Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview (11 May 2012) [VO] [ST-FR] [Ultra HD 4K]

SUMMARY

In a rediscovered 1995 interview, journalist Robert X. Cringely engages Steve Jobs on his early fascination with computers, founding Apple, Macintosh innovations, corporate challenges, and visions for technology's artistic future.

STATEMENTS

Steve Jobs first encountered a computer at age 10 or 11 through a time-sharing terminal at NASA Ames Research Center, sparking his lifelong passion.
At 12, Jobs cold-called Bill Hewlett of Hewlett-Packard for parts, leading to a summer job that shaped his view of a company valuing employees.
Jobs attended Hewlett-Packard research labs, where he discovered the HP 9100, the first desktop computer, and spent hours programming it.
Jobs met Steve Wozniak at 14 or 15, bonding over electronics and collaborating on projects like the blue box for free phone calls.
Inspired by an Esquire article, Jobs and Wozniak built a digital blue box using tones from an AT&T journal to hack the phone network.
The blue box taught them that young innovators could control vast infrastructure, a lesson pivotal to creating Apple.
Jobs and Wozniak built a terminal due to necessity for free time-sharing access, evolving it into the Apple I circuit board.
They sold their Volkswagen bus and calculator to fund Apple I printed circuit boards, initially for friends.
Paul Terrell of the Byte Shop ordered 50 assembled Apple I units, prompting Jobs to secure parts on credit and launch the business.
The Apple II aimed for color graphics and accessibility for non-hobbyists, packaged in plastic for broader appeal.
Mike Markkula joined as an equal partner, providing funding and expertise to tool the Apple II design.
At the West Coast Computer Faire, the Apple II's advanced graphics stole the show, attracting dealers.
Jobs learned business by questioning "why" practices, rejecting folklore like standard costing for precise tracking.
Computers teach thinking like a liberal art, akin to law school, by mirroring thought processes.
Wealth from Apple IPO wasn't motivating; focus remained on company, people, and product impact.
Xerox PARC's graphical user interface vision was inevitable, blinding Jobs to other innovations like networking.
Xerox failed due to sales-driven leadership eroding product sensibility, missing monopoly dominance.
IBM's entry scared Apple, but their alliances turned a poor product into success.
Apple struggled with HP-recruited staff resisting GUI ideas, leading Jobs to outsource mouse design cheaply.
Companies falter by institutionalizing process over content, as IBM did, prioritizing management over innovation.
The Lisa project mismatched Apple's culture and market, failing due to high cost and poor leadership.
After losing Lisa leadership, Jobs formed the Macintosh team to save Apple with affordable innovation.
Macintosh reinvented manufacturing via Japan's automated factories, achieving low-cost production.
Great products require craftsmanship between idea and execution, involving constant trade-offs and daily refinements.
Teamwork polishes ideas like rocks in a tumbler, through friction and collaboration among talented people.
Success stems from assembling A-players who self-select and propagate excellence.
Feedback on work must be direct, focusing on output without questioning ability, to maintain team goals.
Apple pioneered desktop publishing by partnering with Adobe and Canon for the LaserWriter.
Jobs' departure from Apple in 1985 followed clashes with John Sculley amid recession and leadership vacuum.
Apple's 1995 state was dying due to stagnation, eroding lead over Microsoft despite heavy R&D.
Microsoft succeeded via opportunism and persistence, but lacks taste and cultural depth in products.
NeXT focused on object-oriented software, enabling 10x faster development for competitive edges.
The web will transform computing into communication, democratizing commerce and innovation beyond Microsoft's control.

