Lamest Meet-Cute of the Week

Crusty but lovable Apple founder Steve Jobs gets into a pissy email exchange with a daffy and delightful student journalist (and former hand model) who is doing a classroom article "about the implementation of an iPad program" at her school.

The resurgent CEO mocks 22-year-old CW Post senior Chelsea Kate Isaacs' po-faced attempt to guilt Jobs into getting his PR department to return her phone calls.

Isaacs shoots back a well-I-never response. Snappy dialogue ensues.

Jobs tires of the game and cuts off the exchange: "Please leave us alone."

Gawker has the full exchange.

Lord knows what CW Post's "iPad program" will be, but it's a good bet it will be three shades of useless. Meantime, Gawker commenters are pretty solidly against Isaacs. One blogger takes Isaacs' side. Flamin' Jay Rosen wisely splits the difference.

Assuming this was Jobs responding and not some disgruntled member of the advance team, there's something admirable about taking time out of your billion-dollar schedule just to belittle a college student. It shows principle. A lesser man might even have put pride aside and tried to help the young woman just for positive word of mouth.

But then a lesser man wouldn't have a fulltime cult and press corps ready to suck in his every brain fart and breathe it out as a noble gas. I don't know how Randoids come down on the whole Apple-v.-open source question, but it seems to me no other CEO achieves the Roarkian ideal quite like Jobs: The key to success is to be a complete dick to everybody.

Comments

[Mr Whipple]

Does the hand model give hand relief?

[Joshua Corning]

I understand your pain Tim....Valve's Orange Box did not come out for the Mac until at least 3 years after its PC release.

Steve Jobs is obviously behind this tyranny.

[Billy Dennis]

Listen: The kid is a reporter. She contacted a company for information. They ignored her. She contacted the boss. The boss refused to give her info and insulted her. She AGAIN contacted the boss and tried to get the information she needed. He insulted her again. So, she contacted him again. And he told her to fuck off.

This is exactly what journalists are supposed to do.

But then, I'm the guy who used to call the city manager at home after midnight ...

Jobs is a dick. Case closed.

[Ron L]

Billy Dennis|9.17.10 @ 9:06PM|#
"Jobs is a dick. Case closed."
Having 'dealt' with Jobs twice, I can say he's one of those folks who, the closer you get to them, the farther away you want to be.

[Joshua Corning]

This is exactly what journalists are supposed to do.

You touched on the real story by accident.

No one gives a fuck about reporters. Steve jobs just happens to be one of everyone else.

[Someone Who Doesn't WTLHJ]

Steve jobs just happens to be one of everyone else.

If everyone else is a dick that is!

[wylie]

If everyone else is a dick that is!

They are. Have you ever interacted with the human race?

[Human Race]

I know. I suck. 🙁

[Poppin' Caps lock]

No one gives a fuck about reporters.

Run for office and say that during your campaign. You'll win.

[Jonas]

You know what else a good journalist would actually do in this situation. They'd say, "Screw the crap story about iPads in college, I've got a story about Steve Jobs being a dick! Kaching!"

And she punted and just said, "Oh, poor me, I'd better send this to someone else to report on."

[Jonas]

There's supposed to be a question mark at the end of the first sentence.

[Warty]

I estimate her insufferability at 0.2 Sullivans. Steve Jobs' response was proper and prudent.

[heller]

agreed.

[Tman]

Agreed.

"We have 300 million customers. Leave me alone."

[Poppin' Caps lock]

"We have 300 million customers. Bother one of those fuckers for a change."

[JohnD]

What a fdoolish statement. Companies ignore the media at their peril.
Besides, for the life of me, I can't understand the "excitment" over these toys that Apple is selling. They are overpriced and of doubtful benefit.

You couldn't give me an Ipad. Of course I don't "tweet" or do facebook or any of that other childish bullcrap.

[Someone Who Doesn't WTLHJ]

A friend of mine said it best - there's a 20% cool tax associated with buying Apple products.

Actually maybe second best - best is here.

[Someone Who Doesn't WTLHJ]

A friend of mine said it best - there's a 20% cool tax on buying Apple products.

[Douche]

You do, unfortunately, comment on blogs.

[micsolana]

+1

[Irresponsible Hater]

it seems to me no other CEO achieves the Roarkian ideal quite like Jobs: The key to success is to be a complete dick to everybody.

And rape! Don't forget the rape!

