Significant Personality from Module 2
Steve Jobs
Steve Jobs has been one of the most significant personalities in computing in recent years with his ability to introduce innovative developments to the industry.
Jobs was born in 1955 and adopted by a Californian family and as a schoolboy was "something of a loner" and "always had a different way of looking at things". [Halliday, 1983, p205]. These personality traits may have been a factor in his huge success within the computer industry.
|
Jobs and his friend Steve Wozniak developed the Apple 1 personal computer in Jobs garage. The personal computer was a departure from the mainframes and minicomputers of the time and would prove to be revolutionary in the history of computing. Steve Jobs believed the future lay with the personal computer and envisaged that everyone should have access to them. Although Wozniak was better with electronics, Jobs proved to have a flair for marketing and between them they formed Apple Computer Inc. |
Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple computer Inc. and developed the Apple 1 and then the Apple 2 personal computers which proved great successes and caused IBM to make the paradigm shift into the Personal Computer market.
Apple became a hugely successful company upon Jobs innovative ideas and increasing marketing skills. However, the Apple story is not all about success and the Apple 3 flopped after a series of false starts. This led Jobs to develop the Macintosh to counter the IBM machines. This reintroduced successfully the Graphical User Interface and mouse , features now taken for granted on PCs.
Jobs expected a lot from his workforce and is reputed to have treated them badly, yet his unique motivational skills seemed to bring the best out of many of his staff. It has been said of Jobs that "He'd say something, and the kids in the Macintosh division would find themselves replying 'Drink poison Kool-Aid? Yeah, that makes sense'." [Robert X. Cringely, 1992.]. He seems to act as a catalyst for the skills of his staff.
Jobs left Apple in 1985. The company grew so large that his position within it was compromised by business decisions he made that were seen as not being in Apple's best interest. He formed NextStep to develop educational computers.
He is very popular among many in the computer industry because of his rebellious underdog style image. He gained this by confronting the giants of IBM and Microsoft and not being beaten.
He is a man of charisma and instils great confidence, so much so that when he returned to Apple in 1997 the stock price rose nearly 100% in value.
Since being back at Apple the company has a a virtual rebirth with the innovative iMac being launched followed by the iBook. Undoubtedly Jobs was only too happy to launch a colourful computer that moved away from the image of the boring beige box on the desk.
I believe Jobs has a lot more exiting new ideas in store and may yet give the giants a scare.
