Caption: Apple Macintosh's biological father, Jeff Ruskin
"Just look at the eyes that Jobs exudes, the days when things are not good for Raskin are not far away, and Jobs wants to take his research and development results for himself." Jeffrey S. Young, a former editor of Mac World, documented the scene in the book Icon Steve Jobs.
Hide in a small building to form a unity
Born in New York in 1943, Jeff Ruskin was, in his words, almost the same age as a computer.
In college, he was a two-pronged student, studying physics at New York State University and computer science at Pennisville University. That's pretty awesome! No, more cattle in the back, halfway through the reading, he felt that science was too boring, no art style is not easy to find a girlfriend, so he took time to go to the University of California to study music.
You think he's a ticket fan, just play it. Wrong! After graduating, he was invited by the Santiago Symphony Orchestra to perform solo piano, his musical sketches were collected and printed, and he managed an indoor opera house. That is to say, he has achieved results that are higher than the average musician.
You say, then treat him like a musician! But this guy is also very accomplished in computer technology, and he proposed in his 1967 doctoral thesis that computers should have graphical interfaces, not text-based interfaces. It was about 15 years before Apple achieved this in its computers. That is to say, its concept is far ahead of its time.
After graduation, he taught for 5 years. Subsequently, he got tired and prepared to resign. Resign, resign, don't you just hand in a resignation report? No, he rented a hot air balloon, flew over the headmaster's house, and shouted out his resignation decision.
Ruskin then set up a small consulting firm.
In 1976, Jobs approached him and asked him to write an operations manual for the Apple II. Ruskin arrives at Jobs's garage, sees Woz working the workbench, thinks their product is interesting, and accepts to write an operating manual for them for $50. Subsequently, Ruskin also entered Apple, becoming Apple's 31st employee.
In the first half of 1979, Ruskin noticed that the computer prototype developed by Xerox Parc had graphical interface technology, realized that everything described in his paper was becoming a reality, and urged Jobs and his senior management team to go to Xerox's PARC laboratory to explore the treasure. As a result, Jobs managed to steal dreams from Xerox.
That fall, Jobs told Raskin to plan out the "ultimate perfection" product he had repeatedly said, "You don't have to worry about the price, you list the performance of your computer." ”
Ruskin then sent a memo outlining features that were almost 10 years ahead of their time and that everyone had dreamed of at the time: a high-resolution color screen that could display 96 characters per line, a printer that could print all color images at a speed of 1 page per second, unlimited access to the arpa network, the predecessor of today's Internet, the ability to recognize speech and synthesize music, and "even simulate scenes where Caruso sang with the Mormon Cathedral Choir and accompanied by various mixing effects." The memorandum concludes: "It is pointless to start with performance alone. We must set a price target and a corresponding set of performances, while also focusing on the technology of the present and the near future. ”
Some people have said that it is difficult for geniuses to get along with each other, and the relationship between Jobs and Ruskin is like this. Both sides looked at each other awkwardly, but Jobs was the founder of Apple, and Ruskin couldn't twist his arm, so he decided to find a corner that Jobs didn't have time to take care of to develop the computer he had in mind. Can't afford it, can't afford it!
Ruskin, who then became the director of a small project, "Annie," thought it was sexist to name computers after women, so he changed his name to one of his favorite apples: mcintosh. But to avoid trademark entanglement with audio equipment maker McIntosh Labs, he deliberately changed the spelling order of the letters, which is macintosh ( Macintosh ( Macintosh ) .
At first, Ruskin's project was ranked behind all the company's projects, preceded by the Apple III and Lisa projects. Among them, Jobs is in charge of the Apple III project.
Since resources were poured into the first two projects, the Macintosh project was endangered from 1979 to early 1980, and the company tried to lay it off several times. Raskin struggled to support the Macintosh computer, which he envisioned as simple to operate as a household appliance and integrate the screen with the computer itself. With his efforts, Macintosh took shape.
However, Jobs messed up the Apple III project and wanted to meddle in the Lisa project, and Scott, who was the CEO of Apple at the time, believed that the Lisa project was crucial and could not be missed, and did not want Jobs to intervene in the Lisa project. But to appease him, Jobs was sent to the Macintosh project.
The older child grabs the little one's toy
After entering the Macintosh project team, Jobs saw Jeff Ruskin's initial blueprints, and interest came up, and he was ready to lead the project himself. Some people say it's like a big kid trying to snatch a child's toy.
Ruskin did not want his hard work to be taken away by Jobs, so he clashed with Jobs several times, and got into trouble with Apple CEO Scott and Chairman Marcoula, who also cried to Makula that he could not work with Raskin.
Life is often not fair. Scott wanted to keep the "troublemaker" Jobs in an inconspicuous corner, and the Macintosh project team was such a remote place. Since Jobs liked the place, it was better to give it to him, and Ruskin was destined to be sacrificed. They arranged for Ruskin to go on leave and prepared to arrange for him to work separately.