[STEVE SMITHq]

HOW COULD STEVE SMITH FORGET RAPE!!!!!!!! RAPE ALWAYS ON STEVE SMITH'S MIND, ALSO SCALP OF HIKER!!!!!!

[Spiny Norman]

I don't think Rand would have approved of the Reality Distortion Field.

[Ext Warren T]

So Chelsea couldn't get a hand, Jobs?

[John]

I think people should pick on people their own size. If Jobs found this woman's email tiresome, he should have just not responded to it. I am sure he get thousands of tiresome requests every day. Does the guy really want to give a dickish response to every one of them?

If you are Jobs, you either tell your media department to call this woman and give her answers or you ignore the e-mail. You don't write back to her to be a prick about it. Jobs is a tool.

[Tulpa]

What I like is the Gawker commenters complaining about how the younger generation has a sense of entitlement.

Uh, excuse me? Jobs is a fucking Boomer, the most self-entitled generation in history.

[Jake]

Poor Tulpa. Still on the class-war thing.

[Tulpa]

If I start fighting a war...

I guarantee you'll see something new.

[mr simple]

Does the guy really want to give a dickish response to every one of them?

Everything else in his life is probably mundane by now, so this is the only excitement he gets. He's a dick to everyone because he can be. He pushes the line on dickishness for the thrill of getting away with it.

[PapayaSF]

Agreed. If Jobs felt like being a dick about this, he should have been a dick to the people at Apple who were ignoring a perfectly reasonable media request for information. If he doesn't want to have the company answer that sort of questions, eliminate the PR department.

[Hazel Meade]

I don't remember Roark being that much of a dick to anyone, actually.

He lived up to all his obligations, and even let someone else take credit for his work. Maybe an egomaniac in a private personal sense, but not in a public "eat my shit" way, like Jobs.

Jobs is just what people who read Atlas Shrugged and *think* they are Hank Rearden act like.

[Jake]

It's just a cheap shot at Ayn Rand. If Jobs' actions are what Cavanaugh means by "Roarkian ideal," then it's clear that he has never read The Fountainhead. Or he's being crudely dishonest in order to get a yuck from the peanut gallery. If anyone here can cite an instance of Roark acting like a "dick" the way Cavanaugh opines Jobs acted, feel free to paste it in. The only characters in The Fountainhead who get treated like a "dick" (is that really the best word he could come up with?) are those who are fully deserving of it.

[Argosy Jones]

He blew up a building for the sake of his ego. Fuck you.

[aix42]

he blew it up because the deal was broken, no deal, no building

[Wright's nemesis]

+1

[Hazel Meade]

No see, Jobs would go on TV and say "I blew up the building, because I'm an aewesome God, so fuck you all."

Roark would blow up the building anonymously, because it's a private personal offense against him, and nobody else's business.

[Jake]

The Roark remained at the building site after the demolition and took responsibility for his action.

[Hazel Meade]

Also, I refuse to join the Apple cult.
And when the Apple cult turns into something that is so-last-decade, where it is surely heading, I will smile serenely and go about my business.

[Hugh Akston]

It's the smug superiority you dislike then?

[Fatty Bolger]

Heh.

[Numeromancer]

I must be getting old; I'm beginning to enjoy (this sort of) clever irony better than sex.

[Joshua Corning]

I don't think the Apple cult exists out side of the people employed by Apple.

On the other hand the anti-apple cult contain the most insufferable pricks on the planet.

[Tulpa]

That's only because you've been brainwashed.

[Joshua Corning]

No U.

[Apogee]

the anti-apple cult contain the most insufferable pricks on the planet.

OTOH, even Scientologists find the Apple cult a little disturbing.

[Number 2]

No Apple cult? You should meet my managing partner, a former computer geek who insisted in outfitting our office in Macs and iPhones, and who ran out and bought an iPad (with firm funds) as soon as it came out..all because, well, there is this ideological hatred of Microsoft.

To tell the truth I have Windows machines at home and a Windows laptop, and other than the location of the shortcut keys, I cannot tell the difference.

The whole "Apple is Better" thing leaves me flat.

[Pope Jimbo]

It literally took me three trips to the Apple store before I could overcome my aversion to the smugness of the "geniuses" there and purchase a laptop.

The laptop is great is way better than the Vista crap I purchased around the same time, but I still feel ashamed about owning a mac.

