Embedded above is a slightly re-edited version of John Siracusa’s devastating review of Steve Jobs one and only authorized biography.
To summarize his criticism: Walter Isaacson did a poor job because he simply didn’t care. While for us the work of Jobs has influenced our live in so many ways, for him it was just another book to publish. He doesn’t have the technological understanding to ask the right questions, neither he tries to learn it. At one point Siracusa basically says every graduate with a fascination for Apple could have written a better biography than Walter Isaacson.
That for me, was the key point which you could apply to everything you do. Enthusiasm, commitment and passion are of such importantance for your job that you should’t work without it. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do.”
For the detailed analysis, listen to the almost 2 1/2 hours long edited podcast or go to the source files at 5by5.tv.
The only thing I did, was to merge the two pieces together, cut out other topics and move the feedback part to the end.
![As most viewers of Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” event I was disappointed immediately after.
But then I asked myself the question what Apple should have done to appease me or the masses. I can’t think of a damn single thing. [1]
Or did you really expect that Apple’s Voice Control goes way beyond what we know from Android? Oh wait, perhaps it does. I was working on Voice-to-Text technology and I can tell you what Forstall did on the stage was pretty amazing. In fact, Siri is the dream of the Semantic Web, which was dubbed “Web 3.0” a decade ago. It remains to be seen if people change their behaviours and use voice as an input method, though.
Or do you think a smartphone camera can ever replace your DSLR? Maybe not, but you can clearly see how Apple does everything possible to get the best camera experience with this form factor. Look at these (hopefully untouched) photographs and tell me you expected more from the iPhone 5. [2]
Once more, this is how Apple rolls. Small, incremental improvements, instead of dramatic revolutions. Secondly, hardware specs alone isn’t what’s important anymore. Services, and their integration with hardware is the new real deal.
[Update] Read similiar lines from Dan Frommer.
For users, this is still the best phone that money can buy.
[1] LTE is too laughable to even discuss here. We’ll talk again when TelCo’s made their promises happen. Same goes (in a smaller degree) for NFC.One area - where improvements would be very welcome - is the battery life. On the other hand the iPhone already rules the smartphone competition.
[2] What I really don’t get is the naming. I understood it with the 3GS, but now? I thought Apple stands for simple and clear product titles. Now consumers are waiting for the “real” next iteration, the iPhone 5.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsld0eOUSn1qz5w37o1_1280.gif)
As most viewers of Apple’s “Let’s talk iPhone” event I was disappointed immediately after.
But then I asked myself the question what Apple should have done to appease me or the masses. I can’t think of a damn single thing. [1]
Or did you really expect that Apple’s Voice Control goes way beyond what we know from Android? Oh wait, perhaps it does. I was working on Voice-to-Text technology and I can tell you what Forstall did on the stage was pretty amazing. In fact, Siri is the dream of the Semantic Web, which was dubbed “Web 3.0” a decade ago. It remains to be seen if people change their behaviours and use voice as an input method, though.
Or do you think a smartphone camera can ever replace your DSLR? Maybe not, but you can clearly see how Apple does everything possible to get the best camera experience with this form factor. Look at these (hopefully untouched) photographs and tell me you expected more from the iPhone 5. [2]
Once more, this is how Apple rolls. Small, incremental improvements, instead of dramatic revolutions. Secondly, hardware specs alone isn’t what’s important anymore. Services, and their integration with hardware is the new real deal.
[Update] Read similiar lines from Dan Frommer.
For users, this is still the best phone that money can buy.
[1] LTE is too laughable to even discuss here. We’ll talk again when TelCo’s made their promises happen. Same goes (in a smaller degree) for NFC.
One area - where improvements would be very welcome - is the battery life. On the other hand the iPhone already rules the smartphone competition.
[2] What I really don’t get is the naming. I understood it with the 3GS, but now? I thought Apple stands for simple and clear product titles. Now consumers are waiting for the “real” next iteration, the iPhone 5.
Not forking is the right choice for Microsoft
The most suspense-packed news from the Windows 8 keynote was their approach to the “Big Forking Decision”. Because the implications are huge.
I’m going even further: Windows 8 is not only the right move, it’s the only one with higher chances to win the title “most used Tablet OS” instead to fail.
So, the critics tell Microsoft to make a clear split and develop Windows 8 (a slightly better version of Windows 7) in parallel while throwing all waste away with their new OS “Metro”.
I say 4 things would happen in this scenario:
- Windows 8 (and to a smaller degree Windows 7) sales would be slowed down dramatically. Because people don’t like spending money on a platform that is supposed to die in the not so far future. There are plenty of examples to that.
- In addition to Windows 8 loosing ground against Mac OSX, Metro will have a very hard time to compete with iOS and the iPad. It’s the ecosystem, stupid. Apple doesn’t show the iTunes account numbers at every keynote for no reason. When Metro is released to the public, the iOS ecosystem had more than 4 years [1] to grow - in the mobile industry an eternity.
“But Microsoft sells so much more licenses to device vendors, the market will be flooded with Metro hardware!” So is the situation with Android right now. Pure quantity doesn’t necessarily bring you developer attention. [2]
“But Metro for itself has some really big advantages over iOS!” So did webOS. - Working on different operating systems inside one company that can do the same jobs is a big risk. Apple already knows this from the “Lisa vs. Macintosh”-era. If you watched “Pirates of Silicon Valley” you get a glimpse of how deeply divided Apple was. And, today nobody knows how OSX versus iOS will play out for them.
- Backwards compatiblity is in Microsoft’s DNA - it was always an important selling point. It certainly doesn’t produce the best designed, user-friendliest and bug-free, unique experiences one can get with an iPad. But that’s not what the average person asks for - they ask “Does it run Word […with the interface I’m used to]?”
I’m absolutely not rooting for Microsoft, and we’ll have to see what else happens in the time till the first stable release. Similiar to Gruber, I have my difficulties to see how it works out technically, buf if it does (and Microsoft has a buttload of engineers working on it, I’m sure), it’s a brilliant move.
[1] I’m counting since the opening of the App Store in July, 2008. One could argue the first iPhone in 2007 is the real beginning, because customers bought into the ecosystem at that moment.
[2] Android users are indeed very different from iPhone users. More on that topic in the article Perils of Possession without utilization.