After Returning from vacation, Ruskin resigned from Apple without hesitation. Before resigning, Ruskin wrote a letter to Apple CEO Scott listing Jobs' top ten "sins": "Jobs often missed dates; he acted without careful thought and misjudgment; he did not give people the necessary and reasonable trust; Jobs often made personal attacks; he tried to play the role of father but made ridiculous and uneconomical decisions; he liked to interrupt other people's speech and did not have the habit of listening to others; he could not keep his promises and keep his promises; he often made arbitrary decisions; optimistic estimates." Jobs was often irresponsible and flippant. ”
Jobs took over the Macintosh project in its entirety, with some calling Raskin the "biological father" of the Macintosh and Jobs the "adoptive father" of the Macintosh.
Jobs and Macintosh Computers
On January 24, 1984, at the press conference, in the theme song of "Chariot of Fire", Jobs walked to a cloth bag, pulled open the zipper, and took out a computer. "Today is the first long day of a new era in history," he said. Let's ask 'Macintosh' to speak for himself. ”
The venue fell silent. The speaker of the Macintosh computer emits a slightly machine-style child's voice: "Harrow, I am Macintosh." It's a great pleasure to meet you... I'm still young and trying to grow up. I would be proud to introduce you to a very remarkable, trustworthy man like my father, who is our Steve Jobs. ”
Ruskin was unhappy with Jobs's practice of taking Macintosh's achievements into his own hands, and according to the book "Interview with the Master of Programming", he said in an interview: "I don't want to take all the credit for Macintosh, it is the result of the team's efforts." Even if Jobs had only been praised for his real contributions to the industry, that would have been enough. But he also insisted on taking the credit of others for himself, which I don't think is appropriate. ”
The afterglow is endless
After Ruskin left Apple, in late 1982, he gave an interview to Time magazine saying that Jobs was suitable to be king of France, alluding to him as a "tyrant." This issue of Time magazine plans to select the person of the year, the original rumors that Jobs was selected, and finally chose "personal computer". Jobs looked forward to it, but saw the content of the criticism of himself, so he was very upset.
Ruskin didn't like Jobs, and vice versa.
After Mr. Ruskin resigned from Apple, he went to a computer technology research and development and design company that Japan's Canon decided to let the company design a new computer for itself.
Apple's January 24, 1984 release of the Macintosh brought Jobs a huge reputation, but few people mentioned Raskin's exploits, and Raskin was determined to show his talent to the world in projects with Canon. The computer that Ruskin collaborated with Canon is called "cat", Canon Cat!
Ruskin devoted himself to the design and development of the Canon Cat, which uses the same processor as Macintosh, but it has no mouse, no cats and no mice! It has word processing, spreadsheets, and communication capabilities.
On July 7, 1987, Canon launched Ruskin's cat on the market. In Canon's product line, the overall IBM compatible machine style is presented, and this product clearly has the mark of Apple's Macintosh. After the listing, the public responded well to the $1495 Canon cat, selling 20,000 units in 6 months, and many design awards were awarded to it.
Just as Ruskin was preparing to celebrate, Canon abruptly canceled the Canon cat project without any explanation, which made Ruskin very unhappy, and he tried to find out why.
Ruskin said he had received an anonymous phone call from a caller who said jobs was involved in the matter, and that it was not that the wrongdoers did not get together! Jobs was also kicked out of Apple after Ruskin left Apple, and while Raskin was developing the Canon cat, Jobs was forming his own next company. Shortly after Canon Cat entered the market, Canon was exploring the possibility of investing in Jobs Next. However, Jobs did not like to work with Canon with Raskin's participation in the project, so he ultimatumed canon and asked them to cancel the cat project, otherwise he would not accept Canon's investment in next.
It's a version of the explanation that's full of vengeance, and although Ruskin couldn't verify the veracity of the story, it still attracted the attention of the public.
In June 1989, Canon invested $100 million in Jobs Next and acquired a 16.67% stake in Next. And Ruskin lost his voice in the jianghu.
reconciliation
In 2000, Ruskin published a book called Human-Centered Interfaces, which laid out the basic principles of interface design. The book was translated into many languages and published.
In 2004, Ruskin was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Previously, in 2001, Jobs had developed pancreatic cancer. They share the same conditions and often communicate their conditions and treatments via email.
On February 26, 2005, Ruskin died at home in the United States at the age of 61.
Body references:
The Legend of Apple by Owen W. Linzmayer, translated by Mao Yaofei, Publisher: Tsinghua University Press, 2006
Return to the Little Kingdom by Michael Moritz, Translated by Liang Qing, Publisher: CITIC Press, 2011
"I Am Woz" by Steve Wozniak and Gina Smith, Translator: He Liqin, Publisher: Beijing Normal University Press, 2007
Interview with Programming Masters by Susan Lammers, translators: Li Linxiao, Zhang Jing, Wu Yongwei, People's Post and Telecommunications Publishing House, 2012
Apple's Past: The Extraordinary Years of Developing Mackintosh by Andy Hertzfield, Translated by Huifang Hong, Electronic Industry Press, 2010
Jobs and His Rivals by Jiang Hongjun, Science Press, 2011
The author of this article, Jiang Hongjun, is the author of "Geek: The Innovative Gene That Changed the World", "Jobs and His Opponents", "Lei Jun: Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time", "Microsoft Dynasty Crisis", "Biography of China's Internet Business Heroes", "Dialogue with Cutting-edge CEOs" and other books, and has opened offline lectures "Innovation Science".