
Two Letters from Steve Jobs - dwynings
http://davidgelphman.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/2-letters-from-steve/
======
austenallred
I was looking for a second letter. It took me a minute to realize the two
letters were "OK."

~~~
applecore
A better title would be _One Word_.

~~~
catshirt
no, a better title would be whatever _i_ say it is

------
Nux
I think this is getting ridiculous, everything Steve Jobs did or said is
getting blown out of proportions.

Yeah, it was nice of him to let this guy take the device to his friend, but
let's not make him a saint or martyr or what not. Don't forget the poor
bastards in China living on the edge of humanity to make the said devices..

~~~
gambiting
"Don't forget the poor bastards in China living on the edge of humanity" - to
be honest, people earn as much per hour in the Foxconn factory as somebody
earning minimum wage in my country(Poland) does. And that's within EU, with
living costs much higher than in China. Yet nobody talks about "living on the
edge of humanity".

~~~
Nux
True - their wages keep increasing which is good, but think 2-3 years ago,
they were probably much smaller. Think also of the work conditions, there's no
"EU regulations" there... You are probably much better off in Poland.

~~~
gambiting
Oh yeah, absolutely. My point is, that when people in the US/UK read an
article about workers in the Foxconn factory they feel sorry for people there,
for earning "just" $3/hour. Well, I know people here who earn exactly that
much or even less, and that's before taxes. And we're not Saudi Arabia either,
our petrol is ~$8 per US Gallon, and people need to drive places to work. I
know people who spend half of their daily wage just on transportation. So if
they work 8 hours per day they work for 4 just to be there,without any profit.

~~~
Create
It is explicit western policy to use cheap eastern labor:

"The cost [...] has been evaluated, taking into account realistic labor prices
in different countries. The total cost is X (with a western equivalent value
of Y) [where Y>X]

ISBN: 9290831693 <http://cdsweb.cern.ch/record/494264>

and to keep it this way:

More than 98% of the ERC’s grants are awarded to scientists in the old EU-15,
with mere crumbs thrown to newer member countries.

[http://www.nature.com/news/a-chance-to-drive-forward-
europe-...](http://www.nature.com/news/a-chance-to-drive-forward-europe-s-
science-1.12628)

Poland can at least have a little leverage, given its size -- but was hated
for it (ie. agricultural pact negotiations)

------
jyap
On a related note I did quite like the email replies that Steve Jobs would
write when he was still around. I started to collect them at one point in a
web site.

<http://emailsfromstevejobs.com>

At the time it felt like an interesting meme but over time I began to really
feel the philosophy of the man and Apple not having previously been a fan of
Apple.

To me the interpretation was that Steve always was product focused and wanted
to put out the best user experience possible. I began to appreciate this
customer focused approach. So I can see why he said 'OK'.

------
aridiculous
This is the minimal response I would expect from anybody in the company. We
shouldn't applaud this behavior as some kind of exemplary gift from the
corporation.

Why? Because it normalizes the chain-of-command, rules-are-rules way that we
typically see. It makes it seem OK that someone wouldn't grant this request.

In fact, he probably shouldn't even have to ask.

~~~
jmotion
You should ask.

It's not an employee's 'opinion' based on an emotional decision on whether
they can share something with an individual that has cost millions (billions?)
to produce.

------
justin_vanw
Steve Jobs was an amazing person, but who cares that he let someone show
somebody an iPad?

Basically, this story boils down to: "Billionaire CEO lets employee talk about
work with a friend." Not really some super amazing thing, unless you are just
honored and in awe that Steve Jobs momentarily knew who you were.

~~~
adventured
What did his billionaire status have to do with anything?

I know why you said it of course, that kind of wealth has a stigma these days.
And what could be more obnoxious than a billionaire CEO!

There's no evidence Jobs coveted being a billionaire, he didn't make an effort
to show off his extreme wealth, and he didn't go out of his way to brag about
it.

~~~
anonymfus
Because it affected his mentality. For example, he bought new Mercedes SL55
AMG every 6 months so he could avoid putting license plates on it.

~~~
alphakappa
Leasing a new car every 6 months is a world apart from buying a new car every
6 months.

------
euphoria83
I think SJ found it natural to just say "OK" because he thought that the
person mailing him knew him enough and was mature enough to just need that
permission.

~~~
runjake
As someone outside of Apple, the few times I got replies from SJ were of
similar brevity, aside from one, which was a vegan cake that used apple sauce
instead of eggs along with directions. I wish I had kept it longer, knowing
his fate.

~~~
philwelch
I'm really curious how you ended up getting recipes from Steve Jobs.

------
utopkara
Brilliant title.

------
vowelless
The thing that amazes me the most is that Jobs responded within a couple of
minutes.

~~~
Samuel_Michon
Right, every time I emailed him, he'd reply within minutes. Always just a
couple of words, but the questions lended themselves for that. In person, he
was a lot more chatty. For instance, I met him at MacWorld Expo SF in January
of 1999, we discussed the merits of the hocket puck mouse for over ten
minutes.

~~~
lostlogin
What are the merits? This isn't a troll, I'm interested, because I can't stand
it (or most Asple mice for that matter). Their trackpads on the other hand...
Every iteration blows the old one away and I love them.

~~~
sambeau
It's funny. I've never understood the hatred of the hockey puck mouse, I
always loved mine.

I think the answer was in how you held it. I held it very lightly with the
tips of my fingers and so could throw it around with real speed and accuracy.
I thought it's shape made it far more manoeuvrable. Because it had a chord I
never had any problems with orientation either. I liked it's solidity too.

For a long time I assumed that the criticisms came from people who had either
never used it (or had used it very briefly at a reseller's). I still believe
this to a certain degree. There was a lot of irrational and ill-informed Apple
bashing at the time and, to me, this was just one of the anti-Apple style-
over-substance mantras.

