The man who put a dent in the universe (continued)

Born in 1955, Steve was adopted soon after birth by Paul and Clara Jobs (both now deceased) and grew up in California's nascent Silicon Val­ley. Paul, a machinist who never grad­uated high school and loved to tinker with mechanical things, encouraged Steve's fascination with electronics; Clara, a bookkeeper, taught him to read at an early age, a gift that left him so unchallenged in school.

It didn't make him popular. "We were both introverted, thoughtful people," says boyhood pal Bill Fernandez, Apple's first employee. "We didn't fit into the more common social groups, so we found ourselves to be loners. We would walk and talk about the ques­tions we had, normal things adolescent boys had on their mind, with maybe a more cerebral mix."

Jobs next applied to Reed College, an elite private school in Portland, Ore., that his parents could not afford. By the time college officials figured out that no one was paying the bills, Jobs had so entrenched himself that the administrators let him stay on — for free. Jobs stuck around for 18 months for the education—notably, a calligra­phy course that would later inform the design and variety of the type­faces that came on a Macintosh — but did not bother to finish a degree. Instead, hungering for travel, he took a job at a tiny California start-up called Atari, eventually saving enough money to spend three weeks in India, where he indulged his interest in Eastern mysticism.

"He was a bit of an oddball back then," says Gregory Calhoun, an old Reed College pal. "I remember how we used to drive to this little health food store in Santa Cruz and buy 25-lb. crates of figs and dates. Steve had his day job at Atari, he was practicing Zen, and he was building the first Apple computer."

It was in 1976 that Jobs and pal Steve Wozniak, with whom he shared a passion for Bob Dylan, and one other friend founded Apple. They fixed their sights on developing a home computer that could be used by con­sumers who were not technologically savvy. That year they rolled out the Apple I. By 23, Jobs was a millionaire.

With success came a heightened indifference to others' rules and feel­ings. Says Bob Belleville, a senior engi­neer at Apple at the time: "He had a great deal of natural confidence."

Soon that confidence was turned in the direction of developing a personal computer that, through the introduc­tion of a mouse, could do away with user commands. "He wanted to call the original Macintosh 'Bicycle,'" says Belleville. "A bicycle, he felt, was the most efficient device that coupled human energy to motion, and the Mac coupled human creativity to the human world. We stuck with Macintosh."

In 1985, the fledgling Mac not yet a success despite its eye-popping debut in a 1984 Super Bowl commercial directed by Ridley Scott, Apple ousted Jobs as its market share dwindled dur­ing an industry-wide slump. Bruised, Jobs launched the computer concern NeXT and bought Pixar, a computer-graphics unit owned by Lucas film.

While NeXT was never profitable, Pixar produced Toy Story. Its wild success in 1995, along with Jobs' decision to take Pixar public, prompted Apple to woo him back.

In 1997 he returned triumphant and, some felt, more autocratic than ever. Rick Smolan, whose Day in the Life photo books had received backing from Jobs in the 1980s, recalls friends who worked for Jobs who "were afraid to get into the elevator with him." Still, he says, "there were two Steve Jobs."

The one who got thrown out of his own company was "brash, stubborn, pig­headed." The one who returned "grew up a lot. The new Apple was built by a mature person who built a team."

His personal life also evolved. Curi­ous about his birth parents since he was a teen, he learned years later that they had been unwed grad students who subsequently married and had a sec­ond child, author Mona Simpson. At the time the biological siblings met, Simpson was at work on her first novel, which became the 1987 bestseller Any­where but Here.

Nine years later Simpson published A Reg­ular Guy, a stinging novel that depicts a Silicon Valley tycoon's troubled rela­tionship with his illegitimate daughter. Jobs himself conceived his first daughter, Lisa, out of wedlock with his high school girlfriend Chrisann Brennan, then for years denied paternity and refused support (though he alleg­edly named the Lisa computer for her). During Lisa's teen years, the father-daughter bond grew so strong that she moved in with Jobs.

In 1991 Jobs met Laurene Powell, a Stanford MBA who shared his unrigid cartons of organic apple juice and apple-shaped chocolates. For vaca­tion time, one of their favorite get­aways was a resort in Hawaii that has neither phones nor electricity. "His children are the least spoiled people you'll ever meet," says a family friend. "They have a graceful reserve."

As for his relationship with Laurene, they were regularly spotted strolling their street hand in hand until very close to the end. Together they cultivated a large organic vegetable garden and a fruit orchard. "She's like Steve — when they both do something, they do it in a big way," says California Lieut. Gov. Gavin Newsom. "They are a remark­able family, and their legacy extends beyond business to the community."

And despite Jobs' seeming need for perfection, his friend Ornish feels that Jobs would be content with his legacy. "I was at his house when the iPod came out," says Ornish, "and he said, 'It's out there now, and there's nothing more I can do at this point.' He had a strong desire to live, but he was also at peace with what he had accomplished."

As millions of people worldwide clutch his shiny creations — as much a part of their lives as shoes or glasses — his influence, it seems safe to predict, will endure for decades to come.

"Put a dent in the universe," he used to exhort his colleagues. Steve Jobs was the rare meteor who did just that.

5. In small groups, discuss Steve Jobs contribution to modern civilization. How big is the “dent” he put in the universe? Give good reasons.

6

. In small groups, discuss the problem of globalization of business. Is the world really becoming a global supermarket in a global village? What is there next?

7. Watch two episodes from the movie Outsourced. In small groups, figure out what these episodes tell us about the problem discussed (exercise 6).

8. Work in pairs. Decide whether the main character in Outsourced has got potential to become a global business leader. Does he or does he not have the necessary qualities?

9. Explain the title of the above movie (100 words) paying special attention to the potential metaphor in it.