Comments on: What drives Steve Jobs?

Recent news gets one wondering why was Bill Gates able to walk away from his business while Steve Jobs just can't?

[myles taylor]

They're two very different people with different styles. You can't compare them just because their companies are in tech.

[myles taylor]

Oh and FYI, I plan on enjoying my death. You only get to do it once and it's sad that people don't embrace it as a part of life.

[myles taylor]

And I hope you are being sarcastic about the wonderful ads....they were a flop and terrible.

[Mr. Dee]

Actually, Jobs first cancer surgery was in 2004, not 2005. Anyway, your article is more appropriate to a successful person who is not Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs has the option of enjoying life and still doing what he loves at Apple. He takes regular vacations, that is why he has a $89 million dollar private jet. I remember reading an article where the Jet purchase was approved by the board of directors because Jobs kept complaining he wouldn't mind having a private jet so he could carry his family to Hawaii instead flying commercial. Larry Ellison was on the board at this time when it was approved. Its quite obvious this is a guy who loves living the so-called 'good life'. The fact that he could sprint to head of a donor list for a liver proves that he will stop at nothing to ensure the safety of his own health. If I had the resources and was in his position, I probably would do the same.

So, I think you are in no position Chris to really determine how Jobs lives his life. You don't know him, I don't know him.

[dascha1]

Ok, very sorry to hear about this and the history of a personal health matter. The ironic thing is, I have at least 4, many close relatives who have passed away in the last three years of cancer. When you add my wife's side double it. More recently one of parents has just entered phase II treatment of stage IV (and the other parent has recently had a biopsy). So, with all of the attention being on the heart of one individual I honestly don't see the nostalgia of it. The fact is, Apple products haven't broken the barrier to help us live longer yet. I don't see them in the ER or cancer treatment centers which I visit frequently now as a young, close to middle-age person.

[zazizizou]

Hi, I'm sorry for your family, it is hard to lose some you love... But I would like to say that the tragedy is not the fact of losing one person due to a cancer; it is actually beyond that. Apple needs its CEO (Jobs) as a "name", because Steven Paul Jobs is a popular person in the world of tech. To give you an example, Apple's actions has decreased of 1.2% (or so) just because Jobs did not show up in the WWDC of 2005. So losing Jobs is a real tragedy for Apple: it can cost her thousands or millions of dollars... You see now ? And do not forget that Jobs is important for investors more than for any one else...

[alegr]

zazizizou,

On this side of the pond, 'actions' are called 'shares' or 'stock'.

[sebastien.kalonji]

What drives Chris Matyszczyk? You can call it art. You can call it obsession. You can call it madness. Perhaps it's all three.

[Perry_Clease]

The great artists, inventors, explorers, statesmen are all like that.

[carlbinder]

Steve is a creative genius, a visionary, a perfectionist, someone who loves making beautiful functional things. His head for product design and marketing, his ability to attract wildly creative and competent people, and to lead teams to go beyond limits seems to be driven by a creative impulse that goes way beyond desire for a private jet or to be in control. He has made a profound contribution to our society by helping to "ignite the personal computing revolution" -- which many people might have forgotten. The Apple II began what has turned into our world of personal, intelligent appliances. The Mac took it to another level, and then Windows copied the Mac. What else would a man who loves his work, has the opportunity to create on such a big scale, and have fun with family and colleagues at the same time do with his remaining time? Maybe it's because I personally want to be writing and working creatively until I die, and can therefore understand his motivation. But to me, the question posed by this article suggests a kind of blindness to the passionate, creative impulse that drives people like Steve Jobs.

[Rosaski]

carlbinder you are correct. Who the heck is chris m?????? Thank you Steve Jobs for the wonderful products and creativity you have given us! I love you for it!

[CrashPad63]

"Steve is a nut job, a dysfuntional human, a lunatic, someone who loves making lots of money!!!! "There thats better.
Your original was to put it bluntly screwed up.

[Perry_Clease]

What drives Steve Jobs? The same thing that drives similar great people, the need to create, to think outside of the box, to upset "apple" carts with an invention, artwork, or a writing.

"I've never died, but I can't imagine it to be a terribly enjoyable experience."

I was there once, or at least I think I was and maybe it was just something much less than fully conscious, but it was my inner voice saying in a matter of fact tone "I am dead" and the most intense feeling of being alone that you can imagine, then I heard "I don't want to die!" and I was back. It was little over 6 years ago to the day, and you can bet that it affected me. I am no longer afraid of dying, but I am not in a hurry for it to happen and I am taking better care of myself.

