Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview (11 May 2012) [VO] [ST-FR] [Ultra HD 4K]

SUMMARY

In a rediscovered 1995 interview, journalist Robert X. Cringely speaks with Steve Jobs about his childhood fascination with computers, founding Apple, innovations like the Macintosh, corporate challenges, and the transformative potential of technology merging art and engineering.

STATEMENTS

Steve Jobs first encountered a computer at age 10 or 11 through a time-sharing terminal at NASA's Ames Research Center, which profoundly thrilled him by executing his programs.
At 12, Jobs called Hewlett-Packard co-founder Bill Hewlett directly for parts to build a frequency counter, leading to a summer job that shaped his view of a compassionate company culture.
Jobs frequented HP's Palo Alto Research Labs, where he discovered the HP 9100, the first desktop computer, and spent hours programming it in BASIC and APL.
Jobs met Steve Wozniak at 14 or 15, bonding over electronics; they were inspired by an Esquire article about "Captain Crunch" and built blue boxes for free phone calls.
After finding an AT&T technical journal, Jobs and Wozniak constructed a digital blue box that allowed global free calls, teaching them they could control vast infrastructure with simple devices.
Necessity drove the shift to personal computers; unable to afford a terminal for time-sharing, Jobs and Wozniak built one, evolving it into the Apple I.
The Apple I was assembled by hand in garages, taking 40-80 hours each; friends wanted them but lacked skills, so Jobs and Wozniak began helping and then producing printed circuit boards.
To fund the first boards, Jobs sold his Volkswagen bus and Wozniak his calculator; they sold boards to friends and then to the Byte Shop, which ordered 50 fully assembled units.
Jobs convinced parts distributors for net-30 credit, assembled 100 units, sold 50 to recover costs, and bootstrapped into business with 50 units left as profit.
Mike Markkula joined as an equal partner, providing funding and expertise; together, they designed the plastic-cased Apple II with color graphics for non-hobbyists.
The Apple II debuted at the West Coast Computer Faire in 1977, stealing the show with advanced graphics and attracting dealers, propelling Apple forward.
At 21, Jobs learned business by questioning "why" practices exist, uncovering folklore like standard costing due to poor information systems, which he reformed in Macintosh production.
Computers teach thinking like law school; Jobs advocated everyone learn programming as a liberal art to mirror and refine thought processes.
By 23, Jobs was worth over a million dollars, reaching $100 million by 25, but money enabled ideas over personal wealth, prioritizing company and products.
Visiting Xerox PARC in 1979, Jobs was captivated by the graphical user interface (GUI), recognizing its inevitability for all future computers despite flaws.
Xerox failed to commercialize innovations because sales executives, not product visionaries, dominated after monopoly, eroding craftsmanship and customer focus.
IBM's entry scared Apple, but its initial poor PC improved through ecosystem partners with vested interests, saving it from failure.
Internal resistance at Apple from HP hires doubted GUI and mouse; Jobs outsourced a reliable $15 mouse in 90 days to prove them wrong.
Companies confuse process with content as they grow; IBM's downfall was prioritizing processes over innovative substance.
The Lisa project mismatched Apple's culture, priced at $10,000 for hobbyists; Jobs lost leadership fight, leading him to start Macintosh secretly to save the company.
Macintosh reinvention included the world's first automated factory, cheaper chips, and $1,000 pricing, built by a passionate "A-player" team over four years.
Great products require craftsmanship between idea and execution; Jobs likened team collaboration to a rock tumbler polishing rough stones into gems through friction.
In software and hardware, top talent outperforms average by 50-100x; assembling A-players creates self-reinforcing excellence.
Jobs fired underperformers directly, focusing on work quality without ego-stroking, emphasizing team goals over personal validation.
Apple pioneered desktop publishing with the first U.S. Canon laser printer engine, partnering with Adobe for PostScript and LaserWriter.
Jobs' departure from Apple in 1985 stemmed from recession-induced paralysis; CEO John Sculley scapegoated him to survive, destroying Apple's innovative values.
By 1995, Apple was dying due to stagnation, squandering a 10-year lead; Microsoft eroded its differentiation through relentless opportunism.
NeXT focuses on object-oriented software, revolutionizing development 10x faster, infiltrating businesses as a competitive weapon.
The web fulfills computers as communication devices, enabling direct sales, equalizing small and large companies, and sparking innovation outside Microsoft's control.
Humans are tool-builders; the personal computer is the "bicycle of the mind," amplifying abilities like the bicycle did for locomotion.
Taste guides direction: expose to humanity's best, steal great ideas shamelessly, blending liberal arts with technology for inspired products.
Jobs identifies as a hippie, seeking life's deeper spark beyond materialism, infusing products with spirit that users sense and love.
Computers are mediums for sharing profound feelings; top innovators use them not for tech alone, but to transmit human essence.

