

Steve Jobs' business card from 1979 - ujeezy
http://obamapacman.com/2010/10/steve-jobs-apple-vp-business-card-circa-1979/

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joezydeco
_"But looks like the penny pinchers who later kicked him out of Apple probably
made Steve use these black and white business card instead?"_

Um, I'd get a little more Apple history under your belt before writing the
commentary next time.

 _"I wonder who will answer that phone number?"_

Since it's still the same number 30 years later, I'd guess Apple would. It's
Apple's switchboard.

~~~
mayank
> "I wonder who will answer that phone number?"

Thanks for that. After reading that line on TFA, as well as the
rationalization for the lack of color on the card (seriously??), I had an
image of a misty-eyed fanboy staring longingly at the business card while
getting strangely aroused.

------
cobralibre
_"back in the days when typography is rare (the Mac,which popularized desktop
publishing, has not been released yet)"_

There was plenty of great typography back then. The difference was that you
had to pay a professional to do it for you.

~~~
drats
Yeah this is just fires up my dual tone WWII era fan-boy siren.[1] This
intimates Jobs somehow innovated massively in typography, when we see tons of
logos experimenting with typography throughout the 20th century (and much
further into the past). The same intimations are made about the mouse, about
window managers and about smart phones and tablet computers. When in reality
Apple should be praised for execution, attention to detail, UI and public
relations rather than invention or innovation. Ditto for the OS, basically the
underlying system is taken from BSD and the UI is improved and marketed. Ditto
for Webkit.

[1]<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i1QAtET0ok>

~~~
MrRage
According to Jobs, he's the only reason computers have typography whatsoever:

> Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction
> in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every
> drawer was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and
> didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy
> class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans-serif
> typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter
> combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful,
> historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I
> found it fascinating.

> None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But
> ten years later when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all
> came back to me, and we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first
> computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single
> course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or
> proportionally spaced fonts, and since Windows just copied the Mac, it's
> likely that no personal computer would have them.

Quoted from <http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1422863/posts>

~~~
jcl
Apparently the Xerox Star had basic desktop publishing with a variety of
typefaces in 1981, so Jobs's calligraphy course may not have been the history-
changing event he makes it out to be. "Beautiful" is, of course, subjective.

[http://www.digibarn.com/collections/screenshots/xerox-
star-8...](http://www.digibarn.com/collections/screenshots/xerox-
star-8010/xerox-star-8010-07.jpg)

~~~
meric
I wonder if you've noticed but the rendered text on websites viewed from a mac
is very different from the same on windows. On windows the fonts aren't as
smooth as on the mac.

I always dread viewing the windows version of websites I develop after I did
them on my mac. They make a good looking website into a crappy looking one
because its headings, its text becomes more pixelated.

The good thing is... (There's always a good thing). Now I know how much
typography matters in making things look good.

~~~
jmaygarden
I believe Spolsky covered this topic in depth a while back... and here it is:
<http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2007/06/12.html>

------
mahmud
That man was a founder of a successful tech company before I was born.
Somehow, being reminded of that makes me hesitant to perform any future acts
of technical punditry, specially when arguing against his judgment.

~~~
derwiki
He's got quite a headstart on you. You have a headstart on everyone born after
you. And take some of his own advice, "stay hungry, stay foolish."

------
raheemm
_Why this site name?

Obama has a Mac, and his Mac has a Pacman on it. Originally OP is going to be
a site on both Apple / Obama news, but there are just so many interesting
Apple stories so we scrapped the non-Apple part.

PS. Thinking of changing site name. So if you have any ideas, please contact
us._

[http://obamapacman.com/2010/07/pacman-birthday-cupcake-
obama...](http://obamapacman.com/2010/07/pacman-birthday-cupcake-obamapacman-
com-turns-1/)

~~~
nhebb
_Obama has a Mac, and his Mac has a Pacman on it._

Why is the Pacman sticker on the un-bitten side of the Apple logo?

------
petercooper
I love that he's a "vice president of new product development." A good way to
make a company look bigger.

~~~
thewordpainter
i think titles are one of the most overrated inventions of the 20th century.
they are way too limiting and unnecessary.

any startup might as well put "Pro Athlete" on the title of each team member's
card as they'll need to be pretty versatile with limited resources.

some people work their entire professional careers just to get a "bigger"
title...might as well increase the font size!

------
geuis
The number still goes to Apple. Put me through to an Apple operator. Seems
like an internal number maybe?

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jw84
408-996-1010 is the corporate switchboard for the past 30 years. Buildings
around Bandley Drive used to be warehouses. My old boss at Apple told me back
in the day if you wanted a job you just showed up at the door ready to work. A
few weeks later if you lasted you're hired.

~~~
MrRage
> My old boss at Apple told me back in the day if you wanted a job you just
> showed up at the door ready to work. A few weeks later if you lasted you're
> hired.

Sorta sound like how people joined Project Mayhem in Fight Club.

~~~
jw84
Do you want to change the world or sip sugar water for the rest of your life?

~~~
jedberg
_sell_ sugar water.

~~~
jw84
Not everyone was president of Pepsi.

------
stevenp
I wonder if I'll go from being called "Steven" to "Steve" when I'm a
billionaire. I would think that having that much money would make you want to
use your formal name more.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I would imagine that if you're a billionaire, you don't really much care what
version of your name people call you.

