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

SUMMARY

In a rediscovered 1995 interview with journalist Robert X. Cringely, Steve Jobs reflects on his early fascination with computers, founding Apple, innovations like the Macintosh, conflicts leading to his departure, and visions for software, the web, and technology's role in amplifying human potential.

STATEMENTS

Steve Jobs first encountered a computer at age 10 or 11 through a time-sharing terminal at NASA Ames Research Center, using a teletype printer to run programs in BASIC or Fortran.
Jobs called Bill Hewlett at Hewlett-Packard at age 12, leading to spare parts and a summer job that shaped his view of companies valuing employees.
At Hewlett-Packard's Palo Alto research labs, Jobs saw the first desktop computer, the HP 9100, which inspired him to program for hours.
Jobs met Steve Wozniak around age 14 or 15, bonding over electronics and building projects together.
Inspired by an Esquire article on Captain Crunch, Jobs and Wozniak built blue boxes to make free phone calls by generating AT&T signaling tones.
They discovered AT&T's technical journal at Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, confirming the feasibility of blue boxing and leading to a fully digital device.
Blue boxing taught Jobs and Wozniak that young people could control vast infrastructure with simple inventions, directly influencing the creation of Apple.
To access free time-sharing, Jobs and Wozniak built a terminal, which evolved into the Apple I as an extension with a microprocessor.
They sold Apple I circuit boards to friends, then fully assembled units to the Byte Shop after Paul Terrell ordered 50.
Jobs financed the first production run by selling his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak his calculator, securing parts on 30-day credit.
Mike Markkula joined Apple as an equal partner, investing money and expertise to tool up the Apple II design.
At the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, Apple II's color graphics stole the show, attracting dealers and launching the company.
Jobs learned business by questioning standard practices, like standard costing, revealing underlying information system flaws.
Computers teach thinking like a liberal art, similar to law school, by mirroring thought processes.
Jobs became a multimillionaire by age 23 but prioritized company, people, and products over money.
At Xerox PARC in 1979, Jobs was captivated by the graphical user interface, predicting all computers would adopt it.
Xerox failed to commercialize innovations due to sales and marketing dominance eroding product sensibility.
IBM's entry scared Apple, but its initial poor product succeeded through partnerships creating vested interests.
Apple struggled with HP-recruited engineers who resisted GUI concepts like mice and proportional fonts.
Jobs built a Macintosh team of A-players who self-policed for talent, emphasizing content over process.
The Macintosh reinvented Apple through automation, new distribution, and marketing for an affordable $1,000 product.
Great products require craftsmanship bridging ideas to reality, involving daily trade-offs and refinements.
Jobs compared team innovation to a rock tumbler, where friction polishes raw ideas into beautiful results.
In software and hardware, the gap between average and best is 50-to-1 or more, driving Jobs to hire only top talent.
Feedback on poor work must clearly address quality without undermining confidence in abilities.
Apple pioneered desktop publishing with the first LaserWriter, integrating Adobe software and Canon engines.
Jobs' departure from Apple in 1985 stemmed from conflicts with John Sculley during a recession, leading to his ousting.
Apple's post-departure stagnation allowed Microsoft to catch up, eroding its lead in innovation.
Microsoft succeeded through opportunism and persistence but lacks taste, producing pedestrian products.
NeXT focuses on object-oriented software, enabling 10 times faster development for business applications.
The web represents computers evolving into communication tools, democratizing commerce and innovation.

