Tenacious Frog

This old article on Apple Computer’s original garage office has hung in my garage for a long time inspiring me.

Apple is a rather inspiring company. Steve Jobs in particular has always stayed focused on a strong vision for the company.

(sidenote: I like Apple the company and believe their products are much better than *cough* MS *cough* but really I am not a Mac user. I prefer Linux. feel free to bash me in the comments )

Apple is often called “innovative” and it is, but not in the way that many assume it to be.

Apple has “invented” very little. In fact, one of Steve Jobs favourite quotes is of Picasso “good artists copy great artists steal.” And “steal” is mostly what Apple has done through most of its history.

The innovation has been in the way they have taken technology that other people pioneered and adapted it to new and better uses.

Apple did not create the computer, they just “evangelised” the idea of a personal computer.

Apple did not create touch screens, the mouse, etc., they stole them from Xerox PARC and (eventually) made them popular.

Apple did not create mp3 players, they were just the first to say (in essence) “why sell these as recording devices for boring businesspeople? Let’s turn them into ‘Walkmans’ for a new generation of music loving teens.”

Apple is run by a “madman.”  That’s why I like Apple.