Lukáš Gondek On the server Quora, where someone asks a question and others answer it, appeared interesting topic about the best memories of chance meetings with Steve Jobs, the late co-founder of Apple. More than a hundred answers were collected and we offer you a selection of the most interesting ones…
Matt McCoy, founder of LoopCommunity.com, recalls:
In 2008, the hard drive on my MacBook Pro stopped working. I was just in the middle of working on my final project at the University of Cincinnati (electronic media major) which was due by the end of the following week. I then went to the Apple Store hoping that they would be able to recover the data from my drive. But instead, they put a whole new hard drive in my MacBook.
When I came to pick up my laptop, they wouldn't give me the old disk that contained my final project data. They said they have already sent it back to the manufacturer and customers can't keep the old parts. But I wasn't interested in the new drive, only the old one was important to me because I wanted to try to recover my old data from it.
So I went home and wrote an email to Steve Jobs. I just guessed his email address. I wrote to steve@apple.com, jobs@apple.com, jobs.steve@apple.com, etc. I shared my problem with him and asked for his help. The day after that I received a phone call from Palo Alto.
Me: "Hello?"
Caller: “Hi Matt, this is Steve Jobs. I just wanted to let you know that I received your email and that we will do everything in our power to return your lost hard drive.”
Me: "Wow, thank you so much!"
Caller: “I'll put you through to my assistant now and he'll take care of you. We will solve everything. Wait a minute."
And then they put me through to a guy named Tim. I can't remember his last name… Is it even possible for him to be Tim Cook? I don't know what he did at Apple before.
However, within four days a new disc showed up at my door with the data recovered from the original disc as well as a brand new iPod.
Michell Smith recalls:
By the time Steve returned to Apple, it was clear that the company was in trouble. Larry Ellison toyed with the idea of a hostile takeover of the company, but to some of us it appeared that then-CEO Gil Amelia's plan might have worked.
I wrote an email to Steve at Pixar begging him to find something else. "Please don't go back to Apple, you'll destroy it," I begged him.
At the time I thought Steve and Larry were really just driving the knife deeper into an already dying company. I made a living working on the Mac and of course I wanted Apple to survive and not be destroyed by their games.
Steve emailed me shortly after. He explained to me his intentions and that he was trying to save Apple. And then he wrote the words I will never forget: “Maybe you're right. But if I succeed, don't forget to look in the mirror and tell yourself you're a moron for me.”
Consider it done, Steve. I couldn't have been more confused.
Tomas Higbey recalls:
In the summer of 1994, I worked at NeXT. I was in the break room with my colleagues when Jobs came in and started making a snack. We were sitting at the table eating ours when out of the blue he asked, "Who is the most powerful person in the world?"
I said Nelson Mandela because I had recently arrived from South Africa, where I was working as an international reporter for the presidential election. "No!" he replied with a confidence of his own. “None of you are right. The most powerful person in the world is the storyteller.'
At that point I thought to myself, “Steve, I like you, but there's a very fine line between genius and complete moron, and I think you've just crossed it.” Steve continued, “The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of the whole the next generation and Disney has a monopoly on the whole business of storytellers. you know what? I hate it. I will be the next narrator," he declared and left with his snack.
you know what? I'm sick of this bullshit. I will be the next narrator," he declared and left with his snack. A variant that makes sense in Czech:
you know what? Fuck it. (figuratively speaking) I'll be the next narrator," he declared and left with his snack.
Nice :) especially the first one
the end of the second memory, the last sentence.. "se" is missing :) delete the comment. Thank you
Interesting ;)
Of the three, the first one is the best ;)
where can i read more of these stories? :)
We are already preparing the next part, so stay tuned :)
You can find the English originals at the link at the beginning of the article.
Excellent article. I look forward to the sequel :). Thanks a lot!
Interesting addition to SJ's CV :)
This article is absolutely awesome! Thanks for him!
Very nice translation, Lukas.