IDEAS

Encountering a computer at 10 felt like a privilege, revealing its mysterious power to execute ideas instantly.
Calling Bill Hewlett at 12 showed unlisted numbers enabled direct access to giants, yielding parts and a job.
HP's donut-and-coffee breaks exemplified valuing employees as true assets, contrasting modern cultures.
The HP 9100's self-contained design ignited love for portable computing without hidden wires.
Blue boxing proved two kids could hijack global telecom with ingenuity, controlling billions in infrastructure.
Waking strangers for free calls from LA highlighted the miraculous thrill of technological rebellion.
Building devices taught that small creations can dominate vast systems, foundational to Apple's ethos.
Pretending to be Kissinger to reach the Pope via blue box illustrated playful hacking's absurd potential.
Necessity birthed the terminal as a precursor to Apple I, merging hardware needs with invention.
Selling a bus and calculator funded PCBs, turning personal sacrifice into scalable production.
Byte Shop's order for assembled units forced evolution from kits to full products overnight.
Net-30 credit from strangers launched business without capital, relying on sheer persistence.
Apple II targeted software hobbyists over hardware tinkerers, democratizing access massively.
Questioning business "whys" exposed folklore, enabling streamlined costing in automated factories.
Programming mirrors thought, far beyond utility—essential for cognitive sharpening like law trains logic.
Wealth at 23 meant little without purpose; money fuels long-term ideas, not luxury.
Xerox's GUI blinded to other gems like networking, yet sparked inevitable computing revolution.
Monopoly rots innovation: sales "toner heads" sidelined product geniuses at Xerox and IBM.
IBM survived via ecosystem alliances, creating vested interests beyond its flawed initial product.
Outsourcing the mouse defied skeptics, proving vision trumps institutional doubt quickly.
Process institutionalization confuses means with ends, dooming giants like IBM to irrelevance.
Macintosh as "mission from God" saved Apple by reinventing everything from factory to marketing.
Team friction polishes ideas like rocks in a tumbler, yielding beauty from raw talent clashes.
A-players self-select and amplify, rejecting mediocrity in a 50-100x performance gap.
Firing focuses on work, not egos; good people value direct feedback for excellence.
LaserWriter unlocked desktop publishing serendipitously, turning shared printers into revolutions.
Sculley's Pepsi mindset clashed with tech's rapid iteration, crashing Apple's rocket trajectory.
Apple's 1995 stasis let Microsoft catch up, eroding leads through copied, soulless products.
Object-oriented tech at NeXT multiplies software speed 10x, arming businesses invisibly.
Web equalizes commerce: tiniest firms appear giant, fulfilling communication over computation dreams.
Bicycle analogy: computers exponentially boost human potential, ranking as history's top tool.
Steal from arts shamelessly; Mac's soul came from poets and musicians, not just coders.
Hippie essence seeks life's unseen spark, infusing tech with transcendent spirit users feel.
Innovators choose computers as canvases for deeper human expression, not mere machinery.
Dynamic range in tech talent dwarfs life's norms, demanding pursuit of rare geniuses.
Recession exposed leadership voids; survival instincts scapegoat visionaries like Jobs.
Taste as ultimate guide: immerse in humanity's peaks to nudge tech's vector wisely.
MCI's software war won billions by outpacing AT&T's billing inertia.
Web's non-Microsoft openness ignites unbridled innovation, breathing life into PCs.
60s counterculture germ: question materialism for something profound, echoing in products.

