bad apple?

I desperately need a new computer. I purchased my 15 inch MacBook Pro in June of 2009. It is showing its age. I figure in man years my computer is over 90. It is agonizingly slow and can only open one application at a time. Sometimes it gets stuck and doesn't move at all. 

I have a 5S iPhone, and that too is old. My phone can't keep up with the new operating system and my battery is half gone in a couple of hours.

So I've been spending time in Apple stores, trying to figure out what to get.  I'm still deciding.

I am, and have been for years, a big big Apple fan. So like many, I've been curious to see the new movies about Apple's founder.

Friday night I see a screening of Steve Jobs, followed by by a Q&A with Danny Boyle, Aaron Sorkin, and all the film's stars, with the exception of Michael Fassbender. In short, they are all articulate. Sorkin is tan. Winslet is gorgeous. And everyone has many many handlers.

Today, Shari comes over and we watch the documentary,  Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine.  

What's clear from both movies is that Mr. Jobs was brilliant and not very nice.  I know this is not new news. But somehow seeing it on screen makes it more real. At one point in the movie Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak is asking Jobs to thank the team who created Apple II, an unsexy product that Jobs was not involved with, but that nonetheless provided 85% of Apple's profits. Jobs refuses and Wozniak says, "It's not binary — you can be decent and gifted at the same time." Apparently he wasn't.

Jobs would cut down anyone whose ideas were in conflict with his own.
He was not generous.
He cut Apple's philanthropic programs.
He exploited workers in China.
He was egotistical to an extreme.
He was maniacally protective of his prototypes.
He was likely involved in backdating stock transactions.
He showed no empathy.
And for many years, he denied paternity of his daughter Lisa, despite confirming DNA.

Steve Jobs was a complex man. He was a true visionary. His intense passion for his products was never questioned. His compassion for others was. But in the end, the world's a better place because of him.