IDEAS

Early access to computers demystified technology, turning abstract power into personal empowerment for a child.
Cold-calling industry leaders as a kid reveals boldness yields unexpected opportunities and mentorship.
Hacking phone networks with homemade devices illustrates how simple tools can command global systems.
Blue boxing's thrill lies in realizing youth and ingenuity can disrupt billion-dollar infrastructures.
Necessity drives invention, like building terminals to access free computing resources.
Assembling computers by hand for friends evolves into scalable business through printed circuit innovation.
Venture capital often overlooks raw potential, mistaking unpolished vision for unreliability.
Graphical interfaces were instantly obvious as the future, blinding observers to complementary tech like networking.
Monopolies breed complacency, elevating sales over product genius and rotting innovation cores.
Alliances amplify weak entrants, as IBM's ecosystem rescued their flawed PC debut.
Resistance from traditional engineers highlights the need to bypass inertia with external expertise.
Process institutionalization confuses means with ends, dooming companies like IBM to irrelevance.
Product failures like Lisa stem from cultural mismatches, ignoring affordable accessibility roots.
Reinvention demands missionary zeal, treating projects as divine missions to salvage legacies.
Automation and volume pricing unlock affordability, drawing from global manufacturing insights.
Ideas evolve through relentless craftsmanship, navigating trade-offs in materials and engineering.
Teams of elites create self-reinforcing excellence, akin to polishing gems via mutual friction.
Dynamic ranges in software/hardware far exceed life's norms, rewarding pursuit of top talent.
Direct, work-focused feedback preserves egos while realigning efforts toward collective vision.
Pivoting from hardware to software partnerships accelerates killer apps like desktop publishing.
Survival instincts in leadership can scapegoat innovators during crises, fracturing alliances.
Stagnation erodes leads; even massive R&D fails without visionary execution.
Opportunism plus persistence catapults underdogs, but without taste, products remain pedestrian.
Object-oriented tech revolutionizes software creation, amplifying business warfare via speed.
The web fulfills computing's communicative destiny, leveling commercial playing fields globally.
Tools like bicycles or computers exponentially amplify human capabilities, redefining efficiency.
Taste guides direction, stealing from arts to infuse technology with humanistic subtlety.
Hippie ethos seeks life's deeper sparks, channeling them into products that transmit emotion.

INSIGHTS

Childhood curiosity with technology fosters lifelong innovation by demystifying the mysterious.
Bold outreach to experts as a youth builds networks and shapes professional ideals early.
Hacking reveals power imbalances, empowering individuals to control vast corporate systems.
Personal necessity sparks practical inventions that scale into revolutionary businesses.
Questioning business folklore uncovers inefficiencies, enabling precise, adaptive management.
Computers as liberal arts train structured thinking, essential for all intellectual pursuits.
Wealth secondary to purpose sustains focus on impactful creation over financial gain.
Visionary interfaces inevitably reshape industries, demanding swift adoption despite flaws.
Corporate monopolies prioritize sales over products, eroding the genius that built them.
Ecosystems turn mediocre products into dominants, underscoring alliance's strategic power.
Bypassing internal resistance with external talent accelerates breakthrough implementations.
Prioritizing content over process preserves innovation, avoiding bureaucratic downfall.
Cultural alignment ensures products match market realities and company ethos.
Missionary teams drive salvation projects, reinventing operations for survival.
Craftsmanship bridges ideas to reality through iterative, trade-off-laden design.
Elite collaboration self-perpetuates, polishing raw talents into exceptional outcomes.
Vast talent disparities in tech demand relentless A-player recruitment.
Candid feedback on work, not people, aligns high performers toward shared excellence.
Strategic pivots to partnerships unlock unforeseen market dominances.
Leadership vacuums amplify crises, scapegoating visionaries for survival.
Innovation stagnation wastes resources without guiding vision.
Persistent opportunism builds empires, but cultural voids limit elevation.
Object tech multiplies software efficiency, weaponizing it for competitive edges.
Web communication democratizes access, igniting boundless societal shifts.
Tools amplify innate abilities, positioning computers as history's pinnacle invention.
Artistic theft infuses tech with taste, blending liberal arts for profound products.

QUOTES

"It was an incredibly thrilling experience... that you could write a program... and actually this machine would sort of take your idea and... execute your idea."
"We could build a little thing that could control a giant thing and that was an incredible lesson."
"I don't think there would have ever been an Apple computer had there not been blue boxing."
"Everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer... because it teaches you how to think."
"It's not the hardest thing in the world... it's not rocket science."
"Money is a wonderful thing because it enables you to do things... but... it was not the most important thing."
"Within 10 minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this someday."
"They just had no clue about what they were seeing... Xerox could have owned the entire computer industry today."
"It's that process that is the magic... designing a product is keeping 5,000 things in your brain."
"Through that group of incredibly talented people bumping up against each other... they polish each other and they polish the ideas."
"When you get enough A players together... it becomes self-policing and they only want to hire more A players."
"I don't really care about being right... I just care about success."
"The personal computer was the bicycle of the mind."
"Good artists copy, great artists steal."
"There's something more going on... there's another side of the coin that we don't talk about much."
"They work with computers because they are the medium that is best capable of transmitting some feeling that you have."
"The web is going to be the defining technology... the defining social moment for computing."
"The computer is going to rank near if not at the top as history unfolds... the most awesome tool that we have ever invented."

