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Steve Jobs

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Haridasa Siva

Haridasa Siva

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The World Business Media is filled today with the news of resignation of Steve Jobs as the CEO of Apple Computers. As is the case with English alphabets, it is T after S at Apple. Yes. Tim would succeed Steve as the CEO of Apple.

It appears that Steve has an interesting personality. Please see Wikipedia. I have mentioned some of the points from Wikipedia article. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_jobs
Ø He was brought up by adopted parents.
Ø He is a college drop out but he continued auditing classes at Reed, such as one in calligraphy, while sleeping on the floor in friends' rooms, returning Coke bottles for food money, and getting weekly free meals at the local Hare Krishna temple.
Ø He is a Buddhist (after his visit to India in search of spiritual enlightenment)
Ø Some of his employees had described him as an erratic and temperamental manager.
Ø After resuming control of Apple in 1997, Jobs eliminated all corporate philanthropy programs.

The following is the article in ‘The Hindu’. Here again, I have mentioned some of the points mentioned in the article. http://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/technology/article2342235.ece
The basic outline of his rise, fall and triumphant resurrection bears the hallmark of a morality tale of the digital age. He saw the future of computing when he founded Apple together with Steve Wozniak, and pioneered the use of a mouse and a point-and-click command process after seeing the concept at a Xerox research lab.

I request the members of this forum to contribute what they know or think about Steve Jobs. I believe we can learn a lot from this man.
 
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Steve Jobs captures the imagination of most people in the world, much more than Bill Gates.

1. His parents (two graduate students) did not want to raise him; they gave him up for adoption even before giving him a name!

2. His adopted father taught him everything a boy needed in life.

3. He was drifting during College days... even looking for Spiritual Guidance from India and the East.

4. He happened to meet Wozini, the computer whiz kid and Apple was born.

5. When John Sculli, the sugar water guy from Coke booted him out of Apple, The Next and Pixar were born as Steve's Babies.. then Steve became the Super Boss of Walt Disney and Apple, an incredible feat for any in the Corporate world.

In the race between Gates and himself as the American Icons, I believe Steve won the race hands down, IMO.

They both have earned the Presidential Award of Freedom, like Sam Walton was on retailing.

6. Alas... alas... the cruel arm of cancer reached Steve.. he is being robbed of his service to the world by at least 30 more years!

Who knows?.... Steve Jobs could very well beat cancer and live a very long life!

Stay tuned.

ps. Life of Lisa Brennan-Jobs, his daughter via an unwed mother is equally interesting! He denied that she could be his daughter... then slowly accepted her when she was a teenager.. Lisa had a mother living on State Welfare System and father a mercurial Corporate Hero! She said that when she lived in her Mom's house she hated it.. and when she lived in the Grand Opulence of her father, she missed her mother's way of life!

Voila....What a story... for all the younger generations!
 
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Thanks to everyone for sharing their bit.

I picked up the following from the link posted by tbs:
One of the things Jobs rivals will never be able to stomach is his ability to make his own products obsolete.

A healthy democracy does not reward imaginative, counterintuitive thinkers.

And from Kunjuppu's link, the following:

"In terms of an inspirational leader, Steve Jobs is really the best I have ever met," said former Microsoft Chairman and Chief Architect, Bill Gates in January 1998 when asked to name the CEO he most admired. This comment substantiates what Saidevo has mentioned.


It is quite strange for anyone to be fired from a company one co-founded and then to return to the company as its CEO and to be in reign for nearly 14 years. Just amazing.

I wonder whether post-Steve Apple would be like post-Jack GE - that is "Straight from (my) gut"!.



 
It is very interesting as I was discussing with an office-mate about 1 hour before the announcement: When is Steve Jobs going to hang it up and get into philanthropy like Gates and Buffet, because you know time was probably running out.

And then boom, this happened. Sometimes I wonder how much of a Buddhist he really is and whether he ever thought beyond his iStuff. He is a genius no doubt, but perhaps a one-dimensional genius.