~~~
lostlogin
My dislike was due to its odd shape in my hand - my hands are quite large. It
was so small and I struggled to click with accuracy too.

I also dislike the current cordless one too - people I work with leave the
mouse in all sorts of strange places and almost always I seem to start driving
it upside down. And the lack of proper scroll wheel is infuriating when trying
to scroll through a CT scan or MRI - using the fantastic DICOM/image viewer
Osirix and trying to scroll 1 image either way is quite tricky.

------
celerity
The only reason this story is remarkable is because Steve Jobs was a jerk all
of the time, so exceptions and exhibitions of humanity seem special. Really,
I'd see him as a cool guy if he were always like this. Not that him being an
ass in any way devalues his abilities. It is what it is.

~~~
38leinad
I personally think writing just "OK" does not make him less of a jerk.
Seriously! This guys friend is terminally ill and he does not have a few nice
words to spare? Just "OK"???

~~~
lylejohnson
This was my thought. Could he not have spared another second or two to express
his condolences?

------
larrys
daigoba66 wrote:

""Except he was already allowed to carry it. He was just not allowed to show
it to anyone."

Assuming that's the case then he could have weighed the possible downside
(almost nil) to showing the device to someone on their deathbed (with nobody
else in the room of course) vs. the risk in asking Steve for permission and
the potential repercussions of doing that. [1] Almost daring him to either not
respond or to say "no" instead of "ok". I suspect there is more here than
meets the eye. [2]

[1] Certainly a risk greater than showing the device to someone on their death
bed.

[2] Shows the level of brainwashing more or less like asking the Priest,
Minister or Rabbi for a pass on a ritual that has been drilled into your head.
After all only you yourself know you have committed the transgression.

~~~
gambiting
Not necessarily, I am pretty sure that prototype iPads had location logging
enabled and if he just took it out to a different city there would be
questions asked. If he had an email from Steve himself, he had an excuse.

------
zwischenzug
Man says OK to simple human request. Big deal.

------
vingt-2
Did your dying friend really had to see an iPad? I mean, in her last moments,
who cares about a bigger iPhone? I'm not trolling, I'm myself a tech
enthusiast, and I'm not quite sure I'd expect from a friend to come tell me
goodbye and show me his "latest toy he's been working on lately".

~~~
inopinatus
I resent that my time as a functioning nexus of memory and intellect is
limited by biology. It is the future I miss the most. The things I will never
live to see.

I would be so pleased if, in my last moments, a friend gives me a glimpse of
what's next. Even better if I am lucid enough to appreciate it. Cherry on top
that a friend of MINE is involved in it and proud of it.

This is a great story.

------
mkoble11
There's something really awesome when you start reading something on the front
page of HN and realize the blog post is from someone you know :) Good stuff,
David!!!

------
joering2
It was interesting short story that put a tear in my eye (seriously) but since
you knew Steve (even little bit), why did you put "SJ R.I.P." at the end?

~~~
joering2
Just to clarify to those who downvoted; Steve was a Buddhist. As you know,
Buddhist underlying position on live after death is that it doesn't exist.
After death you are simply being reborn. So Steve had nowhere to "rest in
peace". He's alive again.

~~~
MikeCapone
The person writing it might not be a Buddhist.

------
lostlogin
Never optimize anyone's life but your own - they come to you for tech support.

------
HelloWorldClub
OK.

------
arianit
Is this a joke?

------
jmotion
Legend. It's all that was needed.

------
zw123456
Honestly, I am not sure I like this story or hate it. I like that you shared
it, but my reaction to Jobs only saying "OK", my read on that is that he was
too busy to say much more and therefor a jerk or if he, in a Jobs-like
minimalist way just though that in a serious situation like that, less is more
and not much more needed to be said. Either way, thank you for sharing an
interesting and thought provoking story.

~~~
obviouslygreen
While this reaction is definitely understandable, I think along similar lines
of some others here that someone that busy just doesn't always have time for a
verbose response. "OK" may have been exactly what he had time for, and if that
were the case, I'd say his response was likely sent faster than it would have
been if someone had asked him an interesting but less urgent message.

Of course, as with everyone else's opinions... this is 100% speculation.

I have the same like-or-hate reaction, though for a different reason: This
sort of thing encourages the irrational hero worship that Jobs fostered while
he was alive and that's only grown in some circles after his death. Yes, this
story shows that he did something good for someone. Once. And I'm sure there
are other similar anecdotes. But the takeaway here will not be "this is
something that Steve Jobs did that was nice," it will be "OH WOW STEVE JOBS
WAS A SAINT."

~~~
imsofuture
I'm more disturbed by the fascination that we as a species have with gadgets.
I think that was a totally-chill-but-perhaps-not-especially-saintly thing for
Steve to do.

But... what... show iPad to dying friend?

~~~
awolf
The iPad was a true innovation when it was released and even more so 3 months
prior to its release.

To be able to experience a new invention so far before everyone else on that
planet is a special experience. At least, I'd see it that way were I in her
friend's shoes.

~~~
lostlogin
I'm obviously a bit simple if I'm willing to admit it - but I still feel like
I'm in the future when I pull the iPad out the bookcase/bag/couch crack. It's
a computer, its only a few mm thick, and its now!

~~~
DanBC
There aren't many things that make me think I'm in the future, but the first
time I saw an iPhone it was like a Star Trek device.