IDEAS

Early access to computers via time-sharing terminals sparked lifelong passion by turning abstract ideas into tangible results for a child.
Calling tech giants like Bill Hewlett as a kid highlights how openness in the pre-digital era fostered direct mentorship and opportunity.
Blue boxing revealed how minimal knowledge could hack global systems, empowering youth to challenge corporate giants.
Building devices from scavenged parts democratizes invention, showing necessity drives innovation without formal resources.
Selling assembled computers unexpectedly shifted from hobby to business, illustrating serendipity in entrepreneurship.
Venture capital rejection led to better partnerships, like Mike Markkula's, proving persistence uncovers ideal collaborators.
Questioning business folklore uncovers inefficiencies, allowing rapid learning through deep inquiry.
Programming as a liberal art reshapes cognition, akin to legal training, broadening accessibility beyond technical fields.
Wealth accumulation without attachment prioritizes mission over money, sustaining long-term vision.
Xerox's GUI demo blinded Jobs to other innovations, yet its inevitability reshaped computing paradigms.
Monopolies rot from within when sales eclipse product focus, turning innovators into "toner heads."
Partnerships can salvage flawed launches, as IBM's ecosystem turned a bad product into dominance.
Resisting institutional processes preserves content-driven creativity, avoiding IBM's process-over-substance pitfalls.
A-players self-select and amplify each other, creating self-sustaining excellence bubbles.
Team friction, like rock tumbling, forges superior outcomes through passionate collaboration.
Dynamic ranges in tech talent dwarf other fields, magnifying the impact of elite hires.
Direct feedback on work quality motivates top performers without ego coddling.
Pivoting from hardware to software alliances, like with Adobe, accelerates market leadership.
Leadership vacuums during crises breed scapegoating, fracturing visionary alignments.
Stagnation erodes leads; Apple's post-Jobs inertia let rivals close a decade's gap.
Opportunism plus persistence defines Microsoft's rise, but taste elevates true innovation.
Object-oriented tech revolutionizes software creation, mirroring end-user revolutions like the Mac.
The web fulfills computing's communication destiny, bypassing monopolies for explosive creativity.
Bicycles amplify human efficiency, paralleling computers as mind-extending tools.
Taste guides direction, stealing from arts to infuse tech with humanistic depth.
Hippie ethos seeks life's deeper essence, channeling into products that evoke emotion.

INSIGHTS

Youthful curiosity about mysterious technologies can ignite transformative careers by demystifying the powerful.
Simple inventions controlling complex infrastructures teach empowerment, foundational to entrepreneurial mindsets.
Serendipitous business pivots, like assembly demands, reveal market needs faster than planning.
Deep questioning dismantles outdated practices, accelerating mastery in any domain.
Liberal arts integration into tech fosters holistic thinking, elevating products beyond utility.
Prioritizing mission over wealth sustains innovation amid rapid riches.
Inevitable ideas, like GUIs, demand swift adaptation to avoid obsolescence.
Corporate monopolies prioritize sales over substance, stifling the ingenuity that built them.
Elite talent ecosystems self-perpetuate, outpacing average hierarchies.
Craftsmanship bridges vision to viability through iterative trade-offs.
Friction in passionate teams polishes raw potential into refined excellence.
Vast talent disparities in tech amplify outcomes, demanding uncompromising hiring.
Candid feedback sharpens performance without eroding trust in capability.
Alliances with innovators, like Adobe, compound strengths over solo efforts.
Crises expose survival instincts, often sacrificing vision for short-term stability.
Innovation lapses allow competitors to erode once-unassailable leads.
Taste infuses products with cultural depth, distinguishing pedestrian from profound.
Software revolutions enable societal shifts, like web-driven commerce equality.
Tools like computers rank as humanity's greatest amplifiers of innate abilities.
Artistic cross-pollination enriches tech, creating emotionally resonant creations.

QUOTES

"It was an incredibly thrilling experience."
"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 like going to law school... it teaches you how to think in a certain way."
"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."
"The best people... are the ones that really understand the content and they're a pain in the butt to manage."
"Designing a product is keeping 5,000 things in your brain... and every day you discover something new."
"Through that group of incredibly talented people bumping up against each other... they polish each other and they polish the ideas."
"In software... the difference between average and the best is 50 to one maybe 100 to one easy."
"When you say someone's work is shit, you really mean I don't quite understand it."
"Great artists steal."
"The personal computer was the bicycle of the mind."
"Ultimately it comes down to taste."
"There's something more going on... another side of the coin that we don't talk about much."

HABITS

Call industry leaders directly for advice or parts, leveraging openness in early tech eras.
Attend weekly research lab meetings to explore cutting-edge prototypes hands-on.
Collaborate on side projects with skilled peers to build electronics expertise.
Scavenge and assemble components personally to prototype without budgets.
Question every business practice deeply to uncover and eliminate folklore.
Learn programming languages early to mirror and refine thought processes.
Prioritize product content over management processes in team decisions.
Hire only A-players and let them self-select for high-caliber environments.
Provide direct, specific feedback on work quality to realign efforts swiftly.
Visit global factories to study automation and adapt best practices.
Expose yourself to arts, history, and diverse fields to infuse tech with broader sensibilities.
Steal and integrate great ideas from unrelated domains shamelessly.
Seek life's deeper essence beyond routine, channeling it into passionate work.

