garry’s subposthaven

Jobs’ relationship with Bill Gates goes back the furthest and is the most complicated.  But the two pioneers of the PC era met one last time near the end of Jobs’ life and talked for several hours.  Gates told Jobs that he proved his model—of controlling computer products from end to end—works.  And Jobs said that Microsoft’s model of licensing out the OS to other manufacturers worked as well.

Only later did Gates relate to Isaacson: “What I didn’t tell Steve is that it only works when you have a Steve Jobs.”  When Isaacson asked Jobs if he really thought the Microsoft model works, Jobs replied: “Yeah, it works, but only if you don’t mind making crappy products.”

Why is licensing crappy? Simple. You can fire employees who screw up. Much harder to fire a partner, let alone a hardware partner who doesn't understand software but will basically add bugs the second they touch anything.

In 2003, when I was with the Windows Mobile team, this the primary reason why the product sucked so badly. But that's also why we could never make the iPhone.

Isaacson conducted over 40 interviews with Jobs, some of them taped right before his death. The story Sunday will contain Jobs' own recorded words about some of the most important times of his life.

Isaacson reveals several of the best stories from the biography, including the fact that Jobs had actually met the man who turned out to be his biological father before he knew who he was. He also talks about the discussion he had with Jobs about death and the afterlife, explaining that for Jobs, the odds of there being a God were 50-50, but that he thought about the existence of God much more once he was diagnosed with cancer. Another aspect of Jobs' character revealed was his disdain for conspicuous consumption. He tells Isaacson in a taped conversation how he saw Apple staffers turn into "bizarro people" by the riches the Apple stock offering created. Isaacson says Jobs vowed never to let his wealth change him.