Things are as they have been with me, not too good. Thank you for your response. You were quite fortunate to have the man your father was, and I’m sure I don’t even have to tell you that.
I’ve been thinking all night about Steve Jobs and the phenomenal influence he has had over our lives, without having invented a light bulb. It’s enough to compare him to his former partner, to realize that there was something special there. A designer in a highly evolved industry who had no formal training or apprenticeship in design. Forget his marketing prowess, that’s what Larry Ellison is about, and little more beyond that. Oracle can survive without supersalesman Ellison, can Apple survive without Jobs? Did he leave behind enough of his spirit, as Henry Ford did, I believe, in his company? (Compare Ford of today, or heck, of 30 years ago to GM of today or 30 years ago!)
I also remembered people I worked with who had this kind of special spark that Jobs did, the sense of the aesthetic, and judging from the anecdotes about Jobs, I think they would behave exactly as he did in regards to product design, had they reached his position or been given the opportunity. But they were, like so many of us, stuck in these bureaucratic corporate environments where creativity was to be suppressed and even penalized, and, man, I am talking not about toothpaste manufacturing but about the very computer industry. So I think that luck too played some role in Steve Jobs’ success. No way would he have succeeded as a salaryman at a computer company that wasn’t his from the start!
Be all that as it may, I read a lot, newspapers, magazines and bumperstickers, everywhere, and in my judgment, your post could easily pass the muster at a decent print publication, such as the weekend WSJ or even the New Yorker, it’s that good.
That is the way that I feel...Jobs had a special blend of qualities that made him the perfect evangelist for his own product.
My brother and I used to watch his keynote addresses, because even though he was predictable “...one more thing...” his skill at demonstrating and selling his products filled me with admiration and envy.
It reminded me of the time I went to the Springfield Fair in Massachusetts, and we saw the guys in the pavilions doing their schtick, selling their wares. Those guys were good. I went to one and watched the guy using some kitchen implement, and found myself, at the end, surging towards the front with money in my hands along with a crowd of others.
I would jokingly call Jobs a “Snake Oil Salesman”, but the difference was (why I joked) is that he COULD have sold snake oil, but instead sold computers that did exactly what he showed them doing in his keynote demos.
Thanks for your compliment, RC...coming from you, that means a lot.