[ThurstonTheGreat]

Gadgets will make it easier for others to climb the mountain idiot. So in a sense he is helping the greater good. Keep bashing Jobs or Gates it doesnt matter to me. Regardless of what you say both make the world a better place in their own way. Why not speak to the fact that these two people can take all their money and hide from society while buying whatever they want. Instead they elect to make things that improve life and give money and/or time to help those in need. Columnists are so quick to judge people in the world with money because they think they have a right to freedom of speech. Yes you do, but it is usually so far from the truth and this is what gets the masses stirred up and a downward spiral starts. You stink at your job man. Honestly

[drwam]

"his utterly disrespectful attitude to parking"
The guy was obviously physically wasted for the last year or two. Whether he had handicapped placard or not, I think he was sick enough to have a moral claim on that blue parking slot.
Otherwise, he must have felt like crap while he was wasting away. Lets start with the basics: I hope he feels better now.

[CrashPad63]

His parking lot exploits predate by a couple decades any ailments that came to him. Try not being such a revisionist.

[cvaldes1831]

Hubris.

Plus the fact that he likes making his competitors look like idiots. And as an Apple shareholder, I am pleased by his performance in that capacity.

He's certainly a visionary, not as a computer scientist, but as marketer. He doesn't have a reputation as a sweet and friendly guy, but hey, he's not my roommate. He has a gift, understands it, and believes it is his duty to use it.

I don't know if Steve considers himself to be a success in all aspects of his life, but I think he's doing a good job as CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation.

[bob donut]

"Is spending your time creating another lovely gadget as valuable, as enjoyable, as satisfying as, say, wafting up Mount Kilimanjaro? Is it as challenging as waking up in the morning, looking out at the dawn and having no idea what you might do today?"

The answer to these questions, Chris, depends on your values. If you like taking vacations and loads of unstructured time, that's okay. But it's not appropriate to belittle those who don't like these things just because they have preferences that you don't understand.

Personally, I'd find your version of happiness boring. But that's just me. Steve Jobs has done a lot of great things in his life, as well as made spectacular blunders. Let's choose to recognize the great things he's doing today.

[akapoor14]

Anyone can scale Kilimanjaro or look at sunsets and waste their lives away.. only Steve Jobs could do what he is doing and giving something to the world to look forward to... whats in there NOT to do? For you it must be a physical gadget but to others it may be human technological advancement or changing the way people live and work.. or just inspiration to a bunch of people.

[Groucho6]

How about one man's need to do what he pleases? Obviously he works because he chooses to?he hasn't "needed" the money since he left Apple the first time, if not before that. You seem to be saying that work is always inferior to retirement. For many people that is not only not so, but in reality, retirement is simply the easiest way to hasten one's death.

You may be an "award winning creative director," but I suspect you didn't take any psychology courses in university.

[georgiarat]

Jobs is a visionary that is unfortunately lacking in too almost all CEO's in technology. He is unrelenting in his opinion and view of how things should progress and that has been beneficial to Apple and its shareholders. Gates did a brilliant job of establishing a business model and a tenacity for protecting it that while I may not agree with likewise paid dividends for its shareholders though I believe it set back computing at least a decade. However, without Jobs and Gates one has to wonder where the environments would be good or bad.

[SlimGem]

I don't understand berating someone who wants to continue working even though they are rich and don't have to. He is wonderful at what he does and apparently loves it. I would imagine he has unfinished goals still in store for Apple, and I hope he has the time and good health to accomplish all of them. He has my admiration.

[caffemacchiato]

One should evaluate one's achievements before criticizing others in that light. It is a sad display of bad character and style. This article is self-defamatory.

?What we cannot speak about we must pass over in silence,? Wittgenstein

[CrashPad63]

So your saying because I am not a piece of buffalo dung, I should not speak of Jobsy being such??? Hey this is America!!! And he is excrement, nothing more than a Carnaval Barker plying his wares.

[ngrussell]

this is the most stupid and useless thing I've read in a long time, and I just came here from Perez Hilton.

[Mr. Dee]

I am beginning to wonder if Steve took Michael's liver.

[atomicbomb156]

Bill Gates gave us the operating system. Doesn't matter who made it first or who copied who. The fact is Microsoft changed computing on a global scale, and dominates the OS market.

Steve Jobs gave us the iPod. Once again doesn't matter who made it first or who copied who. The fact is the iPod changed, dominated, and continues to dominate the mp3 player market.

One gave us the OS that powers the world, and the other gave us the device that cured boredom and made our day to day life more tolerable. Say what you want but it is the truth.