Digital Cowboy

I started to post a comment on the previous thread and realized that it was too much for a comment, It’s actually a follow up:

I loved the part where Bill Gates says that Steve bosses him around. That gets a belly laugh.

Being a true geek, I’ve done much reading and research about both Apple and Microsoft. Apple was founded by two geniuses. (Steve Jobs would probably be working as a doorman at an art gallery or selling Mercedes if not for Steve Wozniak.) The story of Apple and Jobs is almost magical.

Microsoft, on the other hand, was founded by a rich, autistic nerd. He was born with a silver spoon. He’s the richest man in the world and for no good reason. He got it by being ruthless and unethical. He’s never produced anything of value to the world. (That’s a slight exaggeration. He did create BASIC. Maybe I should change that to “he hasn’t produced anything of value to the world in over 30 years.”) I can argue, convincingly, that Microsoft has set the world back and hindered the development of technology. I can do that because it’s true. He’s a master of marketing and has no other real skill. It certainly helps to start rich and have nothing to lose.

There’s no doubt in my mind that I could “boss around” Bill, too. Despite being the richest man in the world, he lacks the confidence of having achieved anything. Because he hasn’t. He’s a fraud and he knows it. The nicest thing I could say about Bill Gates is that he’s shrewd. Two decades ago, he was groveling and licking boots at Apple just trying to get “in.” Then when he did, he pulled a knife and has been twisting it ever since he inserted it. Steve has pulled himself up from relatively nothing over and over. He’s made mistakes and learned from them. That’s what makes a man.

Bill Gates deserves nothing he has and he knows it. Steve Jobs has earned everything he has and he knows it. That’s why Bill can never be comfortable and Steve always has been.

Since there’s no such thing as an atheist (every human has at least one god), if I didn’t believe in and know Jehovah, I would worship Steve Jobs. If I ever managed to achieve my (very minor) dream of having dinner with him, I suspect it would end in a fist fight because we disagree on everything, politically and spiritually. But you can’t argue with results.

For those of you that aren’t geeks, he’s the co-founder and (once again) CEO of Apple Computer as well as the majority owner and CEO of Pixar, which was just “sold” to Disney for $7.3 billion. He developed Pixar from a fledgling studio that he bought from George Lucas for $10 million. Pixar did the Toy Story movies, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, etc.

The man is a freakin’ genius and a true “alpha male.” He’s so good at it that geeks talk about his “reality distortion field.” He’s truly a visionary that can sell anyone anything and he immediately owns every room he walks into, whether it’s occupied by world leaders, tech CEO’s or media CEO’s. That’s how he broke the ground for online music sales and built the iTunes music store when no one else had ever been able to get the “major 5″ record companies to all agree to the same terms. He followed that up by getting the major TV networks to let him sell their TV shows for download at the store.

Anyway, Vox was just talking about alpha males and I was reminded of what he had written tonight while reading more about Steve. In particular, what reminded me of what Vox wrote, was this:

In 1999, I was commissioned by Vanity Fair magazine to write a story about the relationship between Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. While I know both men, I know them separately, not together, and I just wanted to better understand how they got along. The only hint I had was from a joint interview they did several years ago for Fortune magazine in which Gates said that when they were together, Jobs bossed him around. It is very hard to imagine anyone bossing around Bill Gates. I had to know more.

And this:

Asked in late 1997 what Jobs should do as head of Apple, Dell Inc.’s (DELL ) then-CEO Michael S. Dell said at an investor conference: “I’d shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders.”

Here’s the rub. Apple recently surpassed Dell in market cap. When it happened, Steve sent an email to all Apple employees that read:

“Team, it turned out that Michael Dell wasn’t perfect at predicting the future. Based on today’s stock market close, Apple is worth more than Dell. Stocks go up and down, and things may be different tomorrow, but I thought it was worth a moment of reflection today. Steve.”

Who’s the big dog now?

Alpha, indeed.

(I recommend clicking the links. Even if you’re not a geek, I think you’ll still find them amusing and enlightening. There’s some life lessons for all of us buried in here if you dig.)

I was cleaning out some very old stuff on my computer and ran across this. I have no idea where it originated, but I can certainly understand why I would’ve saved it. It made me chuckle more than once reading it just now.

“What I Learned in Hebrew School”
These were written by children and have not been retouched or corrected (i.e. incorrect spelling has been left in)

• The Jews were a proud people and throughout history they had trouble with the unsympathetic Genitals.
• The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert.
• Afterwards, Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten amendments.
• The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat the apple.
• The seventh commandment is thou shalt not admit adultery.
• Moses died before he ever reached Canada.
• Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the battle of Geritol.
• David was a Hebrew king skilled at playing the liar. He fought with the Finklesteins, a race of people who lived in Biblical times.
• Solomon, one of David’s sons, had 300 wives and 700 porcupines. [That sounds right to me - DC.]
• Jesus was born because Mary had an immaculate contraption.
• Jesus enunciated the Golden Rule, which says to do one to others before they do one to you.
• It was a miracle when Jesus rose from the dead and managed to get the tombstone off the entrance.
• The epistles were the wives of the apostles.
• St. Paul cavorted to Christianity. He preached holy acrimony, which is another name for marriage.
• Most religions teach us to have only one spouse. This is called monotony.

You can’t turn anywhere these days without finding Texas Hold ‘em. I love hold ‘em, but, these days, it’s gotten too popular. So I now prefer Seven stud or Omaha.

You’re better off playing slots than trying to find a good Omaha or seven stud game online.

(I warned you up-front that this was intended to be a poker blog.)

That is all.

The title was the message.

If you haven’t thanked God yet today, now is a very good time.