Regarding the iStuff, it seems to be a mixed blessing. On the one hand you have great power and information at your fingertips and on the other it contributes to fiddling and attention-deficit-disorder for priests and commuters, children and students, men and women.

Clearly with great power comes great responsibility and I wonder whether Jobs abdicated some of that. I think history will be the best judge of how close Steve Jobs came in matching the Ultimate Creator.

Sorry, I didn't mean it to sound like an eulogy.
 
Having been at the low end of his life, I would expect Steve to be philanthrophic but he does not seem to be so. Isn't it strange? If a billionaire like him (47th richest in the world?) can not give away his walth who else can or should?
 
Haridasa Siva said:
Having been at the low end of his life, I would expect Steve to be philanthrophic but he does not seem to be so. Isn't it strange? If a billionaire like him (47th richest in the world?) can not give away his walth who else can or should?
Click to expand...

My point exactly. Steve Jobs is a great designer, no doubt. He is also a great money machine as he likes to take a 30% cut from every app written for iPhone, iPad and Mac. But why couldn't he be more than that?
 
biswa said:
My point exactly. Steve Jobs is a great designer, no doubt. He is also a great money machine as he likes to take a 30% cut from every app written for iPhone, iPad and Mac. But why couldn't he be more than that?
Click to expand...

I believe he didn't have time to think about philanthropy, charity etc... he was all the time obsessed with his next hot item... he is a Cult Leader with a following... he has to satisfy the needs of his disciples!

Now, he is not the CEO (but still the Chairman of the Board), he may find some free time to ponder about other things in his life....

Probably, he will come up with new ways of giving away his enormous wealth!

Hopefully. I don't want to second-guess, Steve!

Wait & watch.
 
Ok this puzzles me. Why should he? why is he expected to be more than that? just because Bill Gate's or someone else is? Why do we expect our public figures to be philantropic?

Don't get me wrong I am all for philantropy and being charitable. Inf act left to me I would make everyone be philantropic. The Muslims have got it right with everyone giving "Zakat" IMO.

How do we know Steve isn't doing it on the quiet? Me too YamakaJi, I don't want to second guess what he has done/doing or his commitment to his faith.
 
amala,

i think the discussion is probably bordering on that another great tradition - philanthropy. there is history behind it.

in the 19th century, the usa was developing at a rate comparable to that china of today. ofcourse, unlike china, nothing was regulated, and the whole country was exploited by the so called 'robber barons' - andrew carnegie, pierpont morgan, john jacob astor et al

Robber baron (industrialist) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

there was so much hue and cry at the impotence of the usa government (incidentally not ONE of the presidents of the 19th century post civil war was one of repute - they were held under the sway of m.o.n.e.y.

in order to fend off the criticism all these guys, gave their ruthlessly earned money away. andrew carnegie, born in scotland, and hardly educated, made it a point through his carnegie foundation, from selling his share of u.s.steel, to build a library in every usa town and also in scotland.

in the 20th century rockefeller of standard oil, ford of the motor company, were also ruthless capitalists, racists but, in the end, gave away their money through setting up foundations. till the recent collapse of the motor car industry, ford foundation was one of the most influential left wing foundation and think tank.

of recent fame is ofcourse gates and pierre pierre omidyar (eBay) and buffett. so, it is only natural to discuss, and for jobs, to follow the footsteps of all these folks, to publicly set up endowments to give away the vast wealth.

why publicity?

for one, it builds the peer pressure, to other such high achievers to be generous, ie good role model. also, by publicizing, various needies can contact them, of their requirements, and do the needful to qualify for the largess. and finally ofcourse, the smallest of the reasons - a little vanity perhaps?

all this only emphasizes that there is no greater wealth than a good health. probably stephen jobs may have wondered, with what we hear of a poor health, is he that much wealthy after all?

not burdened with more than what i need, i do not have to worry about how to spread my material possessions. but with folks like job, with hardly a close family, barring a daughter whom he sees part time, it might be take a fair amount of musing, as to how to do some good. other wise as in all such cases, the estate would be hit by a hefty tax, and uncle sam will be the happiest of the beneficiaries. that is not such a good thing, i think.

