
A Sociology of Steve Jobs (2011) - plg
https://kieranhealy.org/blog/archives/2011/10/10/a-sociology-of-steve-jobs/
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diamonis
Jobs wiped out the original Pixar engineers' stock options by selling the
company, "Old Pixar", to "New Pixar", which he had created specifically for
this purpose. It was a mere formality to him as he was the controlling
shareholder in Old Pixar, just signing some papers. "As part of the
reorganization, Jobs exercised a clause in the employee stock option
agreements that allowed him to buy back their options at the original strike
price, which was a pittance." *

[Charles Ferguson, High Stakes, No Prisoners pp 98-99]

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newnewpdro
Was anything mentioned about stock grants in "New Pixar" to the wronged
employees?

I presume something must have been done to right the wrong at least with the
important people, otherwise they would just walk out at that point.

~~~
diamonis
Ferguson writes, "During the public offering, the underwriters forced Jobs to
distribute about 15 percent of the stock among key employees, because nobody
would have invested otherwise...but many were shut out entirely, including
some who had spent many years creating the technology."

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MrOld88
Back in late 1980's I went to a university where the administration thought it
would important for every freshman to get a macintosh. So, we bought on this
idea and shelled out 2000 each for a machine that would propel us into the
future. A machine that had no hard drive, ran software on diskettes and had no
memory protection. I can not remember how many times I lost my paper because
that damn thing would just reboot out of memory. It was a badly designed
machine that would be ok for games but not for serious homework/work. A
classmate of mine got so fed that that he threw it out of his dormitory
window. Steve had the charisma to sell an idea but at that time there were
other alternatives that would better for a lot of people. Sometimes I wonder,
if the administration of uninversity got any kick-backs from Apple executives,
if you understand what I mean

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anonytrary
> I can not remember how many times I lost my paper because [the mac] would
> just reboot out of memory.

This is less of an Apple problem and more of a 1990's problem. I often had
painful nights where I'd lose hours of work on Documents and PowerPoints
because my Windows 98 either froze or crashed.

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TomMarius
My girlfriend's PowerPoint crashed and froze just yesterday... To her, the
computer is just as bad today. What's the point of nicer graphics when it's
still slow and unreliable.

~~~
Razengan
Well Microsoftware makes any computer look bad.

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LoveDeathRobots
Steve Wozniak is who built the original Apple, the hardware and the software,
Steve Jobs did manage to create the Apple image and sell himself as some kind
of a tech guru in the process.

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thephyber
I hate this trope. Woz was a technical wizard, but Apple would have failed
(and nearly did fail in 1998) without Jobs.

Apple's worst years were when Jobs was gone and the company's management was
trying to beat IBM clones when Apple had few distinguishing features and the
clones were competing on thin margins, while Apple largely tried to avoid the
(except the few years when they allowed Apple clones). When Jobs returned, the
OS changed, the CPU architecture changed, the shape and design of the
computers changed, and new computing devices (iPod, iPhone, iPad) and created
the iTunes + App Store.

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leoc
Apple's 2013 "Misunderstood" ad
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v76f6KPSJ2w](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v76f6KPSJ2w)
is probably a bit of a hidden apologia for Jobs personally, among other
things. Apple seems to have been going through a phase of making rather
defensive ads around that time.

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st3fan
A common thing you hear also is “I did my best work under Jobs”.

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whenchamenia
Can we stop celebrating this guy and move on? Times have changed, the wold has
changed, but the aloof reality distortion continues. I will not rattle off my
list of issuex but suffice to say he is not worthy of emulation in a mjority
of his actions. I will boldly state: Nobody actually wants to work with the
next Jobs, they just want to say they did.

~~~
coldtea
> _I will boldly state: Nobody actually wants to work with the next Jobs, they
> just want to say they did._

So, if the next Jobs gets them from near bankruptcy negative -200 million to a
trillion dollar worth company and huge cultural cachet and consumer influence,
they wouldn't want to work with him because he occasionally yells at people,
or is very demanding, etc?

I'd say if someone is recognized as the "next Steve Jobs" there would be lines
to get hired there... As there were lines to get hired at Apple during his
tenure, so this "nobody actually wants to work with" seems a little wishful
thinking...