The real reason that Apple seems better is because they are able to control the hardware platform and can tune the software to meet that limited profile. Windows on the other hand has to run on all sorts of hardware. And of course some jackass out there is going to get Windows 7 running on a 386 somehow and will then bitch about how sluggish it is.

[Cytotoxic]

Vista sucks but most other Windows stuff is A-Ok.

[Hazel Meade]

Vista sucks balls, but Windows 7 is very good. I already feel like XP is clumnky and hard to work with.

[PapayaSF]

Of course, sometimes those jackasses are Microsoft and the PC makers, selling Windows on minimally-capable machines that run like crap.

[Kevin]

I used peecees for 20 years, even had a linux box for a while, before I bought my first mac. Now we have a bunch of them, and iPhones. I love the Apple stuff. I also program, and have worked for a software company. I'm not a computer noob.

[SOFL Hockey Fan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL7yD-0pqZg

[Mike Laursen]

Oh, it definitely exists outside the circle of Apple employees. Putting all the hype aside, Apple products usually have better quality hardware, and better usability than competing products.

[Stormy Dragon]

In desktops and laptops, Apple hardware is the exact same hardware you get in Windows machines. The only different is they have a shiny case around it and then charge 50% more because there's an apple logo on it.

[Mike Laursen]

You are very wrong about that. Apple employs way more and more talented industrial designers, user interface and usability designers than any of IRS rivals. It shows big time in the level of polish andcrase of ue of their products.

[Apogee]

...user interface and usability designers than any of IRS rivals. It shows big time in the level of polish andcrase of ue of their products.

Did you type that on an Apple keyboard, or are you using /sarc?

No, Mike, you are wrong. The internal hardware is the same. It's just tested to work with reduced options for a smoother ride. Time was when Apple extolled the virtue of the Motorola chips as different and superior - until they didn't - and switched to Intel.

As for interfaces, the keyboards are nowhere near as easy to type on as IBM descended models, and the lack of any hardware i/o on the ipad is a general complaint.

I use all three OS systems, and I genuinely like and appreciate Apple's OS, as well as the quality of their system builds.

But the tuned system/ reduced hardware option is only preferable if you're in a field that doesn't depend on cutting edge hardware.

C'mon, only 4 slots (one taken by the GPU) in their workstation grade desktop? No USB 3.0? (other than the proprietary and non-datarate guaranteed CalDigit)

People that code usually migrate to some sort of Linux option, unless they're selling programs for general consumption on W7 or MacOS.

It's entirely possible for Apple to have strengths and weaknesses without 'losing' anything to anyone else - just like every other tech platform out there. The "Apple is better in every way" meme triggers the response of 'cult'.

[Stormy Dragon]

I don't care how talented Apple's designers are, the Intel processors, Foxconn motherboards, and ATI GPUs in Apple machines are exactly the same as the Intel processors, Foxconn motherboards, and ATI GPUs you can get in a Windows machine.

[fellcolor]

It's the same chips, but not the same hardware.

[Pro Libertate]

No, it's real enough. I have cousins by marriage who buy only Apple and all Apple. They've been mostly irrelevant in computing for more than a decade, and, while some of their handheld products have some nifty features, they're dramatically overpriced for what you're getting, like most Apple products.

Microsoft may be an evil empire, but they're amateurs at vileness compared to Apple.

[Hazel Meade]

My advisor insisted on outfitting our engineering lab with Macs and made every effort to get rid of all windows machines. We were allowed to use Ubuntu.

Despite the fact that several essential pieces of software only run in windows.

He repeatedly tried to get everyone to just run windows through a Virtual Machine, even when it turned out that USB devices (and we have a lot) tended not to work through the virtual machine.

It was litterally an act of suicidal insanity on his part. The effort to force everyone in the lab to use macs have seriously impeded research. At several points he threw hissy fits and demanded everyone take operating system classes so they could learn how terrible windows was.

He has similar biases against MATLAB ... insists people do everything in Python instead, and for no good reason, Open Dynamics Engine.

The only reason anyone in the lab is getting anything done right now is because he's on sabattical and everyone feels free to use windows and whatever software most easily gets the job done.

[Tulpa]

Oh God, I know the type. The anti-proprietary-anything (except if it has a fruit logo on it) monster.

I mean, there are legitimate concerns about IP troubles if you use the academic version of Matlab, for instance, for published research (technically prohibited by the license). But even doing a classroom demonstration using Matlab (exactly what the academic version is supposed to be for) can get you in hot water with that sort.

