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Steve Jobs' 'Lost Interview:' Design is keeping 5,000 things in your brain

Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs viewed designing a product as the process of "keeping 5,000 things together in your brain" and getting them to fit together, according to an excerpt from the forthcoming screening of "Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview."

In October, journalist Robert Cringely announced that footage of a 70-minute interview with Jobs from 1995 had been rediscovered after the master tapes were lost. The interview has since been restored and is set to screen at Landmark Theatres locations around the U.S. later this week.

TIME has obtained an excerpt from the film where Jobs describes his philosophy on product design. According to him, the process of finding new ways to fit disparate things together is "the magic" behind design.

"Designing a product is keeping 5,000 things in your brain, these concepts, and fitting them all together in kind of continuing to push to fit them together in new and different ways to get what you want," he said. "And every day you discover something new, that is a new problem or a new opportunity, to fit these things together a little differently."

The interview, filmed for the "Triumph of the Nerds" miniseries, reveals Jobs during his "wilderness years" after being ousted at Apple and before being brought back to Apple by way of NeXT. Clips of Jobs' comments from the series have since gained notoriety because he did not hold back on his feelings about longtime rival and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

"The only problem with Microsoft is they just have no taste," Jobs said. "I have a problem with the fact that they just make really third rate products."

Even toward the end of his life, Jobs' opinion of Gates did not appear to have changed. In an interview with biographer Walter Isaacson, Jobs called Gates "basically unimaginative." He "has never invented anything," Jobs reportedly said. "He just shamelessly ripped off other people's ideas."

Gates has said he's not troubled by Jobs' comments. "We got to work together," he said recently. "We spurred each other on, even as competitors. None of that bothers me at all."


Steve Jobs during a 1995 interview with Robert Cringely.

During the interview, Jobs also had strong words for John Sculley, who he had brought from Pepsi on to be CEO. The two clashed after Sculley began work at Apple, and Jobs was eventually ousted from the company he helped found.

"I hired the wrong guy," he said. "He destroyed everything I spent ten years working for. Starting with me but that wasn't the saddest part. I would have gladly left Apple if Apple would have turned out like I wanted it to."

For his part, Sculley has admitted that it was a "big mistake" that he was ever hired as Apple's CEO. He spent ten years at the company before being forced out in 1993.



19 Comments

jeffdm 21 Years · 12733 comments

Something broke, this link was posted with a stray quote mark on the end of it:

http://entertainment.time.com/2011/1...ost-interview/

I'd say it probably broke the post-to-forum feature too.

voodoox 14 Years · 1 comment

Robert X. Cringely the interviewer is actually Mark Stephens Apple employee #12. I'm hoping that the history between he and Mr. Jobs brought out a comfort level that made a great interview. From the brief snippets in the 'Triumph' PBS series, this interview is loaded with information and 'emotion' ranging from philosophical to mistrust and anger.

I'll dish out the money to see it in theaters....it's a much safer bet than most of the terrible movies playing today.

jd_in_sb 15 Years · 1599 comments

Only in the life of Steve Jobs would one's "wilderness years" include revolutionizing the movie industry and become a billionaire - before getting back to work.

tania 15 Years · 63 comments

Quote:
Originally Posted by jd_in_sb

Only in the life of Steve Jobs would one's "wilderness years" include revolutionizing the movie industry and become a billionaire - before getting back to work.

Steve Jobs did not revolutionize the movie industry. full 3d animated movies would have arrived on the scene with or without Pixar.

As for Sculley, it was due to his Newton that Apple co-developed the ARM architecture. Apple later divested the technology due to Steve Jobs decision to only later come back to it for the iPhone.

Sculley's Newton may not have been successful commercially but it was the first of its kind and the iPhone was an evolutionary step.

shompa 21 Years · 341 comments

If Steve cared about the users he should have licensed out OSX and iOS and saved the masses.

Now 95% of computer users still use the crappy windows.