C OMP U TING C ON V ERS AT IO N S

The Second-Order
Effects of Steve Jobs
Charles Severance
University of Michigan

Jobs-inspired Apple and NeXT products were platforms for many of

the amazing innovations we take for granted today.

M
uch has been written Web, his technologies quite often time you clicked here [on the NeXT],
about Steve Jobs’ amazing were the platforms used to launch you had another window, every time
leadership at Apple and those innovations. you clicked on a diagram, you had the
how he transformed the diagram in another window, when
company into one of the world’s most A BRIEF HISTORY you clicked on a map, you got the map
recognizable and profitable brands I n t he m id-1990 s, I ho s t e d in PostScript, scalable and perfectly
after his return from NeXT. Internet:TCI, a short-lived national printable.
But if you look closer, it’s easy to TV show about the Internet that was
find examples of how Jobs-inspired produced and distributed by TCI Bet ween 1990 and 1993, the
Apple and NeXT products were Cable. Because a talk show about the Web’s success wasn’t at all assured,
platforms for many of the amaz- Internet was a rarity at that time, my as Gopher servers and clients were
ing innovations we take for granted co-host Richard Wiggins and I were simpler and seemed better suited
today. Between 1987 and 1997, we able to interview many of its early to the kind of hardware available to
experienced a Cambrian-like explo- innovators. In retrospect, it’s amazing the general population. But the NeXT
sion of completely new ideas bursting to realize how often our guests cited software development environment
from computer science research labs Apple or NeXT technology as their made it possible to sustain Web
into broader society at an unprec- source of inspiration. innovation with a minimal investment
edented rate. Although Jobs wasn’t When Tim Berners-Lee and Robert of developer time.
directly involved in the innovations Cailliau invented the first version of In 1993, a team led by Larry Smarr
around the Internet and World Wide the Web at CERN in 1990, the first and Joseph Hardin at the National
webserver was a NeXT Cube and the Center for Supercomputing Applica-
first browser a NeXT workstation. tions wrote Mosaic and released free

C omputing Conversations, a monthly

multimedia-enhanced column, is in-
tended to put a more human face on the
According to Cailliau in the video
you can find at www.computer.org/
versions for Unix, Macintosh, and
Windows workstations. What made
technologies we’re using in computer
computingconversations. Mosaic’s development practical was
science. Future installments will present the fact that the NCSA had invested
both full interviews and edited video … this development system [NeXT- significant effort in the NCSA Image
segments featuring the founders and STEP], is so much better that porting Library, which worked across the
leaders in our field (www.computer.org/ what we had here [on the NeXT] to any Unix, Mac, and PC platforms and
computingconversations). other platform took an order of mag- allowed scientists to share visual-
nitude more time. For example, every izations of the data produced by

10 computer Published by the IEEE Computer Society 0018-9162/12/$31.00 © 2012 IEEE

the programs that ran on the NCSA the price of wireless hardware Jobs didn’t use a spreadsheet from
supercomputers. As Smarr said in the plummeted to the point where our the finance department to decide his
video, picture frames and refrigerators now future product strategy. His roadmap
have Wi-Fi. I assume there was little wasn’t limited by concerns about the
… we wanted to build a world of or no profit margin on those early profitability of the next few quarters.
infrastructure where it was as easy Apple wireless products, but Jobs was Instead, the only question was how
to move an image around as it was to willing to sacrifice short-term profits to get to the future as quickly as
move a word. When the Mac II came to force the entire marketplace past possible, and once there, find a way
out, it had 256 color levels. Apple gave petty bickering. to make it profitable.
us 50 Mac IIs, which was stunning. IBM Apple invented the 3.5-inch floppy Jobs earned the right to make
at that time was telling its customers, drive and then later made it obsolete innovation his top priority when he
‘You don’t need color: we’ve already with the introduction of the iMac. left Apple, ostensibly because the
provided it. You have four of them— Although this move seemed illogical board and management valued top-
black, [yellow], cyan, and magenta.’ at the time, it forced the market to down, business-style control over
invest in the USB-based storage that a relentless, quirky, unpredictable,
The Macintosh’s far superior is now commonplace and far superior and seemingly risky quest to push
graphics capabilities made it possible the envelope of feasibility. When
to think of a commodity computer he left for NeXT, Jobs focused on
as a widely available, powerful,
For 20 years, Steve moving toward what he saw as “what
scientific workstation. Having the Jobs provided us with was next,” even if it meant financial
NCSA Image Library helped Mosaic’s a gift—technology failure.
developers quickly build a browser from the future. Apple didn’t fare so well while Jobs
that could combine graphics, text, was gone, and the company slowly
and hyperlinks in a way that made lost its innovative edge. When Jobs
the Web an engaging experience to any floppy technology. Apple also came back, he made it very clear that
for users from the first time they led the way in moving the industry Apple’s purpose was to innovate:
installed Mosaic. from CD burners to DVD burners the financial team was tasked with
by including them in its entire maximizing the revenue and profit
PUSHING FORWARD product line well before it seemed from those innovations, not telling
S t e ve Job s pr o du c e d o t her like a logical business decision. The Jobs which things he was allowed to
innovations that pushed the industry market had to match the company’s work on.
forward, sometimes against its will. In lead, and in a remarkably short time,

I
the mid-1990s, wireless networking DVD burners were the norm, with no
was the future, but a market battle increase in system price. t took Steve Jobs a decade of his
between two competing IEEE 802 When Jobs put an accelerometer life and plenty of personal risk
technologies made it difficult for into the first version of the iPhone, to prove that for Apple to be
anyone to purchase products at scale was it to enable gaming software, successful, he needed to focus its
in case they mistakenly chose the facilitate the building of amazing collective psyche on inventing the
technology that ultimately lost. One augmented reality soft ware, or future and pulling the market and
technology used frequency hopping encourage users to throw angry society into an increasingly exciting,
and the other used direct sequence, birds at pigs? I’m sure he had some technologically enhanced world.
so vendor groups in both camps ideas about how an accelerometer Jobs wasn’t just a talented person
worked feverishly to build network might be used for a few applications, or a visionary leader or a successful
cards and base stations that would but he must have known that once executive. For 20 years, he provided
tempt the market in their favor. 100,000 creative engineers had us with a gift—technology from the
In those early days, network cards access to a handheld device with an future.
were more than US$500, and base accelerometer, a camera, wireless
stations cost thousands of dollars. In networking, and GPS technology,
Charles Severance, editor of the
1999, Apple chose direct sequence the future would simply happen—
Computing Conversations column
and introduced a $99 network card whatever that future was to be.
and Computer’s multimedia editor,
and the $300 Apple AirPort Base How was it that Apple introduced is a clinical associate professor and
Station. With Apple tipping the so many products that surprised us teaches in the School of Information
balance, the market immediately and then radically changed how we at the University of Michigan. Contact
shifted to direct sequence, and think? The simple answer is that Steve him at [email protected].

JANUARY 2012 11