[Hazel Meade]

If his reason for hating MATLAB has something to do with proprietary licenses, he's never mentioned it. He says he doesn't like it because "it's slow".

[Pope Jimbo]

I own a macbook pro and am ashamed of how much I like it.

I hate the way the other tards in the coffee shop give me a sly nod because they think I'm part of their hipster clique.

I'm praying that by the time I need a new laptop, there will be a credible Linux platform available out there. (Dell? Ramp that Ubuntu experiment up!)

I agree with Hazel, I think the iPad will turn out to be the jumping the shark moment for Apple. Even the most die hard fanboys I know are less than enthused about the iPad.

[Joshua Corning]

The fact that you hang at a coffee shop with a laptop of any kind is what makes you a d-bag...

The macbook has nothing to do with it.

I'm praying that by the time I need a new laptop, there will be a credible Linux platform available out there.

Putting Linux on a laptop for web browsing and emails will only worsen your cause.

[Apogee]

The fact that you hang at a coffee shop with a laptop of any kind is what makes you a d-bag...

To be fair, he did say "the other tards..."

[Pope Jimbo]

A necessary evil. I'm an independent computer consultant. Instead of buying office space, I meet my clients at coffee shops.

Then I go back to my basement dungeon and get back to programming.

[Tulpa]

I have the same problem...I've really like the Mac platform ever since I got a used, broken down Performa with my first paycheck from my first job. The iPhone and iPad aren't suitable for my sort of work, but I can see how they would be useful for those whose sole computing need is media consumption. So it's not that I'm against Apple's devices, I'm just against their ego. They've become Microsoft.

The fact that there are so many faux-rebel poseurs out there flaunting their fruit-logoed devices as a sign of superiority sure isn't helping, especially in the mind of us late-90s Mac users who really did have to fight against the intolerance and misinformation of the Windows goliath. You know, back before Jobs came back and killed the clones and sucked the soul out of his old company.

[John Thacker]

Microsoft was a problem because it was a goliath, but the Microsoft platform has always been more open than Apple (especially under Jobs).

Some amount of dickery is expected from the market leader, but I'm pretty sure that Apple has demonstrated that they're even worse when they're the ones with massive market power. Luckily, monopolies don't last forever.

It reminds me of my Swiss friend who said that for any of his complaints about US foreign policy as the leading country in the world, he was certain that most other countries would be worse, naming France as one.

[wylie]

It reminds me of my Swiss friend who said that for any of his complaints about US foreign policy as the leading country in the world, he was certain that most other countries would be worse, naming France as one.

Can you imagine if France made a laptop or phone? Ugh.

[EcoDude]

Hmmm...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minitel

[Hazel Meade]

Honestly Bill Gates always seemed like a mild-mannered nerd to me. I don't know why anyone though he was some kind of antichrist and Steve Jobs an anti-authoritarian hero.

[PapayaSF]

Because somebody making crap and taking 90%+ of the market is worse than someone making well-designed products and taking under 10% of the market?

Hazel, I'm usually with you around here, but all this Apple hate is misguided. (Granted, your advisor is a fool to insist on using Windows software in a VM if it doesn't work correctly that way.)

And you folks claiming the iPad will fail? LOL. Within a few years you'll see how silly that prediction is. Remember the overpriced Apple phone with no keyboard that was doomed when it came out, three years ago?

Disclaimer: happy Mac user since 1987.

[Apogee]

And I'm usually with you around here as well PapayaSF, but markets just don't work that way.

You may think of it as crap (and so did anyone using Vista), but Microsoft definitely provided a service that earned that market share. Configurable with most available hardware, backwards compatible, attentive to business needs, and cheaper than many alternatives - it wasn't just bullying that made Gates rich.

Nobody took a 90% market share. Only the government does that.

What I'm surprised at is that someone hasn't given away an operating system (say, a version of Linux) that's compatible with current hardware, and then sold a service that provides drivers and hardware integration bug fixes so you can use it with any hardware you wish. There's no reason that same company can't also market nice shiny hardware to people that just want to pick up a turnkey package.

I'd pay 10.00 a month to make sure my computer worked with whatever hardware I bought.

[PapayaSF]

Of course Microsoft provided a service, but they have never had any taste, and their stuff is often a pain to use: awkward, badly designed, riddled with security holes, etc. They abused their market position with Internet Explorer, file formats, etc.

