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Steve Jobs Insult Response

Mike Cane · talk · Watch on YouTube

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What it is

A clip from Steve Jobs's 1997 WWDC session, in which he answers a hostile question from an audience member about Apple killing OpenDoc. He says to start with the customer experience and work back to the technology, and that saying no is part of focus.

Why Hacker News recommends it

Commenters link it as a canonical statement of Jobs's product philosophy and as an example of handling an insult calmly and articulately.

  • 4 people recommended it
  • 4 different months
  • 1 strong recommendations
  • first 2011, last 2022

What HN commenters said

  1. “Watch Jobs in his prime a year later describing his philosophy”

    Jobs describing his product philosophy in his prime.

    chx, 2017-12 · Strong recommendation · in “Apple and NeXT announce merger (1996)”

  2. “Just check out how he responded to the insult given to him at the 1997 after WWDC session.”

    Jobs handling a hostile question at WWDC 1997.

    nirvana, 2011-10 · Recommendation · in “The last time I saw Steve Jobs”

  3. “just look at the way he handled this OpenDoc troll”

    Jobs composing a fast, sharp response to a heckler.

    EricE, 2020-08 · Recommendation · in “Celebrate Woz's 70th”

  4. “This was probably one of Steve Job's most impressive example.”

    Example of Jobs answering a hard question articulately.

    SenHeng, 2022-06 · Recommendation · in “Ask HN: How to talk with logical flow and coherence at interviews?”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: steve jobs, wwdc 1997, opendoc, customer experience, focus

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