Sean's Blog

I saw this article on Digg a few days ago, and couldn’t wait to read it, mainly because I’ve read a lot about Apple’s history, and the first post-Jobs period was/is particularly interesting. I was hoping to gain some more insight into what was going on at the time, but from what I’ve read, this is just a puff piece blowing smoke up The Turtleneck’s ass.

If Apple Confidential is to be trusted, Steve Jobs actually tried to get Sculley fired while he (Sculley) was on a business trip. If it weren’t for Jean-Louis Gassée informing Sculley of Jobs’ plan, Jobs may have never “left” Apple. Again, if the book is accurate, Sculley returned, and had the board choose sides. Ironically, Jobs got his revenge over a decade later when he managed to sell his company back to Apple when Gassée was trying to do the very same thing.

Anyway, looking at the decision as a mistake is looking at it with glasses that are very much rose in color. Almost all the stories you read about Jobs from back then make him out to be a real asshole, and I don’t doubt that he was (and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he still is). There are lots of suggestions that he was vehemently hated by numerous Apple employees, and he seemed to hurt rather than help any project he “became involved” (i.e., forced himself into a management position), based on what I’ve read. In short, Apple may have been worse off had Jobs hung around, but this article completely dismisses that possibility, or so it seems.