IE is the bane of every web developer's life: each version is non-standard in a different way, and currently I have to develop for three versions: 6, 7, and 8. I do more debugging for IE than all other browsers put together.

And I think the old saw about Windows machines being cheaper is now largely a myth. True, there are bargain-basement machines that have no Mac equivalent, but configure a Dell with equivalent features and it'll cost roughly what a Mac costs. As for hardware, USB and Firewire ports, standard drive interfaces, etc. give me plenty of flexibility.

Apple has a commitment to design that the competition just doesn't have. And not just superficial looks: deep, thorough design, in UI and usability and so on. I greatly appreciate that. Others may not.

[Hazel Meade]

configure a Dell with equivalent features and it'll cost roughly what a Mac costs.

Wrong.

I just recently shopped for a new laptop. As a happy Dell user I explored the options. Macs cost at least 50% more for the same options. Not just Dell, but most other machines out there.

I ended up getting a very satisfying HP for $450 ... which by the way was not a netbook ... it's a 17'' widescreen laptop.

[PapayaSF]

Well, I hope you got more than you paid for. I think Windows machines are only bargains if you don't value your time....

[Apogee]

They abused their market position with Internet Explorer, file formats, etc.

Thank God Apple has never abused their customers, nor set up proprietary file formats....

Apple would be lucky to be able to abuse anyone with Safari, which is poorly regarded.

As for security holes - you're right about that. And the Unix based code that secures MacOS was 'borrowed' heavily from other programmers - some working open source.

Give it up. Your ideal of computer and style perfection isn't going to be spoiled by my comments. It's going to be spoiled by Apple.

[Hazel Meade]

Disclaimer: happy Mac user since 1987.

That was the punchline, right?

[Joshua Corning]

I don't know why anyone though he was some kind of antichrist

It goes back to the pre-internet pre-google days and the format wars of the 90s.

Steve Jobs an anti-authoritarian hero.

You are confusing Apple with Steve Jobs. He was not the CEO of Apple during most of the hostilities.

[Brett L]

I predict Dell will be making successful computers again right after they get bought by someone else. Look elsewhere. And not at HP/Compaq, who somehow, horribly, managed to put together the worst of both those companies in the merger.

[IceTrey]

Having a Macbook isn't so cultish since they switched to Intel and you can dual boot Windows on them. Actually since Bootcamp they are the best of both worlds. Still over priced though.

[Hazel Meade]

Yes, all our macs in the lab are dual boot. But we run them almost exclusively in windows. One of them stopped booting in mac mode for a while.

[Tulpa]

Former hand model? What happened? Was she not mistress of her domain?

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Nasty hangnail

[heller]

Says she got tired of wearing gloves to bed.

[Tulpa]

Sounds like my ex-girlfriend, except with peanut butter.

[Old Bull Lee]

Stop making fun of her. Stress can be very damaging to the epidermis!

[Col DuBois]

If nothing else, she managed to hand Jobs a public relations headache.

[?]

iPad Program
Lisa needs braces
iPad Program
Lisa needs braces
iPad Program

[troy]

or.... doesn't he kind of remind you of a Skeksis that had to sacrifice a thousand Gelflings to get his magic liver oil.

[Pope Jimbo]

Don't forget that Jobs was the guy who had an Apple engineer canned for showing Steve Wozniak a sneak preview of the iPad.

And sued the editor at Gizmodo for not giving them back the lost iPhone (even though they denied it was their phone when the editor asked them about it).

Yeah and didn't he sue some Apple blog for leaking secrets before their big launch?

Jobs doesn't exactly have a track record of playing nicely with the press.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Good for him. Fucking rag-merchants.

[Tulpa]

Let me guess: Steve Jobs could kidnap an old lady and set her on fire during the keynote address of the next Mac Expo...and it would be her fault for being so damned combustible.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Only if it was Helen Thomas.

[Pope Jimbo]

Kant and the other fanboys would all whip out their iPhones and start blogging about how well the gasoline and clothing on the old lady integrated with each other during the immolation of granny. "It just burns" they would gush. They'd also go on and on about the aesthetics of her charred unibody skeleton that was revealed after all the flesh was burnt off.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Don't own a single Apple device. I just have an obsession now with immolating Helen Thomas, thanks to Tulpa. She looks like a pork rind, so my guess is that she will flare up nicely.

