< |:)~
Posted on 11/05/2005 10:57:25 PM PST by nickcarraway
Did computer geek Steve Jobs have a system meltdown? On Friday, the svengali-like CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar Animated Studios lashed out at author Fredric Alan Maxwell after he sent Jobs a 4,000-word article he wrote for Fast Company magazine about the untold story of Jobs' biological father, a Syrian immigrant and political science professor named Abdulfattah Jandali.
"Are you a nut case?" Jobs demanded, signing the oneliner "Steve."
Maxwell fired back: "Are you?"
The Montana-based author has been pushing Jobs' buttons for a while, even conducting 18 months of research for an unauthorized biography before Penguin Group's Portfolio imprint pulled the plug earlier this year.
He finally sent Jobs the piece about his birth father after Fast Company killed it.
Maxwell said he's not surprised by Jobs' reaction.
"Apple runs as a cult of Steve Jobs, who has a well-known reality distortion field," Maxwell told Lowdown. "Anytime you pull back a curtain and look at the man behind it, the prickly narcissist called Jobs reacts strongly."
Lowdown readers will recall that in January, Maxwell was stripped of his press credentials when he tried to enter Jobs' keynote speech at the MacWorld event in San Francisco. In March, Maxwell encountered Jobs by chance in Palo Alto and introduced himself.
"I'm writing a biography of you," Maxwell reminded him, to which Jobs replied, "Lucky you."
Despite Lowdown's multiple attempts to obtain an explanation of Jobs' E-mail, reps for Apple did what Jobs probably should have done:
Nothing.
Look, there's no denying that Jobs is an egotistical Type A personality, but geez...if I got badgered by some fruitcake for months on end, my terse reply would have been a lot more incendiary than a simple, "Are you a nut case?"
Criminy, if that is a "system meltdown," in the eyes of that author, where was he when Mama Heinz was screeching "Go to hell!" to reporters who confronted her?
All told, considering that this Maxwell guy has had his anti-Jobs hit pieces recently spiked by two different publishers, I'm inclined to think that Jobs' question wasn't just rhetorical.
I really couldn't care less if Jobs' biological father were an Eskimo or a Hottentot. Neither, evidently, does Jobs. This author strikes me as a bit of a parasite and more than a bit of a jerk.
Ha! Next thing you know they'll try to tell us that the guy responsible for electric outlets in our houses was... I dunno.... Serbian, or something.
I've never run into Jobs in Palo Alto...although in '98 or '99 I did see Chelsea in the Borders Bookstore there.
Good one!
I just don't see the point. Stalking always struck me as a lot of work for very little pay off.
Some people think restraining orders are just another way of saying, "I Love You."
These are usually the same people who think the moon landing was fake and pro wrestling is real.
I would consider taking up stalking if I wouldn't have to alter my schedule or pay that much attention to the other person. The way I figure it, stalkers waste a lot of time stalking while their victim is doing uninteresting things. Really, what's the point of stalking someone while they're doing their laundry or mowing the lawn? Boring. If the victims of stalking would call their stalkers when, for instance, they were going out to a good restaurant or a good movie, that would save a lot of time.
I had a stalker once. I let him "stalk" me into a blind alley. I didn't have a stalker after that.
They seem to be people with a lot of free time on their hands. The most efficient thing would be for them to get together and stalk each other, split up the stalking duties on a weekly or monthly basis.
I like the way you think. In that arrangement, it'd be like wolves eternally circling each other in 16-hour shifts. Very cool.
Well, it seems like the author is talking down jobs as the father of the technical revolution, when wasn't it steve himself who acknowledges the accomplishments of his college friend, and chief engineer who really made Apple work?
I count this as a hit piece that counteracts the deification of jobbes. jobes. jobs.
Both the hits, and deification, are worthy of derision, but if you mix the two you might find out that it is a geek trying to do something "cool" in a garage. Jobs is just the guy who made it proffitable. Which in itself is an effort, and an accomplishment, that doesn't mean that the guy who came up with the "YES _I_ _AM_" commercial for budlight is the creator of beer.
This might be a useful bit of info for those who want to worship jobs (and other spellings) because of his ability to successfuly market a defice that was designed by others.
Directly about this article. It is about as low as you go to bring up family in the effort to attack a cult of personality.
Syrians are great folks. The Bay Area has a bunch of them, and the Assyrian Christian community's national presence emanates from south San Jose, where they run a modest TV network. Hard working, industrous, they are a splendid addition to the American melting pot.
So watch out for knee-jerk conclusions. The Bay Area is also rich with Persians (Iranians) who fled that country as the Shah lost power. They are not Khomeini types by any means. They and their remaining brethren back home are, in fact, the best hope for a democratic revolution in Iran.
As for Jobs, he's one of the few businessmen to revolutionize or create not one, not two but three major industries: personal computing, personal media and motion-picture animation. He's reported to be hell to work for but there is no denying his genius. The same comment was made many times about Thomas Edison-- and Jobs belongs in Edison's company in the pantheon of American entrepreneurship.
Must live in Missoula, the liberal enclave
--and that he could see visions of polyphase alternating electrical currents in his head as an adolescent--
< |:)~
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.