INSIGHTS

Early hands-on tech access fosters lifelong passion, turning mystery into mastery through execution.
Direct boldness accesses opportunities; unfiltered persistence builds unexpected alliances.
Company culture valuing people over profits endures, shaping ethical business views.
Self-contained tools liberate imagination, eliminating barriers to personal experimentation.
Ingenuity democratizes power, showing individuals can disrupt giants with clever simplicity.
Technological mischief reveals systemic vulnerabilities, inspiring broader control ambitions.
Bootstrapping from need evolves hobbies into empires, prioritizing utility over polish.
Sacrifice fuels scalability; personal assets convert to communal progress.
Unexpected orders demand adaptation, transforming prototypes into viable businesses.
Credit on faith tests resolve, proving trust in vision sustains growth.
Targeting non-experts expands markets exponentially, beyond niche enthusiasts.
Perpetual questioning dismantles conventions, revealing inefficiencies for radical efficiency.
Programming refines cognition universally, elevating it to essential liberal education.
Wealth serves vision; intrinsic drive outlasts financial metrics.
Blinding revelations prioritize paradigms, overlooking adjacent breakthroughs.
Monopolies corrupt internally, elevating sales over creation and eroding core genius.
Ecosystems amplify flaws into strengths, leveraging collective stakes.
External expertise accelerates internal breakthroughs, bypassing skepticism.
Growth pitfalls: processes eclipse content, institutionalizing stagnation.
Secret missions preserve purity, reinventing from roots to thrive.
Collaborative abrasion refines collective brilliance, birthing superior outcomes.
Elite talent compounds exponentially, self-sustaining high standards.
Candid critique preserves excellence, distinguishing work from worth.
Partnerships unlock latent potentials, like printers birthing publishing eras.
External threats expose internal fragilities, demanding unified execution.
Stagnation invites imitation; standing still forfeits leads to opportunists.
Revolutionary tools like objects streamline creation, embedding potency invisibly.
Communication supplants computation, web as equalizer reshaping society.
Tools amplify humanity; computers as mind's bicycle propel collective evolution.
Aesthetic immersion guides innovation, blending arts for soulful utility.
Countercultural quests infuse artifacts with intangible vitality, fostering loyalty.

QUOTES

"It was an incredibly thrilling experience um so I became very um captivated by by a computer."
"We could build a little thing that could control a giant thing and that was an incredible lesson."
"I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer should learn a computer language because it teaches you how to think."
"The most important thing was the company the people the products we were making what we were going to enable people to do with these products."
"Within you know 10 minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this someday."
"They just grabbed uh grabbed defeat from the greatest victory in the computer industry."
"It's not process it's content."
"Through that group of incredibly talented people bumping up against each other having arguments having fights sometimes making some noise and working together they polish each other and they polish the ideas."
"In software and it used to be the case in Hardware too the difference between average and the best is 50 to one maybe 100 to one."
"When you say is someone's work is you really mean I don't quite understand it would you please explain it to me."
"I don't really care about being right you know I just care about success."
"Their products have no Spirit to them their products have no sort of spirit of Enlightenment about them."
"Software is becoming an incredible force in this world um to provide new goods and services to people."
"The web is going to be the defining technology the defining social moment for computer."
"The personal computer was the bicycle of the mind and I believe that with every bone in my body."
"Good artists copy great artists steal."
"There's something more going on there's another side of the coin that we don't talk about much."
"They've work with computers because they are the medium that is best capable of transmitting some feeling that you have that you want to share with other people."

HABITS

Persistently question "why" behind business practices to uncover and eliminate outdated folklore.
Seek direct access to experts by calling without intermediaries to request resources boldly.
Spend hours experimenting with tools like early computers to build deep intuitive mastery.
Collaborate intensely with like-minded talents, embracing friction for polished outcomes.
Prioritize A-players in teams, hiring only those who self-select for excellence.
Provide candid, work-focused feedback to realign underperformers without ego damage.
Immerse in liberal arts—music, poetry, history—to infuse technology with human taste.
Steal shamelessly from great ideas across fields, adapting them innovatively.
Bootstrap from personal assets and necessities, avoiding over-reliance on external funding.
Visit global factories and competitors to benchmark and reinvent processes radically.
Advocate universal programming education to sharpen collective thinking skills.
Focus on long-term product impact over short-term financial gains.

FACTS

Jobs first used a teletype terminal 30 years before 1995, around 1965, when computers were movie-like myths.
At 12, Jobs got a job at HP after a 20-minute call to Bill Hewlett, who provided parts for a frequency counter.
Jobs and Wozniak's blue box was the world's best, fully digital, enabling worldwide calls looping five or six times.
They sold their first 50 Apple I units for twice cost, paying off parts on net-30 credit in 29 days.
Apple II, announced in 1977, featured the era's most advanced personal computer graphics.
Jobs was worth over $100 million by age 25 after Apple's 1980 IPO.
Xerox PARC demo in 1979 showed GUI on Alto computers, networked with email.
Macintosh team built the first automated computer factory in Fremont, California.
Apple became the world's largest printer revenue company by 1985 via LaserWriter.
NeXT in 1995 had 300 employees and $50-75 million revenue supplying object-oriented software.
Web commerce could capture 15% of U.S. catalog/TV sales, tens of billions in value.
Human on bicycle efficiency surpasses condor's, per Scientific American measurement.
Macintosh line in 1995 was only 25% evolved from 1985 version despite billion-dollar R&D.