[Helen Thomas]

Self-immolation makes me moist...

[Apogee]

It's called free advertising.

Some people pay to have reviewers slobber all over their products - even when their own employees don't leave them in bars.

And don't get me started about using Swat tactics to go after a product that usually has a total of a 4 month product cycle before the 'new' version comes out.

Their software is great (hardware is same as PC, just tested and in a nice box), so I don't understand the creepy Enigma-machine culture surrounding the products.

Does anyone really believe that other corporations don't have people inside Apple? Those are the real danger, because stealing innovation is actually destructive.

However, this behavior is directed at their customers, which really doesn't seem libertarian to me.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

And I know it's not nice to prejudge people based on appearance, but the look on her face in that photo tells me everything I need to know about the little c**t.

[C-Dog]

Ha, +1

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

I mean seriously. If you looked up Backpfeifengesicht in a German dictionary, there would be that photo.

[Brian Sorgatz]

Are you guys serious or ironic about her facial expression? I like it. It reminds me of Sarah Silverman's winning strategy of getting away with stuff by being cute. More power to her.

By the way, my new blog is a radical departure from Reflections on Playboy.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

While still obsessively interested in the fair sex, I have reached an age of maturity that allows me to be immune to the "power of the pussy ploy". (sorry for the alliteration)

I now have an adverse reaction to hot young women who attempt to use their assets in order to skate through life without consequence.

[Attorney]

Hell yeah.

[Attorney]

That was a reply to Kant.

[Tulpa]

I hate to interrupt your grumpy old woman monologue, but what evidence do you have that she's trying to "skate through life without consequence" just because she makes a face in a picture?

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Hardly any. Just this
and
this and.......well, you know. Since the fucking squirrel bots limit me to 2 links.

[affenkopf]

Is your (apple) keybaord broken? It's spelled 'cunt'.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

Again, no apple devices to be found. But, my Dell did throw up a little when I tried to spellcheck backpfeifengesicht...

[Ice Nine]

How did it do with 'keybaord'?

[Douglas Fletcher]

No good can come of naming a child Chelsea.

[affenkopf]

Or a football club.

[hmm]

I call shenanigans...

Sincerely,
>>>
>>> Chelsea Kate Isaacs
>>> Senior
>>> CW Post - Long Island University
>>>
>>> Sent via BlackBerry from T-Mobile

Plus the,"Sent from my iPhone" line seem a to be too much of a coincidence.

If it's not BS, then who can blame the head of a company in direct competition telling someone who sent a request with one of your rivals tags at the bottom. I'd tell you to get lost and have a nice day as well, welcome to the real world where even the smallest of your actions have repercussions.

She wrote one hell of an email on her BB.

[Joshua Corning]

"Under no circumstances should a person who runs a company speak to a customer that way," she said. "I'm just enraged and I want people to know this was done."

Normally when Lex Luther tells Lois Lane to go fuck herself I tend to side with Lex....this instance is no exception.

[Stormy Dragon]

Uh... she didn't put that in the e-mail. It gets automatically added to the end of any e-mail sent from a Blackberry.

[hmm]

No shit. So she typed a fucking novel of an email that apparently may have significant impact on her grade on her BB. To ask Steve Jobs, the Apple guy, for an interview. Either she is a fucking moron, or it's a set up.

[mr simple]

Her quotes in the article say it all. She is clearly fishing for her fifteen minutes of fame.

[heller]

I would be calling Jobs a dick if Isaacs wasn't acting like she was entitled to a sound-bite.

[PicassoIII]

SO .... prick of the week.
Jobs, O'Neil, Bloomberg or Gates?

[Ted S.]

Can't they all be pricks?

[Pope Jimbo]

There can only be ONE!

(The rest will need to have their heads chopped off)

[anarch]

Time for an Everybody Email Steve Jobs (PBUH) Day.

[IceTrey]

I call shenanigans. This seems like something the unpaid intern who monitors Jobs' email would do.

[kwais]

What about the system on the Android? Can that become a good program to run on computers?
My android phone runs a lot better than my iphone ever did, and better than any windows based phone ever did.

Can you computer cognoscenti tell me if the program on androids will rival windows or linux?

[Bill Gates]

Can you computer cognoscenti tell me if the program on androids will rival windows or linux?

That's what I spend every day of the year worrying about.

[Mike Laursen]

You never can tell. It's early on, but there are signs Android will be a big success. And Android-based tablets are just starting to come out.

