Posted on Tuesday 31st of October 2006 at 05:55 in Apple

Why you should respect Steve Jobs

As a Windows/Linux user I find it hard to accept that Mr. Jobs has done marvelous things to Apple and I think that there are more people in my position who maybe don't appreciate how succesful he has been.

Everyone knows Jobs as the face of Apple at the moment but he was the man who bought Pixar from Lucasfilm for $5million in 1986 and 9 years later Toy Story was released, sparking the massively important movie-animation fad that is still ongoing. Films such as Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, a Bugs Life, Cars and Monsters Inc all came from Pixar. This year Disney purchased Pixar for a value of $7.4billion, making Steve Jobs the largest single Disney shareholder.

So I find it hard to disagree with the greatness of a man who co-founded Apple in 1976 and went on to have a big part in creating some films that I hold very closely to my heart. Even dedicated Apple-haters will love *something* Pixar have done. To date I've never met someone who has hated everything produced by the popular animation company.

A Harsh Managerial Style
This is a specific element of Steve that common sense would dictate, but it goes against his public persona. He is "apparently" a very rough, intimidating boss who is a great motivator but has the capacity to unleash a blistering verbal attack upon those who do not meet his demands. While this is to be expected of a man with a staggering business profile it just somehow doesn't match his image. In a strange way I respect him a lot more because of it.

Respect to Jobs
Still not convinced that he demands respect? Did you know he was a college dropout who experimented with drugs and Eastern religions before turning to this career? He wasn't some sad lonely little boy plotting world domination in his parent's basement... Although the use of drugs would explain the iPod Shuffle which I still fail to see an application for.

Quotes
He has had some quality quotes in his time, here are a few of my favourites

"It's really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don't know what they want until you show it to them."

(Talking about Apple) "The products suck! There's no sex in them anymore!"

"Apple has some tremendous assets, but I believe without some attention, the company could, could, could -- I'm searching for the right word -- could, could die."

Conclusion
While many of my peers will refuse to respect Steve Jobs I find it hard not to, he's revolutionised a potentially dying company to have a very strong community and excellent set of products, even if they're not suited to what I need a machine for. Ultimately I exercised my freedom and found that a Mac is not for me, but I do use iTunes when at work and various other Apple based products. So respect to the man who made it all happen (oh, and Woz too).

 

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