobs-biography/249136/

[10] https://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/how-steve-jobs-got-away-with-being-an-asshole/

[11] https://www.yahoo.com/video/elon-musk-is-in-some-ways-the-steve-jobs-of-our-time-walter-isaacson-150305048.html

[12] https://www.gq.com/story/elon-musk-mars-spacex-tesla-interview

[13] https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/23/464129029/donald-trump-i-could-shoot-somebody-and-i-wouldnt-lose-any-voters

[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/29/steve_jobs_nft_auction_race/

[15] https://www.theregister.com/2021/08/03/apple_steve_jobs_auction/

[16] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/19/apple_hiring_freeze/

[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/07/27/apple1_prototype_handsoldered_by_woz/

[18] https://www.macrumors.com/2010/06/24/steve-jobs-describes-iphone-4-signal-strength-a-non-issue/

[19] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/bootnotes&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YxsOurGzo0k2w6H68s0YDQAAAII&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0

[20] https://www.theguardian.com/global/2018/sep/01/daughter-steve-jobs-denied-lisa-brennan-jobs

[21] https://www.google.com/books/edition/Steve_Jobs/8U2oAAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=kerwin

[22] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jul/08/steve-wozniakr-steve-jobs-apple

[23] https://www.cnet.com/pictures/15-surprisingly-mean-quotes-from-steve-jobs-and-2-nice-ones/2/

[24] https://www.theregister.com/2020/08/11/steve_wozniak_at_70/

[25] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/



The Steve Jobs Archive

Pascal Monett

Well that's one link I'll never go to.

Somewhat of a myth...

Anonymous Coward

...Steve Jobs only rejected traditional treatment once his cancer was terminal. He had cancer a couple of times if you remember...

Re: Somewhat of a myth...

Dan 55

[1]This doesn't appear to be true , whether it affected Jobs lifespan is another matter.

[1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/alternative-medicine-extend-abbreviate-steve-jobs-life/

Excuses galore

PhilipN

Now it's enough for a [former] "celebrity", without apologising, to state [s]he was [borderline] bipolar instead of acknowledging that [s]he was just an a**hole.

I assume it will omit

steviebuk

all the times he was an arsehole? Which was quite a lot according to his book.

Elon Musk told GQ, "The one time I met Steve Jobs, he was kind of a jerk."

Dan 55

Takes one to know one, I see.

Light and shade

Admiral Grace Hopper

I'm glad that he did the good things that he did for the industry. He shook it up and changed its direction for the better more than once. I'm even more glad that I never worked with or for him. It must have been like living on the slopes of a volcano.

In 500 years

Winkypop

The Jobsian (bible) will evolve.

“In the beginning there was an apple….”

So from the depths of its enchantment, Terra was able to calculate a course
of action. Here at last was an opportunity to consort with Dirbanu on a
friendly basis -- great Durbanu which, since it had force fields which Earth
could not duplicate, must of necessity have many other things Earth could
use; mighty Durbanu before whom we would kneel in supplication (with purely-
for-defense bombs hidden in our pockets) with lowered heads (making invisible
the knife in our teeth) and ask for crumbs from their table (in order to
extrapolate the location of their kitchens).
-- Theodore Sturgeon, "The World Well Lost"