Apple Fever that caught me on during July 2011 continued to grow. It became serious enough that I had to be admitted to Apple stores. I had buy MacBook Pro and iPAD2 to get it diagnosed. Then I had to take regular dose of reading IWOZ by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson(special instruction: browse about various stuffs that came along in those books). I followed all that sincerely.
All in vain. No cure yet. But the good news is that this fever is part of my life now.
Okay let me quickly come to real stuff as to why I started this entry. I am sure this question would have passed by every one who knows even "A for Apple" of Apple, about Woz Vs Jobs(here after refereed to as WvsJ) as to Who was really great? Was Woz under valued?
If you are indian you would what Rangoli is. Its traditional decorative folk art of India. It has deep spiritual significance as well. If you are wondering how did suddenly Rangoli got in to this epic WvsJ, just hold that thought and first watch this video(just about a minute) to know/refresh what is Rangoli . I would have loved to have apple logo drawn using Rangoli. But out of luck, my wife is out of town on maternity. I will make one when she is back and replace this video pointed.
Simple video? Isn't it. Video opens with the the set of dots. Second part is connecting those dots to make the pattern that appeals to us.
Pop quiz: Can you now connect the dots between Rangoli, Woz and Jobs? I hope you guessed it right. No extra points for guessing if you know about Apple and these guys. If not continue to read the answer to this puzzle.
Those dots can be treated as work of the inventors. Yes people like Woz start placing those dots. Only difference in real world is these dots would be placed randomly. Here we just see them on a single plane and in order. But real world its infinite planes and random order. In different planes different inventors are placing these amazing dots.
Now people like Jobs kick in and start connecting these dots to discover these amzing and great patterns. The ones that we all enjoy. These patterns kind of existed right from the point dots were put but not visible. Until some one shows it to us we cannot see it. So connecting dots is really not an invention rather its discovery.
Discoveries are important as well. The possibilities of connecting these dots are way too many. That's where it requires a great taste and immense focus to create clean, uncluttered and yet very appealing and functional patterns. That's where Jobs excelled. Focus is essence. You will always discover many more patterns enroute but discoverer needs to stay focused on his vision. Vision needs to be clear in his mind. Otherwise its easy to get lost in this maze.
There is even Jobs famous quote "Say no to 1000 things". Says it all. He also had binary decision making. It's either insanely great or shit. Yes this is needed when you are dealing with such enormous possibilities. You need to trust your intuition and make a right pick. You need a strong connection to gut all the time.
Now one may argue, well Woz also initially connected dots by creating the terminal using the TV. Yes in a bigger scheme of things when you zoom out work of inventors they are also connecting few near by dots along with ones they are placing. But they mostly limit themselves to single plane and focus more on placing dots than connecting dots.
This is purely my view. Contrary to belief that Jobs was selfish guy, I would think of him as truely
non selfish in a way he did Apple products. He adopted(/Stole) many technologies developed by others. This is something not possible for true inventors. They cannot adopt kids of others. They need to have their own. They hardly even prefer to look at other's kids. However good they may be. They dont work great as a team players. They are loners. You can see that in the creations of Woz. He rather worked alone and his message in his book to budding engineers is to "Work alone".
Connecting dots is different game. It needs a great taste. Ability to pick the best dots that fall in-line with vision for great product. More so it needs one to have bigger heart to adopt best from every where. Ability to sell vision to great people or find great people who are in-line. In my view this is one of most selfless act one can do. Ability to recognize and channelize talent is big Talent by itself.
As Jobs grew he started catching hold of people who can put some dots according to his vision of how he wanted to connect them. He not only connected technologies but connected right set of peoples as well to put together the great teams. He discovered great people and great work. Its certainly not easy to hold and manage this tremendous energy. Its nothing less than any nuclear energy. If I say in fact its greater than that, I dont think it would be exaggeration. Jobs really knew how to deal with it.
So finally my verdict, I hope you are convinced by now that we need both of these guys. We need both Inventors and Discoverers. Discoverers tend to get some extra credit for their vision and selfless act that discovery demands. A Inventor on other hand gets compensated by the enjoyment in every bit of his invention because its his own kid. A Discoverer at times may not enjoy some of his adopted kids but that's just part of learning to discover. Its greater risk and Selfless act, so even rewards are higher as well. Yes this world is fair. I think their family background also kind of led to this way. Jobs was adopted and while Woz grew up in a close knit family. Both have got what they deserved.
This world is fair in it's own weird ways, I salute it's creator !
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