FACTS

Time-sharing terminals in the 1960s used teletype printers, lacking graphics, yet thrilled young users with program execution.
Hewlett-Packard in the 1970s offered daily coffee and donut breaks, emphasizing employee value.
The HP 9100, released in 1968, was the first desktop computer with a CRT display, suitcase-sized and self-contained.
Blue boxes exploited AT&T's voice-band signaling flaw, allowing handset control of the global network.
Apple I circuit boards cost $40-80 hours to hand-build, often breaking due to fragile wiring.
Paul Terrell's Byte Shop ordered 50 assembled Apple I units in 1976, launching Apple's production.
Apple II debuted at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire with advanced color graphics for the era.
Jobs became worth over $100 million by age 25 after Apple's 1980 IPO.
Xerox PARC's Alto computer in 1979 networked over 100 units with email and GUI prototypes.
IBM's 1981 PC had a flawed initial design but succeeded via open architecture partnerships.
Macintosh team engineered a mouse in 90 days for $15, countering HP engineers' $300/5-year estimate.
LaserWriter, introduced 1985, made Apple the world's top printer revenue company by 1985.
NeXT in 1995 employed 300 people, generating $50-75 million annually from object-oriented software.

REFERENCES

Esquire magazine article on Captain Crunch and free phone calls.
AT&T technical journal from Stanford Linear Accelerator Center library.
HP 9100 desktop computer.
Blue box device with logo "He's Got The Whole World in His Hands."
Apple I terminal and circuit board.
Volkswagen bus and HP calculator sold for funding.
Byte Shop in Mountain View, first computer store.
West Coast Computer Faire 1977.
Xerox PARC demonstrations: graphical user interface, object-oriented programming, networked Alto computers.
Lisa project and Macintosh development.
Automated factory in California using 68000 microprocessor.
Rock tumbler metaphor from elderly neighbor.
Scientific American article on locomotion efficiency, comparing bicycles to condors.
Picasso's saying: "Good artists copy, great artists steal."
Macintosh ad: "The personal computer was the bicycle of the mind."
Friends and Family MCI billing software as competitive weapon.
Object-oriented technology from Xerox PARC.

HOW TO APPLY

Start early: Encounter computers young via terminals or labs to experience program execution's thrill.
Network boldly: Call experts like Bill Hewlett for parts or advice, turning cold outreach into opportunities.
Build collaboratively: Partner with skilled friends like Wozniak on electronics projects to accelerate learning.
Experiment with hacks: Replicate blue boxing by studying system flaws in technical journals for control insights.
Prototype necessities: Design and build terminals or devices from scavenged parts when commercial options are unaffordable.
Transition to business: Sell assembled prototypes to stores like Byte Shop, pivoting from hobby to production.
Secure funding creatively: Sell personal assets and negotiate net-30 credit with distributors for initial runs.
Recruit experts: Convince investors like Mike Markkula to join as partners, not just financiers.
Showcase innovations: Demo products at fairs like West Coast Computer Faire to attract dealers.
Question norms: Probe business practices like standard costing to reveal and fix underlying inefficiencies.
Hire A-players: Assemble teams of top talent who self-police, emphasizing content over process.
Iterate craftsmanship: Bridge ideas to products by managing 5,000 variables through daily refinements.
Foster friction: Encourage team arguments like rock tumbling to polish ideas collaboratively.
Provide direct feedback: Clearly articulate work shortcomings without questioning overall abilities.
Integrate arts: Steal from fields like typography and music to add taste and spirit to tech products.
Pivot alliances: Partner with software firms like Adobe for faster market dominance in publishing.
Lead through vision: During crises, unite factions by reinvesting in future tech like Macintosh.
Commercialize overlooked ideas: Perfect and sell object-oriented tech from sources like Xerox PARC.
Embrace web potential: Build communication tools that democratize commerce beyond computation.
Amplify humanity: Design tools like computers as "bicycles of the mind" to enhance innate abilities.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Steve Jobs' journey reveals technology's power to amplify human potential through passionate innovation and tasteful design.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Learn programming as a core skill to enhance logical thinking like a liberal art.
Question every established business practice to uncover and eliminate outdated folklore.
Hire exclusively A-players to create self-sustaining teams of excellence.
Prioritize product content and craftsmanship over rigid management processes.
Integrate liberal arts influences to infuse technology with emotional and cultural depth.
Provide direct, specific feedback on work to maintain high standards without ego damage.
Steal great ideas from diverse fields shamelessly, as Picasso advised.
Foster team friction through passionate collaboration to refine ideas.
Visit global innovators like Xerox PARC to absorb paradigm-shifting concepts.
Pivot to alliances, like with Adobe, to accelerate software and hardware integration.
Reinvent companies during stagnation by automating and streamlining operations.
Focus on taste to guide product directions toward humanistic enlightenment.
Build tools that evolve computing into communication, leveraging the web's openness.
Challenge monopolies' sales focus by championing product sensibility.
Channel hippie-like curiosity into products that evoke deeper life connections.
Democratize access by designing affordable, user-friendly packaged computers.
Persist opportunistically like Microsoft, but add original cultural spirit.
Commercialize overlooked tech like object-oriented programming for efficiency gains.
Use early wealth for long-term ideas, not short-term luxuries.
Nudge technology's vector early toward amplifying human abilities profoundly.