HABITS

Cold-call industry leaders for advice and parts, turning curiosity into opportunities.
Attend research labs regularly to explore cutting-edge prototypes hands-on.
Collaborate intensely with skilled peers on ambitious electronics projects.
Question every business practice deeply to uncover and eliminate folklore.
Learn programming early to mirror and refine personal thought processes.
Prioritize company culture that values employees through small, thoughtful gestures.
Scavenge and assemble components manually to build skills and prototypes affordably.
Visit global factories to study automation and adapt manufacturing innovations.
Assemble diverse A-players from arts and sciences for creative teams.
Provide direct, work-focused feedback to keep high performers aligned.
Expose oneself to the best human creations across fields for tasteful inspiration.
Steal great ideas shamelessly from other domains to enrich technology.
Focus on content over process in management to foster true innovation.
Maintain passion for deeper life sparks, infusing products with humanistic spirit.

FACTS

The HP 9100 was the first self-contained desktop computer with a CRT display, introduced in the early 1970s.
Blue boxes exploited AT&T's signaling tones in the voice band, allowing free international calls via payphones.
Apple I circuit boards sold for cost to friends, taking 40-80 hours each to assemble by hand.
The Byte Shop was the world's first computer store, later becoming an adult bookstore.
Xerox PARC demonstrated GUI in 1979, but their company failed to commercialize it due to sales-focused leadership.
IBM's PC, launched in 1981, initially had a terrible product but succeeded through open alliances.
Macintosh mouse was designed in 90 days for $15, countering engineers' 5-year, $300 estimate.
Apple became the world's largest printer company by revenue when Jobs left in 1985.
NeXT, in 1995, employed 300 people and generated $50-75 million, leading in object-oriented software.
The web, by 1995, was poised to shift 15% of U.S. catalog sales online.
Human bicycle efficiency surpasses the condor's, using minimal kilocalories per kilometer.
Macintosh applications dominated by Microsoft post-1984, springboarding from Mac to PC markets.

REFERENCES

Triumph of the Nerds (TV series by Robert X. Cringely).
Esquire magazine article on Captain Crunch and blue boxing.
AT&T Technical Journal on phone signaling tones.
HP 9100 desktop computer.
NASA Ames Research Center time-sharing terminal.
Hewlett-Packard Palo Alto Research Labs.
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center technical library.
Apple I and Apple II computers.
West Coast Computer Faire.
Xerox PARC innovations: graphical user interface, object-oriented programming, networked Alto computers.
Macintosh project and Lisa computer.
LaserWriter printer with Adobe software and Canon engine.
NeXT object-oriented software platform.
Scientific American article on locomotion efficiency.
Picasso's saying: "Good artists copy, great artists steal."
MCI's Friends and Family billing software.
Paul Allen's comments on Xerox PARC.
Adele Goldberg's Xerox demo.
John Sculley's PepsiCo background.
Bill Atkinson's quote on feedback.
David Kelley design firm for mouse.

HOW TO APPLY

Encounter technology young via accessible terminals to ignite curiosity and programming passion.
Cold-call experts for parts or advice, leveraging openness to gain jobs and insights.
Bond with skilled collaborators on electronics, scaling from pranks to products.
Research hidden technical journals to uncover exploitable system flaws for innovation.
Build necessities like terminals from scavenged parts, evolving into full prototypes.
Fund prototypes by selling personal assets, then produce boards for peer sales.
Pitch assembled units to stores, securing credit for parts to bootstrap production.
Recruit retired executives as partners for funding and business acumen in ambitious designs.
Showcase prototypes at industry fairs with demos to attract distributors rapidly.
Question all processes deeply, replacing folklore with real-time cost tracking.
Visit innovators like Xerox to absorb ideas, then adapt them aggressively.
Bypass resistant teams by outsourcing key components to external specialists.
Form small missionary teams for high-stakes projects, reinventing manufacturing.
Assemble diverse liberal arts talents to infuse products with cultural depth.
Provide direct work critiques to A-players, fostering self-policing excellence.
Partner with software firms for hardware synergies, like printers and apps.
Nudge emerging vectors like web tech early to shape long-term trajectories.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Blend art, technology, and bold teams to create tools that amplify human potential and enrich society.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Learn programming as a liberal art to enhance logical thinking across disciplines.
Question business practices relentlessly to eliminate outdated folklore and innovate efficiently.
Recruit only A-players for teams, allowing self-perpetuating excellence to emerge.
Expose yourself to arts, history, and diverse fields to cultivate tasteful product design.
Build small, passionate teams like rock tumblers to polish ideas through friction.
Steal shamelessly from great human achievements to infuse technology with spirit.
Prioritize content over process to avoid bureaucratic stagnation in growing companies.
Visit global innovators and factories to adapt cutting-edge manufacturing techniques.
Provide direct, output-focused feedback to align high performers without ego damage.
Pivot to software partnerships for hardware success, accelerating market dominance.
Embrace hippie-like curiosity for life's deeper meanings to create emotionally resonant products.
Nudge technology's trajectory early, as small changes yield massive future impacts.
Democratize access via web-like platforms to level commerce for all sizes.
Focus on craftsmanship between ideas and execution to navigate real-world trade-offs.
Reject mediocrity in software; aim for 50-100x dynamic range through top talent.
Channel survival instincts ethically, avoiding scapegoating during corporate crises.
Commercialize overlooked gems like object-oriented tech for 10x development speed.
Amplify human abilities with tools, viewing computers as the mind's bicycle.
Respond to market contractions with visionary leadership, not paralysis.
Transmit personal feelings through computing mediums to connect users deeply.

