Well, there are some who would argue that his management style has poisoned the well, that attempts to emulate his “we’re doing it this way because I think it’s cool” style have led to things like, say, Windows 8.
That’s not to say it’s wrong, it’s just that maybe people’s takeaway shouldn’t be that you need a mercurial genius in charge, but the really obvious you should surround yourself with talented people and someone needs to be the grownup that makes sure people get things done.
I saw a piece somewhere–sorry, I can’t remember where, maybe it was Daring Fireball–that seemed to suggest that Jobs actually regretted his time at NeXT, with the takeaway that the way Apple’s doing things now, fairly conservative while producing things people are still buying, is the way to go. The thing is, we’re still using the stuff that they invented in the 80s. It scares me a little that there are technologists looking to the continuing success of Apple and are saying, “You know, the thing we need to do now is be super conservative.” Not sure who’s going to invent the Next Big Thing is the idea is to just coast right now, and considering the design of the Mac Pro is anything but conservative, I don’t get it, but…hokeydoke!
