Discovery orders Steve Jobs documentary with 'Mythbusters' hosts

Entertainment Weekly ^ | 10/11/2011 | by James Hibbard

[Swordmaker]

Discovery has ordered a documentary on the life of the late Steve Jobs, with the Mythbusters duo on board to host. The network is teaming with NBC’s Peacock Productions for iGenius: How Steve Jobs Changed the World, a one-hour special. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman, who celebrate the spirit of innovation on Discovery’s hit Mythbusters, will host the show.

“Someone once said that to follow the path that others have laid before you is a very reasonable course of action, therefore all progress is made by unreasonable men,” Savage said. “Steve Jobs was an unreasonable man. He didn’t simply give the public what they wanted, he defined entirely new ways of thinking about our lives in the digital space: productivity, creativity, music, communication, media and art. He has touched, directly and indirectly, all of our lives.”

The special has already lined up interviews with several key names to talk about the Apple co-founder and CEO, including: Lee Felsenstein, founding member of the Homebrew Computer Club, Daniel Kottke, who traveled to India with Jobs and who later become an early Apple employee, and John Draper, an engineer who gave Jobs his start. Musicians Stevie Wonder and Pete Wentz will talk about how Jobs’ innovations impacted their careers.

The documentary premieres Sunday, Oct. 16 at 8 p.m. and will air across Discovery’s portfolio of networks in 210 countries and territories.

[SamAdams76]

And did you know that Boeing got their airplane-making ideas from the Wright Brothers and that Sam Walton started the Walmart chain only after having seen the Ben Franklin chain of stores?

Some people invent...others have the ability to refine, develop and market the product for mass consumption. In the case of Apple, they did a lot of both.

[TheBattman]

DVR is set!

[TheBattman]

You sound like someone who knew Jobs personally, or were one of those “elevator” disgruntled employees.

Either that, or you read one of the hit pieces that have been written over the years.

That being said - Jobs’ ugly side IS well documented - and it was even somewhat portrayed on the “Pirates of Silicon Valley” (or maybe that’s where you got your statements?).

[tallyhoe]

Microsoft was asked to refine Apples/Xerox op system and Microsoft called it windows. That is one of the feuds between Apple and Microsoft!!!

[tallyhoe]

My understanding is that Apple adapted the Xerox idea of a mouse and improved on it. But Xerox had the idea first but didn’t have the idea of what to do with it! Microsoft actually refined it for Apple that is how Microsoft got their Windows system!

[Swordmaker]

Microsoft was asked to refine Apples/Xerox op system and Microsoft called it windows. That is one of the feuds between Apple and Microsoft!!!

Uh, no, they were not. Where do you get your historical factoids? Who do you think made such a request of Microsoft?

Microsoft was contracted by Apple to write a word processor, spreadsheet, and database package for the Macintosh... to do that task they needed access to the Macintosh's code base. While they worked on what became Microsoft Office for Mac (which came out before any such application package for DOS), Microsoft was copying Apple's intellectual property and the result was Windows.

No one "asked" Microsoft to "refine" Apple's or Xerox's Operating systems. They used their unique access to the trade secrets of Apple's intellectual property to steal them. That's why the movie was named "The Pirates of Silicon Valley"! Microsoft did not pay Xerox for any visits to PARC. They did not license the software from Apple. They DID sign a poorly drafted agreement with a former sugar water salesman who was, unfortunately, the CEO of Apple for a license for some of the IP of the GUI of the Mac that was supposed to be limited to Windows 1 through Windows 2, but It was so poorly written that a luddite non-tech knowledgeable judge said the agreement only applied to the TRASH CAN icon and a few minor issues of similar importance when Apple sued over copyright infringement for Windows 95... so Microsoft changed it's trashcan to the Recycle Bin! ... went on its merry way, using Apple's basic designs, upside down and backwards. . . and driving people to tearing their hair out.

[PA Engineer]

You have no idea.

Sounds like you were fired for non-performance. Get over it and move on.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Maybe they’ll blow up a couple of Windows operating systems in a fireball-filled tribute.

[ReignOfError]

Supposedly, Draper was working informally off the books with Apple to create an Apple II “phone card,” an internal modem that would have been way ahead of its time in an era when modems had acoustic couplers. Someone, either Draper or Woz, I think, made a comment to the effect that “with a dozen of these, I could bring down the whole phone system.”

AT&T got wind of that, and threatened Apple (Jobs in particular). It was never built.

[tallyhoe]

Your wrong after Apple got their operating system from Xerox, which was a windows type system they went to Microsoft to get it refined, Which Microsoft kinda borrowed it!

[ReignOfError]

I don’t think there is anything in that sentence that isn’t wrong.

[Swordmaker]

Your wrong after Apple got their operating system from Xerox, which was a windows type system they went to Microsoft to get it refined, Which Microsoft kinda borrowed it!

Tallyhoe, Absolutely NONE of that is true... you have no idea what you are talking about. Not one word is true. Not one single word. You can look it up on the internet and find out the truth... so why not shut up before you really make yourself look like a fool? Some of us were THERE when these things happened. I was the publisher of a computer Newsletter at the time all this happened. Where were YOU?

Here is the story from one who WAS THERE, Bruce Horn. Bruce Horn worked for both Xerox PARC and later for Apple. He was THERE at both places and is uniquely situated to KNOW what happened. And here is another report of who invented what from Jef Raskin, also a major player in the invention of the GUIs. Jef Raskin was a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who had lectured at PARC and set them on their pursuit of a GUI... He later became the 31st employee of Apple and was the ORIGINATOR of the Macintosh project at APPLE in 1978—BEFORE Steve Jobs took it over—before the visit to PARC. It was HE who suggested the PARC visit to Steve Jobs!

Here is another source you may find enlightening, "Creation myth", an article from The New Yorker Magazine that was originally published in May of 2011 on the history surrounding the PARC visit and what XEROX did and didn't do with PARC and it's creations.

Apple had no need to go to Microsoft to refine their GUI... nor COULD Microsoft have "refined" their GUI, because Microsoft did not HAVE one. Apple had most of the finest GUI scientists working for THEM... they had hired many from Xerox. Why go to Microsoft?

Microsoft's mouse motion in Windows was not pixel to pixel but character grid to character grid... it was a joke! Have you SEEN Microsoft Windows 1.0 to 3.0??? It was a mess! Take a look at the five leading GUIs of the period:

Windows 1.01 copyright Microsoft 1985

Apple MacOS GUI copyright 1984

Xerox Smalltalk GUI copyright 1981 from Xerox Star

Atari 520ST TOS GUI copyright 1985

Commodore Amiga Workbench GUI copyright 1985

You really should KNOW what you are talking about before telling an expert who DOES know "You're wrong." Just like in this case, that expert, me, is likely going to hand you your head. . . especially when you MAKE UP YOUR FACTS!

[sit-rep]

just as long as they dont have the broad on there over exaggerating her talking with her hands problem... those two are ok...