JuanPablo Scaletti

As the iTunes Store sold videos, apps, and subscriptions, it built up a database of 225 million active users by June 2011, which positioned Apple for the next age of digital commerce.

As an artifact of that time, Stross’ book reads very differently than you might expect if all you knew about Jobs was stuff written after his return to Apple. All the Jobsian traits are there — the obsessive attention to minute details, the overbearing (some might say bullying) management style, the love for daring but risky moon-shot style projects; but while modern coverage tended to portray these as the endearing quirks of a great man, in the light of failure they come across more like the flaws of a tinpot tyrant. In Stross’ telling, the NeXT story sounds a bit like The Soul of a New Machine meets Fitzcarraldo — a long, exhausting journey to a destination nobody but the Leader really understands, or really even believes exists. But then Jobs came back to Apple, and then came the iMac, the iPod, the iPhone, and the iPad, and Jobs went from the “Where Are They Now” file to the success story of the decade. And slowly the perception of him began to change into the Patron Saint of Innovation image we know today. But it was the perception that changed, not the man. It’s just that when you’re sitting on top of a pile of historic successes, things that used to look damning start to look damn impressive.

Great design can and does change the world. Poor design can and does ruin lives.

The enjoyment of one’s tools is an essential ingredient of successful work.