MEMO

In 1995, as the personal computing world teetered on the edge of explosive growth, Steve Jobs sat down with journalist Robert X. Cringely for what would become a legendary lost interview. Fresh from Xerox PARC's revelations and ousted from Apple a decade earlier, Jobs recounted his improbable path from a 12-year-old calling Hewlett-Packard for parts to founding a revolution. His early thrill came from a teletype terminal at NASA Ames, where typing commands and watching programs execute felt like magic. This sparked lifelong curiosity, leading to blue boxes that hacked AT&T's network—proving two kids could command billions in infrastructure. "We could build a little thing that could control a giant thing," Jobs reflected, a lesson that birthed Apple.

The Apple saga unfolded from garage tinkering. Jobs and Wozniak's terminal evolved into the Apple I, sold assembled after a Byte Shop order turned hobby into hustle. Selling his VW bus funded circuit boards; net-30 credit from distributors sealed the deal. Mike Markkula's partnership tooled the Apple II, unveiled at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire with color graphics that dazzled. By 23, Jobs was a multimillionaire, yet money paled against the mission: empowering users. But success bred challenges. Xerox's GUI vision blinded him to networking gems, yet he imported it to Apple, clashing with HP engineers who dismissed mice as fanciful. "It was obvious all computers would work like this someday," he said, predicting the interface's ubiquity.

Apple's golden era cracked under internal rifts. The Lisa mismatched Apple's affordable ethos at $10,000, while Macintosh saved it through automation and $1,000 pricing. Jobs assembled A-players—musicians, poets—who polished ideas via friction, like rocks in a tumbler. But CEO John Sculley's Pepsi-honed survival instincts scapegoated Jobs during 1984's recession. Ousted to "Siberia," Jobs watched Apple's lead evaporate; by 1995, it was on a "glide slope to die," eroded by Microsoft's opportunistic sprint. "They have no taste," Jobs lamented of Redmond's pedestrian products, contrasting the Mac's spirited enlightenment.

Exiled, Jobs founded NeXT, commercializing object-oriented software for 10x faster development—a quiet revolution infiltrating businesses. Yet his gaze turned to the web, foreseeing it as computing's communication pivot. "The smallest company can look as large as the largest," he envisioned, predicting tens of billions in online sales and a Microsoft-free innovation boom. Desktop publishing, pioneered via LaserWriter and Adobe ties, had briefly crowned Apple printer king, but broader visions like networked offices faltered on marketing blunders.

Jobs' philosophy rooted in humanism: computers as "bicycles of the mind," amplifying abilities like bikes outpace condors. Taste, stolen from arts, guided direction—hippie sparks seeking life's deeper essence infused products with soul. Users loved the Mac not for specs, but feeling. As history unfolded, Jobs nudged tech's vector, blending art and engineering to elevate humanity.

Reflecting on Xerox's squandered dominance—"toner heads" oblivious to genius—Jobs warned monopolies rot when sales eclipse products. Apple's drift mirrored this, but NeXT's precision hinted at revival. The interview, unearthed from a garage, captures Jobs' charisma: candid, visionary, unyielding. A decade later, he'd return to Apple, proving foresight's arc bends toward the passionate.