REFERENCES

Triumph of the Nerds (TV series by Robert X. Cringely).
Esquire magazine article on Captain Crunch.
AT&T technical journal from Stanford Linear Accelerator Center library.
BASIC and Fortran programming languages.
HP 9100 desktop computer.
Apple I and Apple II computers.
Xerox PARC's Alto computer and graphical user interface.
Macintosh computer and LaserWriter printer.
NeXT operating system and object-oriented software.
PostScript software from Adobe.
Canon laser printer engine.
Scientific American article on locomotion efficiency.
Picasso's saying: "Good artists copy, great artists steal."
Bill Atkinson quote on interpreting "that's shit."
MCI's Friends and Family billing software.
Internet and World Wide Web.

HOW TO APPLY

Start with personal necessity: Identify a tool gap, like a terminal, and build it from scavenged parts to solve your immediate problem.
Assemble prototypes by hand: Dedicate 40-80 hours to crafting initial versions, refining through trial and error despite frequent breaks.
Fund minimally: Sell personal items like a bus or calculator to create artwork for printed circuit boards, enabling small-scale production.
Pitch boldly to first buyers: Approach local stores with your invention, accepting orders for assembled units even if unanticipated.
Negotiate credit terms: Convince suppliers for net-30 days by outlining clear plans, using sales to pay exactly on time.
Evolve for scalability: Design cases and features for non-experts, like plastic enclosures with color graphics, to broaden appeal.
Seek strategic partners: Recruit retired executives like Mike Markkula for equal equity, combining money with hands-on involvement.
Debut dramatically: Use projection TVs at fairs to showcase innovations, drawing distributors and validating demand.
Question conventions relentlessly: Probe every process with "why," eliminating folklore like standard costing for real-time tracking.
Assemble elite teams: Hunt A-players who thrive on challenge, letting them self-police against mediocrity.
Embrace friction creatively: Foster arguments in groups to polish ideas, viewing noise as the tumbler refining rough concepts.
Reinvent holistically: From factory automation to marketing, redesign every aspect for affordability and mission alignment.
Partner opportunistically: Collaborate with garages like Adobe's founders, canceling internal projects to leverage external strengths.
Nudge vectors early: At invention's dawn, subtly direct trajectories toward communication over mere computation.
Infuse with taste: Expose to arts and humanities, stealing elements to embed spirit in functional tools.

ONE-SENTENCE TAKEAWAY

Steve Jobs reveals technology's soul lies in blending artful taste with engineering to amplify human potential and communication.

RECOMMENDATIONS

Learn programming early to mirror and refine your thinking process, treating it as essential liberal arts education.
Call experts directly for advice or parts, leveraging openness to build unexpected opportunities.
Value employees through small gestures like breaks, recognizing them as a company's true worth.
Build devices that control larger systems to grasp personal ingenuity's vast impact.
Bootstrap businesses from necessities, selling personal assets to fund initial production.
Question business practices deeply to dismantle folklore and innovate efficient alternatives.
Visit pioneering labs like Xerox PARC to absorb revolutionary ideas, even if flawed.
Outsource doubted innovations quickly to prove skeptics wrong and accelerate progress.
Prioritize content over process in growth, avoiding institutional confusion.
Form secret teams for high-stakes projects, treating them as missions to reinvent cores.
Hire only A-players, fostering self-reinforcing excellence in talent pools.
Provide direct feedback on work quality, preserving confidence while demanding alignment.
Partner with complementary innovators, like software experts for hardware gaps.
Focus marketing on killer apps like desktop publishing rather than broad visions.
Steal great ideas from arts shamelessly, blending diverse fields for inspired products.
Seek life's deeper sparks beyond materialism, infusing creations with transcendent spirit.
Advocate for web as communication tool, equalizing commerce for all scales.
Use taste from humanity's best to guide tech's direction wisely.
Assemble interdisciplinary teams of poets and scientists for soulful innovations.
Pursue object-oriented tools to multiply software creation speed in competitive arenas.

MEMO

In the dim glow of a garage rediscovered in 2012, a 1995 interview with Steve Jobs emerges like a time capsule, capturing the unfiltered mind of Apple's cofounder at a pivotal moment. Conducted by journalist Robert X. Cringely for the series Triumph of the Nerds, the conversation unfolds with Jobs, then 40 and steering NeXT, recounting his improbable path from a 10-year-old mesmerized by a teletype terminal at NASA's Ames Research Center to igniting the personal computing revolution. No longer the wunderkind who left Apple a decade earlier amid boardroom battles, Jobs speaks with the candor of a survivor, blending boyish wonder with sharp critique. His early thrill at seeing a machine execute his BASIC programs—"incredibly thrilling," he calls it—reveals a boy captivated not by hardware's hum but by its power to realize ideas, a spark that would propel him to call Hewlett-Packard's Bill Hewlett at age 12 for parts, landing a summer job that imprinted HP's employee-centric culture on his worldview.