:)
 
Thanks mama for the very informative background on philanthropy and fair enough but shouldn't philanthropy be for the sake of it rather than because one wants to compete with another, for largess, vanity and ego? Doing something for the "right" reason rather than for whatever gain one gets? or am i being more than a tad idealistic and naive?
 
amala,

in the case of philanthrophy, i think, it is an exception - ie means may justify the end.

i have seen the jewish ladies of toronto, collecting for the annual hadassah bazaar. if you are jew, and if you did not give something, to match your neighbour and member of the congregation, you will be put to shame. for some folks such treatment may be needed to part their wealth for the less endowed. most are generous folks. the jews.
 
Funny that. Throughout (European and possibly arab) history jews were known to be the complete opposite of generous...Shylock etc.
 
Ok, back to Steve Jobs, who is not a Jew btw, even though he has a Syrian father.

The question is how does Jobs live up to his "God" billing, because among some circles he is the messiah. Note the numerous references to "his second coming".

Imagine if the big G was just good at designing things with rounded corners, and then used patent law to browbeat others. I think we will all be found in violation.
 
I want to answr Ymaka and Amala reg their posts 10 & 11 respectively.

We do not expect Steve to do charity because Bill and Warren do. The latter duo have even started "Give away foundation" (I am not sure of the exact name) whereby they plan to give away 50% of their wealth. Money is of no value if we can not put it into use. Please see the following link posted by Dr.Anandi:
http://www.tamilbrahmins.com/share-your-knowledge/6870-wisdom-stories-new-post.html

So, it is natural to expect wealthy people to give away a portion of their wealth. It would benefit a large group of people and it would also encourage other wealthy people to follow suit.

Steve's record at Apple says that he removed all corporate philanthrophy programs when he took over the reins in 1997. If that is any indication, his wealth would not go to poor and needy. (Tamil saying: "Yaaro anupavippaar paavikaal anthap panam"). Especially going by his poor health, it is time he acts in the direction of philanthrophy. His brain was useful to millions. Now let his money be.
 
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When I posted this thread barely 6 weeks back, I hardly imagined that Steve would be no more with us so soon. The worst has happened. The man who created IPad has made us say “I sad”.
  • He created a business empire which for a brief had the privilege of being the world’s most valuable company.
  • He designed a mouse that made working with computers easy.
  • He invented products that brought in a revolution the world of music
But is this how he wanted himself to be remembered? Isn’t it that he only helped people who had crossed Maslow’s first few levels of hierarchy of needs? Wouldn’t it have been better if he made a difference in the lives of less privileged people? Well. Mr.Jobs had a different job on hand that he hardly found time to think beyond business but destiny had its own business, which unfortunately was cruel in his case.
If we can learn any lesson from his life, it is (a) to contribute to the world and (b) to help the needy.
 
Sri Haridasa Siva , I am much impressed by the last line in Post #20. With regards, Natpushpa
 
RIP Steve Jobs. No matter what others say I'm pretty sure you are the "apple" of the eye for your family.

PS: Maybe its just me, but i don't feel comfortable speaking ill of the dead.
 
Siva, Jobs was a genius, he revolutionized the IT world. His innovations will change the lives of billions of people, rich and poor. I read yesterday somewhere IG (?) has developed a small touch screen iPad like computer for $50, to be given to poor children. I think this is possible in someways because of Jobs' relentless pursuit of innovation.

He will be remembered hundreds years from now.

Haridasa Siva said:
  • He designed a mouse that made working with computers easy.
Click to expand...
A small correction, the mouse was designed by the Xerox researchers, Jobs took their design and made it an integral part of computing.

Cheers!
 
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kunjuppu said:
.. and here are the nut cases again cracking up..
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K, I like to cut-and-paste the first sentence from this article, which says it all ....

"While the world mourns Steve Jobs' death, Westboro Baptist Church said it plans to protest his funeral. The irony? The church sent the message out using the iPhone."
​
 
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