Steve Jobs talks Beatles, Pixar in lost tapes

Steve Jobs

/ Apple

(CBS News) Lost interviews with the late Steve Jobs reveal much about his break from Apple, the company he co-founded, between 1985 and 1996.

Full coverage of Apple at Tech Talk

Described as the Apple co-founder's "wilderness years," the lost tapes span several years worth of interviews with veteran technology reporter Brent Schlender. In the interviews, Jobs discussed many of the underlying philosophies at the core of Apple.

"Listening to [the tapes again] with the benefit of hindsight, the ones that took place during that interregnum jump out as especially enlightening," Schlender said of the lost interviews.

Jobs compared Pixar, the animation studio he purchased from George Lucas, to a laser printer during an interview in June 1995. His argument was that although the technology behind the scenes was incredible, people were only concerned with the output.

In an October 2004 interview, Jobs compares good management to the Beatles, emphasizing the importance of a checks and balance system. Jobs compared the chemistry between the John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr to that of the Pixar team at the time: Jobs, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter.

Some of the more heart-tugging moments come when in 1995 Jobs lamented the short 10-years he spent at Apple. The interview took place about a year before Jobs returned to Apple as chief executive officer.

"I was at Apple 10 years. I would have preferred to be there the rest of my life," Jobs said. "So I'm a long-term kind of person."

In that interview, Jobs compared building a company to running a marathon, saying that it required at least five years to do "anything of magnitude."

Schlender, who has been described as the writer who knew Jobs best, had previously covered Jobs for Fortune and The Wall Street Journal. Segments of the journalist's lost interviews were recently published in Fast Company.

"Rummaging through the storage shed, I discovered some three dozen tapes holding recordings of extended interviews - some lasting as long as three hours - that I'd conducted with him periodically over the past 25 years," Schlender recounted. Several of the tapes hadn't been revisited until Jobs passed away in October 2011.

Schlender's account of his time with Jobs is sometimes poetic and tragic, which is actually quite a fitting for his subject matter. The full story can be found at Fast Company.

30 Photos

Steve Jobs: 1955 - 2011

[Dukme]

Who cares, let the man rest in peace. Stop glorifying him. He's just as dirty as most businessmen. He stole and cheated just like the rest of them.

[hypnotoad72]

"Good management"?

Based on the actions of contracting companies, I won't buy Apple again until their subcontractors improve.

Nor is it good management to ignore engineers and then brazenly tell customers how they are holding the product wrong.

Jobs is an overrated, over-hyped piece of work.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/07/iphone-4-antenna/

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2365705,00.asp

http://www.product-reviews.net/2010/04/27/new-macbook-pro-core-i7-models-seriously-overheating/
(2009, 2010, 2011 models all do if you want to find all possible articles)

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Air-13-Inch-Mid-2011-Teardown/6130/1
(oil slick under fan, how professional)

http://my2011macbookpro.com/replacing-thermal-paste-on-the-cpu-and-gpu/

http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/MacBook-Pro-15-Inch-Unibody-Early-2011-Teardown/4990/2
(warped screw, massive amounts of thermal paste - which is not only wasteful, but shows incompetence by those who apply it and this is not a random incident, etc...)

iMacs with yellowing screens over time because of overheating... I could be here all day citing problems, with links to corroborate...

Apple's gear is overpriced for what one gets and they pocket the difference in cost as "profit" while daring to claim their stuff is made better. You bet people should be upset.

[good_idea]

Bill Gates was known as a Robber Baron (robbing small companies of their ideas) and until Ted Turner (CNN billionaire) prompted other billionaire to contribute NOW Bill Gates would have prolly left the charitable work to his children. Then Gates decided to kick it in now AND lose the Robber Baron label (Rockefeller's children finally got the Robber Baron label off with their charitable foundation). I love the way Gates has made charities receiving his contributions highly accountable. Another billionaire Buffett loves his way so much he's letting Gates Foundation handle his massive charitable contributions.
Steve Jobs wanting to put Macs in schools was purely self-interest - hook kids on Macs from the get-go so they will tell their parents to buy them a Mac later. Steve Jobs clearly told people he had little interest in charity. Now his wife Lauren Powell Jobs appears interested with College Track and a Member of the White House Council for Community Solutions. Let's hope she does more now that Mr. "Reality Distortion Field" is not around.

[hypnotoad72]

Links would be nice, but if Gates is truly changing his ways and being philanthropic, which means no "return on investment"*, then I can respect the guy. While predatory practices made by businesses would be deemed "burglary", "robbery", or even "murder" for civilian citizens still make me uneasy, even Ebeneezer Scrooge changed his ways...

* (unless Africa will replace India and China as the next generation's low-cost development and manufacturing centers, inferred on our global economy's penchant for migrating every few decades or so...)

[good_idea]

correction: Achilles heels

[good_idea]

Jobs had 2 Achilles heals:
1. He could care less about contributing to charitible causes.
2. He could care less about bringing back jobs ("in-sourcing") to America.

With the large margins Apple makes off ipods, iphones, ... they could wisely partner up with junior colleges and tech schools in America to supply exactly what skilled people they need. Instead Apple only deigns to sell their product here. But as the Jobs book repeatedly said - Jobs lived within a "reality distortion field".

[theveggiedude]

One could have said the same of Bill Gates. He did not contribute to charity until he retired from being CEO. Steve Jobs never had the luxury to retire - he still had energy to last another 10 years at the helm, and who knows what he would have done if he had the chance to sit back and relax. BTW, SJ did do some charitable work in the 80's, tying to put PC's into every school, but it was shot down by John McCain at the Federal level. Only California took it up.

[hypnotoad72]

veggiedude is quite correct - re: Gates. Since I just pointed out some problems about "good management" in Apple, I will now do the same for Microsoft's:


Their origins:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWjOodAtoE
(Dramatized, but based on factual and legitimate evidence)
?
They dislike piracy,
http://gadgetopia.com/post/6679

unless it benefits them, of course:
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2007/07/23/100134488/
?
They make sure they get all the sales, even when they can't get the sales ethically,
http://www.zdnet.co.uk/news/desktop-os/2004/07/13/the-legacy-of-microsofts-1994-consent-decree-39160392/
http://news.cnet.com/2100-1001-233992.html
?
They dislike government:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft
?
But they'll engage the ultimate "marketing tactic" to Congress anyway:
http://mydd.com/story/2007/2/7/184312/5388
http://hubpages.com/hub/HowH1BVisaFRAUDiskillingAmerica

Not to mention, they love taking taxpayer money despite years' worth of profit margins showing their bootstraps are quite pulled up:
http://www.ctj.org/html/corp0402.htm

But then make threats to government officials when they don't get their way:
http://www.businessinsider.com/ballmer-threatens-obama-says-hell-move-jobs-overseas-2009-6

May I repeat:
http://www.ctj.org/html/corp0402.htm

Plenty more where that one came from - they're freeloaders and anti-"free market" with their own antics, if they have to meddle to have their own way.

And do note, their history is replete with incidents - my response to you barely scratches the surface of the tip of the iceberg.