The paradox of Steve Jobs | The Fireside Post The paradox of Steve Jobs | The Fireside Post
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Ohg Rea Tone is all or nothing. He is educated and opinionated, more clever than smart, sarcastic and forthright. He writes intuitively - often disregarding rules of composition. Comment on his posts - he will likely respond with characteristic humor or genuine empathy. He is the real-deal.

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The paradox of Steve Jobs

January 12th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under

Son,

I have written several posts on Steve Jobs and Apple, Inc.  Some people take offense – that is only healthy.  Steve Jobs is a real study in innovation, technology, business, and personality.  All of these combine to produce a final product.

If Steve Jobs had been more flexible as a business man in 1979 then there would have been no Microsoft.  If Steve Jobs had been more flexible he would have made the deal with IBM and the world would run on Apple software.  If Steve Jobs had been more flexible then the entire world of computing would be more advanced today than it is.

Here is the paradox.  If Steve Jobs had been more flexible, more mainstream, the creation of the personal computer would have been three to five years later in history.  If Steve Jobs had been more flexible, more compromising, we would not have the blessing of the Mac or the iphone – he would have settled for less to satisfy narrow investors.

Everything about Steve Jobs makes him who he is – his creativity, technical awareness,  spirit of innovation, arrogant personality – all of this came together to create a computer phenomenon.

That is evident by the level of emotion expressed by his supporters in comments on this online magazine.  (I would venture that we would not have this online magazine without the intervention of Steve Jobs.)

Dad

There Is 1 Response So Far. »

  1. Comment by Tom on 12 January 2008:

    Actually, Steve Jobs would have beat Microsoft and Windows fairly easily had a misguided board not ousted him in 1985.

    Not sure why people seem to forget losing the “GUI wars” was something Jobs had no part in. Sculley inked the infamous deal upon which Microsoft was able to “borrow” GUI ideas, and Jobs was tossed out of Apple only a year after the Mac was introduced.

    If Apple had followed Jobs’ ideas, the Mac not only would have been $500 less when launched, but the interconnectivity that didn’t arrive until years later would have come sooner. Also, Jobs previous agreements with Microsoft didn’t give away the jewels like Sculley did.

    You can dismiss me as simply a Jobs supported, but the fact is the historical record supports my argument quite clearly.