Source: iWitness | Seven Days.
After a mandatory introduction explaining the role of Jerry Manock in Apple’s history, the article features a lot of interesting excerpts and quotes from Manock himself, plus a scan of Manock’s original deal with Steve Jobs from 24 February 1977, when Jobs hired him as a consultant to design the Apple II.
A couple of favourites:
When the iPhone came out, I sent Steve an email saying, “Why don’t you just buy your own communications satellite to have a worldwide cell network. AT&T has the iPhone in Vermont, and we use Verizon. His response was: “Thank you, Jerry.”
Mary Ellen and I went to California — it must have been 10 years ago. We went to the annual meeting, unannounced, and sat in the fourth row. The executive staff came onstage and they sat on their little stools, going through their business. Steve looked over at us and he did a double take. I thought, Well, that’s really nice. He recognized us. At the end of the meeting, when they asked if there was any more business, Steve said, “I have some business.” He said, “I just want to acknowledge Jerry Manock.” And he told of our contribution, being on the Macintosh team. Everybody stood up. It was a standing ovation. He didn’t have to do that.
I also sympathise with this:
Nowadays you can design something in 3D, have photorealistic rendering, cast shadows and specify, “This is metal. This is wood.” You can come up with a picture of it without ever touching a physical thing, without ever building a model to hold in your hand. To me, that’s really dangerous.
I get really upset when I’m walking downtown and there are three young people walking toward me — all with their heads down. I try to make eye contact to say hello, good morning, and nothing. The disconnect there bothers me, and that’s going to get nothing but worse. I’ve got my iPhone and GPS and news anytime I want it. But my mindset is: I’m not married to this thing. I don’t have to look at it every five minutes. I can kind of use the technology for what I need. I feel pretty balanced that way. […]
As always, the article is well worth reading in its entirety.
(Via my friend @loox)