MEMO

In the dim glow of a 1995 interview rediscovered from a garage, Steve Jobs, then exiled from Apple and steering NeXT, opens up to journalist Robert X. Cringely about the sparks that ignited his revolution. At 10, a teletype terminal at NASA Ames pierced the veil of computers as mythical machines, revealing their power to execute a boy's BASIC programs. This thrill, Jobs recalls, was like witnessing magic—ideas transformed into results—propelling him to cold-call Hewlett-Packard's Bill Hewlett at 12 for parts, landing a job that etched his ideal of employee-centric companies.

Teenage Jobs bonded with Steve Wozniak over electronics, their pranks peaking with the blue box, a device hacking AT&T's network for free global calls. "We could build a little thing that could control a giant thing," Jobs reflects, a eureka moment proving youth could command billions in infrastructure. Necessity birthed their first terminal for free time-sharing, morphing into the Apple I—a hand-wired board sold to friends—then the Byte Shop's order of 50 units, funded by Jobs' Volkswagen and Wozniak's calculator, bootstrapping Apple on 30-day credit.

The Apple II, packaged for everyday dreamers, not hobbyists, dazzled at the West Coast Computer Faire with color graphics, drawing dealers and Mike Markkula's partnership. Jobs decries business "folklore," like vague costing, learned by relentless "why" questions. Computers, he insists, teach thinking akin to law school—a liberal art for all—while his wealth from the IPO barely registered, dwarfed by passion for products enabling human potential.

Xerox PARC's 1979 GUI demo blinded Jobs to networking and objects, but screamed inevitability: all computers would follow. Xerox's "toner heads"—sales drones—squandered it, a monopoly rotting from within as product vision ceded to marketing. IBM's PC terrified Apple's billion-dollar upstart, yet alliances salvaged their flop. Apple's HP imports resisted Macintosh's mouse and fonts, forcing Jobs to outsource a $15 marvel in 90 days, underscoring process over content's peril.

The Lisa's $10,000 mismatch to Apple's affordable ethos failed amid leadership fights, Jobs losing to John Sculley during 1984's recession. Exiled to "Siberia," he birthed Macintosh as a $1,000 savior, reinventing factories from Japanese tours for automation. Teams, he metaphors, polish like rocks in a tumbler—friction among A-players yielding gems—demanding direct feedback and diverse talents from poets to zoologists stealing artistic essence.

Desktop publishing exploded via LaserWriter, Adobe ties, and Canon's engine, making Apple the top printer firm by Jobs' 1985 exit. Sculley's "disease"—ideas as 90% done—destroyed Apple's 10-year lead, stagnating amid Microsoft's opportunistic climb on IBM's rocket. No taste, Jobs laments, leaves their products pedestrian, like McDonald's versus enlightenment. NeXT championed objects for 10x software speed, arming businesses like MCI's billing wars.

Gazing ahead, Jobs hails the web as computing's communicative rebirth, beyond Microsoft's grip, shifting catalogs to billions in direct sales, equalizing small firms with giants. Humans as tool-builders shine in the bicycle's efficiency trouncing condors, positioning computers as history's apex invention. Taste, drawn from Picasso's theft, nudges this vector—still nascent—toward humanistic subtlety.

Ultimately, Jobs embodies the hippie-nerd: seeking life's inrush beyond garages and careers, channeling it into Macs users "love" for their spirit. Computers transmit unshareable feelings, he says, drawing musicians and mystics who might've otherwise wandered other paths—proving technology's true arc bends toward artful flourishing.