The revenge of Steve Jobs

I have to give Steve credit.  I did not think his powers could span the continent, but apparently finding me here on the Crystal Coast of North Carolina was no problem.  Earlier this evening I was writing a post entitled, "Bill makes the list, while Steve pounds sand."

The list that I was writing about was Atlantic's "The Top 100, The most influential figures in American history."  Bill Gates made number fifty four on the list.  Steve did not make the list, but he did show up as number five on the "Top Living Influentials. Living Americans who received votes from panelists."  Unfortunately Bill was number one on that list.

I had postulated that perhaps Steve was undone by the niche status of Apple's computers which serve less than 3% of the world's computer users. Or even his focus on entertainment devices might have been the problem, though an entertainment focus did not hurt Walt Disney. 

While Steve's team created an operating system ostensibly more reliable and elegant than Bill's minions, unfortunately Bill's marketing people trampled the Apple marketing machine.  The rest is history. Microsoft ended up creating the operating system equivalent of Henry Ford's assembly line for Model T's.  Perhaps Microsoft wasn't the best but it made the biggest difference in the most people's lives. Of course Bill's philanthropy probably helped a lot in making the list.  If Steve is parting with his millions, he doing a great job of keeping it quiet.

I was just getting ready to post this using my MacBook, when it had a Steve induced random shutdown which cost me the whole post.  Bill may be on the list, but Steve has definitely impressed me with his remote powers.  Perhaps it was an Applepeels specific update that I did not catch.

Actually it is almost funny.  For twenty years, I touted Apple's quality which I really had little reason to doubt.  Once I left Apple, my Apple hardware troubles began.  First it was my dual G5 with memory and hard drive problems, then it was my Aluminum G4 Powerbook with a bad memory slot and screen hinge problem, and now it is my new white MacBook, already discolored and now suffering from random shutdowns in spite of installing the most recent updates.

Yesterday iPhoto started having troubles on my G5 so I switched over to Nikon's PictureProject to get my photos downloaded.  Perhaps Steve will turn the power down a little now that I have lost my post and only done an abbreviated version.  If he doesn't turn back the dial, I may have to start using my Dell and Windows XP more often.  I hate to say it, but the two Dells that I have purchased since I left Apple are doing fine.  Of course they would be doing a lot better if they were running OS X, but that's another issue.

Actually I suppose I could hope for a new MacBook Pro to replace my flaky MacBook and to make up for the problems on my other computers, but I am sure Steve is not particularly excited about my computer problems even if I am a customer with an audience.  I am pretty sure that Apple will replace my MacBook if I can ever get a period of time when I can do without it.  The problem is that none of us with problem MacBooks should have to get them replaced if Apple would get back its focus on quality.  A reliable Mac would make writing more Applepeels about quality unnecessary.

Now that I have had some extra time to think on it, I am sure it does not matter to Steve whether he is on a particular list or not.  Steve has always been one to make his own lists.  When you march to your own drummer, you often don't even hear what the rest of the world has to say.

Still when the lights go out, and he has a moment to think, I am sure Steve has to wonder why he didn't make the list.  I certainly do.

Comments

[Preston]

You are aware that Apple released a firmware update over a month ago that fixed the random MacBook shutdown issue some users were experiencing? I'd recommend installing it.

[michael]

Apple has yet to build a laptop that is portable.

[ocracokewaves]

Yes I have actually done two firmware updates, the most recent one last week.

[Jim]

The simple answer as to why Steve is not on the list:

Apple never capitalized on their early successes. Apple's biggest enemy has always been Apple. Instead of licensing the Mac OS and making it as ubiquitous as Wonder bread Steve choose the elitist route. I'd really prefer not to hear the argument that you get a better product because Apple builds (designs) both the hardware and the software because as shown by Davids post, it's just not true. If you look back over the Apple product line, there has always been a product that has suffered from a build flaw. Now we are seeing multiple products with defects. With the respect to the iPod, it's not a world changing device it's a consumer electronic device that relies on content produced outside of Apple. Without music, video and podcasts it's a expensive paper weight. Like it or not MS software runs the world's businesses. If Apple were to disappear tomorrow what would we really be losing? What would the global impact be? Now, ask yourself what would happen if MS were to vanish into thin air...

Still wondering why Steve didn't make the list?

[Robert]

Gee, I've never gotten farther than occasional negative *thoughts* about Steve, and yet my 1-month old MBP died severely enough that Apple ended up replacing the motherboard (and took a month to do so). Man, that guy is *powerful*.

[B.W. McAdams]

OK, for those pointing to the SMC firmware update.

It made my machine WORSE. I never had a shutdown problem with my Macbook until after they pushed a firmware update touted as fixing RSS: after that my machine got worse and worse until it finally took me several tries to get it to boot.

To Apple's credit, I took the machine to them and not only did they replace the heatsink and fan assembly (They said it was a faulty temperature connector on the heatsink causing the RSS; apparently the SMC update made it worse due to a change in the way the fan ran, loosening the connection further), but they replaced the top case of my Macbook with a new kind of plastic that they claim doesn't discolor. I've had the new topcover since mid-september and haven't seen any discoloration yet.

Send it in for repair... You'll be glad you did.