Interesting read from Gawker:
Indeed there were things Jobs did while at Apple that were deeply disturbing. Rude, dismissive, hostile, spiteful: Apple employees—the ones not bound by confidentiality agreements—have had a different story to tell over the years about Jobs and the bullying, manipulation and fear that followed him around Apple. Jobs contributed to global problems, too. Apple’s success has been built literally on the backs of Chinese workers, many of them children and all of them enduring long shifts and the specter of brutal penalties for mistakes. And, for all his talk of enabling individual expression, Jobs imposed paranoid rules that centralized control of who could say what on his devices and in his company.
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When I read this, my first inclination was how easy it is to trash a person after he’s gone. I was enlightened earlier this week to find out how Jobs’ use of LSD was a high point in his life (along with other not so complimentary tidbits). Truth be told,will Apple devotees be disturbed enough not to pick up that ipad, iphone, ipod again? Did anyone ever really think that these devices (and scores of others we have used in the past and continue to use now) were being manufactured abroad in nice comfortable assembly rooms? It would be great to have it all done here in the U.S.A., but we have managed to sabatoge our own efforts. I am an Apple fan, even if I can’t afford to own the products. But back to his reputation – it would be very easy to jump on this bandwagon, but I also wonder what people will say about me after I’m gone and when I can’t defend myself. P.S. I think the Zen Buddhist thing upset me the most since it means he didn’t know “The Creator of the Original Apple back in Eden”.
I thought it was a great article and I don’t think the author was trash-talking Jobs, per se, but offering very relevant dialogue on whether or not business leaders should use his tactics. I don’t think his business strategies were always appropriate but more so i am sad he did not seem to have true, meaningful relationships other than a mass following of non-intimate admirers. Matt just wrote a great post about it: http://mybeardedthoughts.wordpress.com/2011/10/07/a-thought-about-life-and-death/ thanks for posting!
Years ago, long before Apple turned around with Baubles for Boomers, I read an article comparing Jobs and Gates. It was neither a puff piece or a hit job on either. There was one phrase which sticks in my memory about Jobs. The author said there was always “…the trace of snake oil on the water…” when Jobs was involved.
Might have been an interesting article if they’d taken a “cost of the search for perfection” line, but instead it feels like the author is just ranting and searching for things to complain about. The most telling part is where the author gets high and mighty that Apple dared go the heavy on Gawker for trading in stolen Apple property, without any attempt to consider the bigger principles involved (for or against).