One thing that would help Android would be if the comm providers would stop "enhancing" the devices with their own apps, which typically show shitty design sense.

[Episiarch]

Open source platform = shitty "enhancement" apps. It comes with the territory.

[John Malt]

Howard Roark would have just ignored her, unless she was worthy of his good lovin', then he might have taken her out to Akston's for a burger then maybe later he'd give her a look at his metal.

Oh, and PCs made by Roark would have a greenish tint and be kick ass rather than just pretty toys for girly men. No way he'd wear a turtle neck and jeans.

[.]

Sub-par. And par around here is quite low.

[Pro Libertate]

His computer would use CP/M and only have 640K in RAM. And yes, a monochrome monitor.

[Episiarch]

'640K is more memory than anyone will ever need.'

Gates never actually said that, by the way.

[Apogee]

You're right, but a friend had a salesman tell him "You will never need more than a 10MB hard drive" when he was deciding between a 10 and 20 MB.

[Stormy Dragon]

You're thinking of Rearden, the phlebotinum magnate. Roark was the architecht that fixes fireplaces and then rapes you on them.

[Just Dropping By]

In re the photo: I'd hit both of them. Jobs with a 2x4, Issacs with something else....

[Number 2]

"The key to success is to be a complete dick to everybody."

No. The key to success is to sell an overhyped product that requires people to constantly return to you to purchase additional products to make the original overhyped product do anything useful, while convincing them that doing so somehow makes them super-cool and more likely to get laid than those who buy products from your leading competitor!

[J sub D]

The CEO of a successful multi-national corporation is an asshole? Color me shocked. Are you next going to tell me that movie stars are vain? Pro athletes self centered? TV evangelists greedy?

You can go pretty far up the corporate ladder by being a nice guy who inspires his workers and treats them with respect but those attributes aren't going to make you a CEO.

[Esteban]

Every CEO of every company I've worked for has been a complete dick at some point. I like Apple's products, but I wouldn't work for them or Jobs. But we appreciate their successes. I wouldn't work for Howard Roark either.

[.]

He probably wouldn't have you.

[capitol l]

Maybe I'm mistaken here, but it seems like people are confusing Howard Roark for Hank Rearden.

If I'm wrong apologies and disclaimers apply.

[Fred]

Neither one applies. Most people here haven't read either book. They read reviews of reviews and parrot them in an attempt to get yucks from the peanut gallery.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

You are not mistaken. Probably the same folks who chuckle over snarky reviews of Rand novels by people who have likewise not even read them. Just a guess...

[Fred]

Yeah. It's a tiresome repetition of anti-Rand talking points with little subtlety or originality, the silly chatter of fools.

[Douche]

They all read her in high school.

Seriously, any lefty I've ever heard talk about her says something along the lines of "I was into Rand in high school..." with the implication that they got over her once they "matured".

[Fred]

Many "libertarians" say the same thing, but they aren't really libertarians. They're "cafeteria libertarians," e.g. anarchists. They pick and choose those concepts that appeal to their chaotic view of existence and discard all the inconvenient contradictions. Rand called them "hippies of the right" and they've never gotten over it.

[Mike Laursen]

Bullshit. I've earned my libertarian bonafides long ago. Ayn Rand's philosophy is a mix of profundity and silliness, and her fiction writing is only a notch above, say, James Clavell's mediocre writing.

The idea that one has to hold a perfectly coherent philosophy with no paradox is a conceit and gets in the way of learning.

(sent from my iSomethingOrOther)

[Cytotoxic]

The idea that one has to hold a perfectly coherent philosophy with no paradox is a conceit and gets in the way of learning.

Um. What?

[DONDEEEEEEEEEEEEERRRROOOOO]

I've earned my libertarian bonafides long ago.

Really? Did you stand on a corner in Fairbanks, AK in January having people sign ballot access petitions?

[Fred]

Having a non-contradictory, consistent philosophy is a "conceit"? Then why bother arguing with strangers on a blog if the validity (i.e. objective truth) of their premises is irrelevant to the discussion?

[Cytotoxic]

True that.

[capitol l]

Also, I am not saying that Rearden is a dick, but if a comparison was to be made he would seem the less incorrect choice.

[Kant feel Pietzsche]

FREDDDDDDDD!