Jobs' partnership with Steve Wozniak, forged in teenage electronics obsession, took a rebellious turn with "blue boxing"—building devices to make free phone calls by mimicking AT&T's signaling tones. Inspired by an Esquire tale of "Captain Crunch," the duo scoured libraries for secrets, unearthing an AT&T journal in Stanford's depths. Their digital box, the world's finest, looped calls around the globe, even pranking the Vatican as Henry Kissinger. "We could build a little thing that could control a giant thing," Jobs reflects, distilling the lesson that underpins Apple's ethos: individual ingenuity can command vast infrastructures. This hacker spirit birthed the Apple I, born of necessity—a homemade terminal for time-sharing—evolving into circuit boards funded by selling Jobs' bus and Wozniak's calculator. A fateful pitch to the Byte Shop yielded an order for 50 assembled units, secured on net-30 credit from wary distributors, catapulting them into business with profits trapped in unsold machines.

The Apple II, unveiled at the 1977 West Coast Computer Faire, marked Apple's breakout, its color graphics dazzling crowds and drawing dealers. With former Intel executive Mike Markkula as equal partner, Jobs targeted not hobbyists but everyday software explorers, encasing the machine in plastic for mass appeal. Yet success bred challenges; at 21, Jobs learned business by interrogating "whys," unmasking relics like standard costing as crutches for poor systems. He champions programming as a liberal art, akin to law school for logical rigor, insisting everyone learn to code to sharpen thought. Wealth amassed rapidly—$100 million by 25—but Jobs dismisses it as enabler for ideas, not endgame, echoing his disinterest in selling stock amid Apple's ascent.

A 1979 pilgrimage to Xerox PARC blinded Jobs to networking and objects but ignited obsession with the graphical user interface. "All computers would work like this someday," he declares, inevitable as gravity. Xerox's failure to capitalize—sidelined by "toner heads" prioritizing sales over products—mirrors monopolies' rot, a fate Jobs sees afflicting IBM too. Apple's internal HP transplants scoffed at mice and fonts, prompting Jobs to outsource a $15 marvel in 90 days. The Lisa's $10,000 mismatch for Apple's audience led to infighting; ousted from leadership, Jobs launched Macintosh covertly, a "mission from God" with automated factories, cheap chips, and $2,500 pricing. Its team of A-players, 50-100 times superior to averages, polished ideas through tumbler-like friction, birthing a product of enlightened spirit.

Desktop publishing's accidental revolution stemmed from Apple's first U.S. laser printer engine, paired with Adobe's PostScript in the LaserWriter, dominating revenues until Sculley's era. Jobs' 1985 exit, scapegoated in recessionary paralysis, was "very painful"—Sculley's Pepsi-honed survival instinct derailed Apple's rocket. By 1995, he diagnoses Apple as "dying a painful death," stagnant despite billions in R&D, its lead eroded by Microsoft's opportunistic copying. "They have no taste," Jobs laments, decrying soulless products lacking cultural depth, like fonts borrowed from typesetting artistry. NeXT, his refuge, pioneers object-oriented software, 10x faster development fueling business weapons like MCI's billing triumphs.

Peering ahead, Jobs hails the web as computing's social pivot, morphing machines from calculators to communicators, equalizing tiny firms with giants in a $10 billion catalog shift. Outside Microsoft's grasp, it sparks innovation, fulfilling dreams unrealized at PARC. Jobs' passion traces to a Scientific American piece on locomotion: humans on bicycles outpace condors, amplifying innate abilities. The computer, he insists, is the "bicycle of the mind," history's pinnacle tool, its early vector nudgeable for profound impact. Taste—immersed in Picasso, poetry, and history—guides this; "good artists copy, great artists steal," he quips, crediting Mac's soul to interdisciplinary dreamers.

Self-identifying as a hippie from the '70s counterculture's backyard, Jobs seeks life's "other side"—beyond jobs and cars—infusing products with intangible essence that Macintosh users "love." Innovators, he posits, wield computers as mediums for sharing profound feelings, not tech worship. This lost interview, unseen for years, honors Jobs' charisma: a visionary who, post-exile, would return to resurrect Apple, proving his warnings prescient. In an era of AI and ubiquity, his blueprint endures—merge art and engineering, chase A-talents, question relentlessly—to propel humanity's vector toward enlightenment.