“There may be a few years when I'm not there, but I'll always come back.” No one would have attached much importance to these words of the late Steve Jobs, when he said them during an interview in February 1985. But the interview, which was circulated on the Web soon after Jobs quit as CEO of Apple last month on grounds of declining health, throws a lot of light onto the personality of the Apple Co-founder. In fact, it shows him as not just a visionary, but also as a person who had some sort of premonition.
In the middle of the interview, Jobs had this to say regarding what he wanted to do for the rest of his life, referring to a Hindu adage. “For the first 30 years of your life, you make your habits. For the last 30 years of your life, your habits make you. As I am going to be 30 in February, the thought has crossed my mind.” Three months later after the interview, Jobs was fired from the company he founded in 1976, making way for John Sculley.
SENSE OF HUMOUR
In an interview with David Sheff for
As Sheff expressed surprise that Jobs was laughing off his loss, the Apple founder had this to say: “I'm not going to let it ruin my life. Isn't it kind of funny? You know, my main reaction to this money thing is that it's all humorous, all the attention to it, because it's hardly the most insightful or valuable thing that's happened to me in the past 10 years. But it makes me feel old…” From being humorous, Jobs gets serious with his insights into where the computer revolution was heading to. He said the computer revolution would dwarf the petrochemical revolution that happened 100 years ago in 10 to 20 years from then.
COMPUTER REVOLUTION
When people across the globe had doubts regarding the usefulness of the computer, Jobs was of the view that it was the most incredible tool ‘we've ever seen'. “It can be a writing tool, a communications centre, super calculator, a planner, a filer and an artistic instrument, all in one, just by being given new instructions, or software to work from. There are no other tools that have the power and versatility of a computer,” he had opined.
Jobs was also sure regarding how the computer could play an important role in the family. “The most compelling reason for most people to buy a computer for the home will be to link into a nation-wide communications network. We're just in the beginning stages of what will be a truly remarkable breakthrough for most people, as remarkable as a telephone.”
He had also the vision of hooking up computers to stock exchanges and money markets. In fact, he visualised the computer as an electronic servant. “We're going to be able to ask our computers to monitor things for us, and when certain conditions happen, or are triggered, the computers will take certain actions and inform us.”
Jobs has also shared in the interview, how his fourth grade teacher kindled a passion in him towards studies; how he spoke to Bill Hewlett directly and earned a job for summer as a 12-year-old; and how he and Steve Wozniak used an illegal device called blue-box to call up the Vatican and talk as Henry Kissinger.
“Well, I was thrown out of school a few times,” he had said then. Steve Jobs was an ordinary mortal, no doubt. But he had a great foresight that took him to where he ultimately headed!