[Marc Linn]

I've also experienced poor communication from Apple. I have contacted them twice on their website, asking if they could provide additional formats of their product vids since I don't want to install Quicktime on my PC.

No response. Even "Kiss our butts, we ain't touching no crappy Windows formats" or the like would have been better than nothing.

Thing is, people have long memories. If Apple falls from grace at some point and tries to regain market share -- doesn't seem likely today but stranger things have happened -- we will remember.

To each his own, but I continue to get along fine without Apple. Judging by their lack of interest in inquiries from potential new customers, looks like they're getting along fine without me as well.

[PapayaSF]

Their market share has been moving up for years.

[Joshua Corning]

I had to look up what "meet-cute" meant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScunpENv044

[Row vs Wade]

So did I.

During a "meet-cute", scriptwriters often create a humorous sense of awkwardness between the two potential partners by depicting an initial clash of personalities or beliefs, an embarrassing situation, or by introducing a comical misunderstanding or mistaken identity situation

[RightKlik]

This "pissing match" sounds like a publicity stunt. Like when Jerry Seinfeld "dated" that 17 year old girl. Jobs just gave Isaacs a ton of free publicity.

[wylie]

For anyone trying to plug their macbook into their TV via a MDP->HDMI adapter: plug the adapter into the computer THEN plug the cable into the adapter. Plug it in in any other order and it won't recognize the display.

[sarcasm]Go Apple! Hooray for PlugNPlay![/sarcasm]

[Hater]

Mactards, all of them. Or, should that be McTards? Either way only morons use Macs. Eventually Steve Jobs will dumb down his products so much, including his customers, that the products will come in the form of a suppository and use voice feedback that sounds like Corky.

[Mike Laursen]

The majority of professional Software Engineers I know here in Silicon Valley uses a MacBook. Great UI, stylish hardware, and you can run all your UNIX stuff. So, you're smart and they're all morons ... right...

[Cytotoxic]

Think of them as being autistic (which many of them actually are): brilliant at one thing like programming and retarded at other stuff like their taste in computers.

[Apogee]

Great UI, stylish hardware, and you can run all your UNIX stuff.

If there's anything that says "Engineer", it's attention to style.

[Hazel Meade]

Indeed. In those Mac vs. PC commercials, I kept thinking? Would I rather my computer designed by the guy in the corduroy, or the nerd with the pocket protector?

[Hazel Meade]

Yes, you can run your unix stuff.
But not all your other software that was designed for windows.

Why the fuck is this still a problem?
Could it be because Apple deliberately makes it difficult for developers to port their code to apple?

[Tulpa]

Do they not have VirtualPC anymore? Serious question.

If anything, I'd think it would be easier to run Windows stuff on the Mac now that they have the same processor.

[Hazel Meade]

They do ... I just find it cumbersome to deal with a virtual machine.

[PapayaSF]

Apple wants high-quality software, so in some ways they discourage crappy ports. But in other ways they make it easy: every copy of OS X comes with a free set of developer tools which are said to be quite nice.

[Hazel Meade]

Everyone developer I've spoken to hates Ruby on Rails.

[PapayaSF]

I was referring to Xcode. Ruby on Rails also ships with Xcode but seems to be more of a bundled thing, not an Apple thing.

[Doc Merlin]

You have it backwards. MS makes their API insanely hard to port.

[d]

and you can run all your UNIX stuff

Otherwise they would have fixed linux by now.

Derek

[StupendousMan]

I worked with many a programmer. Most of them have switched to Macs. They rarely have a cogent answer as to why- besides trying to show me how great bootcamp is etc.

I remember one instance where 2-3 three of these guys were trying to help someone with a windows box install a graphics card with some driver issues. It was amusing. It was an old card and there were no drivers for the windows OS version- they ignored me (server, script guy) and continued to work on it- at their insanely inflated salaries.

[Doc Merlin]

A lot of programmers I know use mac laptops now.

[James Anderson Merritt]

"Crusty but lovable Apple founder Steve Jobs..."

I was going to give Cavanaugh grief for that phrase, but once I read through the entire article, I realized he was being sarcastic. Carry on.

[Doc Merlin]

You do realize that android isn't actually open source? You still have to root the OS to do what ever you want on it, just like you have to jailbreak an Iphone.

[Calico Shem]

YAR! What I be liking about this thread be th' lack o' any sort o' creepy misogyny.

[John]

This site has more of those emails from Steve: http://www.emailsfromstevejobs.com