Above All, a Faith in People
In part to commemorate Steve Jobs’ latest health-related sabbatical from Apple, Rolling Stone re-posted an old interview they had done with the Apple founder back in 1994. At that point, he had been out of Apple for about 9 years (since 1985), and was focusing on being a cheerleader for both object-oriented programming, and his NeXT computer platform. He felt that both would form the foundation for the next big thing(s) in computing. Turns out, he was more right than he could possibly know…
As NeXT provided the foundation for what eventually became both OS X and iOS, that revolution would be significant enough, but you’ll see even more stunning impacts of his influence towards the bottom of this piece.
This interview is an absolutely amazing read from start to finish, and gives you an idea of why Apple has surpassed Microsoft to currently be the second most valuable US company behind Exxon.
The entire piece is worth reading and re-reading, but it’s really the general mindset that I find the most striking:
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/news/steve-jobs-in-1994-the-rolling-stone-interview-20110117
These are my favorite quotes, among many:
You can’t open the paper these days without reading about the Internet and the information superhighway. Where is this all going?
The Internet is nothing new. It has been happening for 10 years. Finally, now, the wave is cresting on the general computer user. And I love it. I think the den is far more interesting than the living room. Putting the Internet into people’s houses is going to be really what the information superhighway is all about, not digital convergence in the set-top box. All that’s going to do is put the video rental stores out of business and save me a trip to rent my movie. I’m not very excited about that. I’m not excited about home shopping. I’m very excited about having the Internet in my den.
So even while Blockbuster is building video rental stores by the thousands, and 6 years before the Internet bubble, he saw where things were going – for him, the “den” means that he wants to sit at his computer and interact with the world, long before the creation of Facebook or blogging…
And note the line down below that I find most striking, having been uttered by one of the most important technology people of the past 50 years: “Technology is nothing.” Note the context and implications of that, and you’ll get a closer glimpse of the Apple Way, and why its achievements over the years are so revolutionary.
Let’s talk more about the Internet. Every month, it’s growing by leaps and bounds. How is this new communications web going to affect the way we live in the future?
I don’t think it’s too good to talk about these kinds of things. You can open up any book and hear all about this kind of garbage.I’m interested in bearing your ideas.
I don’t think of the world that way. I’m a tool builder. That’s how I think of myself. I want to build really good tools that I know in my gut and my heart will be valuable. And then whatever happens is… you can’t really predict exactly what will happen, but you can feel the direction that we’re going. And that’s about as close as you can get. Then you just stand back and get out of the way, and these things take on a life of their own.Nevertheless, you’ve often talked about how technology can empower people, how it can change their lives. Do you still have as much faith in technology today as you did when you started out 20 years ago?
Oh, sure. It’s not a faith in technology. It’s faith in people.Explain that.
Technology is nothing. What’s important is that you have a faith in people, that they’re basically good and smart, and if you give them tools, they’ll do wonderful things with them. It’s not the tools that you have faith in — tools are just tools. They work, or they don’t work. It’s people you have faith in or not. Yeah, sure, I’m still optimistic I mean, I get pessimistic sometimes but not for long.
One point that Jobs makes during the interview is how bad software development had become at that time, with Microsoft, due to its legacy-ridden operating system, requiring gigantic teams of people and many hours to even develop bad, buggy software. He envisioned his object-oriented operating system as being a catalyst for putting great tools in the hands of even home hobbyists of any age to write great software.
Just take a look at these pieces to see that this vision is a reality, and two 14-year olds (!) are making successful apps:
“Bubble Ball” by 14-year old iPhone app developer tops Apple’s free games list
14 Year Old iPhone App Developer Makes Typing on the iPhone Easier
Final Note:
In looking around for more info on NeXT, I found this little gem on TechCrunch:
Tim Berners-Lee used a NeXT Computer in 1991 to create the first web browser and web server, and John Carmack used a NeXTcube to build Wolfenstein 3D and the original Doom.
Jobs’ legacy seems even more staggering now, if such a thing was possible… Note that NeXT computers were used to write BOTH of the very foundations of the Internet (both web browser, AND server), AND what we know as modern gaming.
