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Comment by masklinn | Hacker News Reader

> Steve is the 'brave general' that sparked Apple, destroyed it

When? How? I've always been under the impression that Apple's destruction had followed jobs's ousting. Unless you mean that Jobs destroyed Apple by hiring Sculley?

> He may have been a sociopath artist in his 20's but he grew up to be the world's greatest CEO in his 40's and 50's. Just look at the Apple 10 years ago and look at them now.

But it's not like the successes of his 40s were built on nothing. Pixar and NeXT didn't spring up from some kind of void in the mid-90s as Jobs reached 40.

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His ego destroyed Apple and got him ousted. When reality humbled him, he returned and rebuilt it for the 21st century.

NeXT was part of rebuilding Apple. That's how he got back to Apple...

Steve was only a benevolent patron to Pixar. He didn't micromanage them or take credit for any of the movies being 'his visions'.

> His ego destroyed Apple and got him ousted. When reality humbled him, he returned and rebuilt it for the 21st century.

I still don't see that.

> NeXT was part of rebuilding Apple. That's how he got back to Apple...

You do realize that he founded NeXT as he was being thrown out of Apple don't you?

> Steve was only a benevolent patron to Pixar. He didn't micromanage them or take credit for any of the movies being 'his visions'.

No, but he did understand what it could become and he did become it's patron. That's pretty significant. He's also the one who decided to refocus Pixar from its original business, hardware, to what it is today, a studio, CGI and animation company. And he managed most of the relations with Disney (including the Eisner fallout).

Credit for Pixar's work goes to Lasseter and his team, but credit for Pixar existing at all, let alone going from a $5m Lucas Arts team to a $8b Disney subsidiary in 20 years can hardly go to anybody but Jobs.

Dude. I am not trying to fight you with words.

NeXT became Steve's parachute. He had a feeling, the board was getting fed up with his ego.

Pixar needed a leader, Lucas got divorced. Steve saved the ship...

Steve pulled a Buddha. Had everything in his 20's. Lost it all before 30. Rebuilt his life and his work to be a part of human history when he humbled himself.

When people look back centuries from now, Steve will be remembered as a hero, not a villain.

To be fair, he didn't lose it all--he was still rich and famous, rich enough to buy Pixar and famous enough to get millions of dollars invested into NeXT.

If you want to make wild claims, you need to have some way to back them up beyond repeating the original claim. All of this "His ego destroyed Apple," "He humbled himself," "He had a feeling" is entirely your invention as far as I can tell. You appear to have made up some kind of hero-myth around Jobs. And, I mean, it's OK if you enjoy thinking that, but recounting it as though it's based in fact is (probably unintentionally) dishonest.

It's not a myth or legend. I look up to great people that moved our species forward. Here is where I learned some of this 'crap':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1R-jKKp3NA

And, the rest is from Steve Wozinack's autobiography...

Steve is a polarizing figure with a vision that unites spirituality with technology. That's why Apple keeps attracting more and more attention...

Interesting comment.

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