Ex-Apple CEO John Sculley On The Difference Between Steve Jobs And Bill Gates

John Sculley, the man responsible for firing Steve Jobs in 1985, opened up about his time in Silicon Valley in an interview with Electricpig. Sculley was eventually pushed out of Apple in 1993, but he remains admiring of the current CEO, Jobs.

"The hard part in technology is not figuring out what’s going to happen, the hardest part is finding out when it’s going to happen, and who’s going to make it happen," he said. "Now, we’re in a new era, mobile, and it was launched by one person, Steve Jobs."

In a former era, Sculley got to know both Jobs and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. From the beginning, it was clear the two saw the world differently, though both wanted to "change the world."

Jobs' vision of the computer was focused entirely on experience--and still is.

“Steve’s metaphor for it was that the personal computer was going to be the bicycle of the mind," said Sculley. "Steve said ‘No compromise, I want the computer to be the easiest thing you ever used’, and to do that, you had to control the whole experience. If you look at Apple today, it’s still got those same principles.”

Sculley said that Gates, on the other hand, was "all about landgrab," creating Microsoft around "shrink wrapped software." Today, Sculley noted, the two companies still have distinct cultures.

Sculley spoke enthusiastically about the digital age, focusing on the rapid pace at which new technologies are embraced by the public.

“It took two years for the iPhone, it took one year for the iPad….there’s never been anything like that," he said. "The speed of adoption in this mobile era is totally unprecedented.”

Comments

[helioszephyr]

03:12 PM on 07/31/2011

Sculley firing Jobs is on the equivalent of Michael Jordan's high school coach telling him to give up on a basketball future cause he doesn't have what it takes.

[interlude]

07:05 PM on 06/19/2011

Giving the Pepsi guy, John Sculley, any credence is like giving the infamous dot-com stock analyst, Henry Blodget, any credence.

[Anders Juul]

02:13 PM on 06/19/2011

"Now, we’re in a new era, mobile, and it was launched by one person, Steve Jobs."

What? Please! First and foremost, you can thank the japanese compagny NTT for the first generation of cellular network in 1979 and then thank NMT for bringing it to Scandinavia in 1981. Only then mobile phones came to the US in 1983 by Motorola.

[leorangerie]

01:06 PM on 06/19/2011

Too bad Sculley wasn't this insightful when he was trying to run Apple.

[loco48]

06:57 AM on 06/19/2011

Back in the mid eighties when I bought my first computer, I went with a windows based system from microsoft. All of the hardware such as modems, printers were propriortery with apple. That is for these add on to work with a Mac you had to buy from Apple. Same with the software add ons. With microsoft systems hardware and software could be purchased from competitive vendors Which gave the users much more choice and selections.

[interlude]

07:08 PM on 06/19/2011

I paid $500 for a 1200 baud Hayes modem from one of these competitive vendors in the 1980s. I guess everything is relative.

[Talisman Pomeroy]

12:57 AM on 06/19/2011

Landgrab. I assume he means theif. Windows is a blatant rip off of the mac. I'm sure Gates had an original idea but I am at a loss to think of one

[lebec]

10:22 AM on 06/19/2011

great strategic decisions were his key

[Matthew Chase Ruffino]

11:19 AM on 06/19/2011

Well at least Gates is now dedicating his life to helping others while Jobs still rips people off with overly priced products. Who's the real thief?

[independendy]

02:07 PM on 06/18/2011

Scully makes some interesting points.

Jobs and Gates are definitely the founding fathers of the modern day technological revolution.

He may not have been a top dog but he ran with the top dogs and only a small handful of developers can even brag about that.

[independendy]

02:05 PM on 06/18/2011

I tend to lean towards Windows then Apple....

Apple is definitely making bold innovations but I like having control of my own network stability...

Windows may not aggressively defend anti-marketing campaigns but if you really do your homework, Windows is a strong and stable product.

[firelord5000]

12:59 AM on 06/19/2011

Well put, have never gotten a virus on a Windows based computer for over a decade + usage, its all about having prudence and correct software.

[Dave Land]

08:24 PM on 06/20/2011

To each his own: I prefer things that work well, not things that, well, work.

Tell me about "having control of your own network stability": I'm not sure what point you're trying to make, if any. Macs run a variant of BSD, a form of Unix that is only good enough to run most of the servers in the world. The stability of your network is by no means compromised by having Macs on it.

[independendy]

10:13 PM on 06/20/2011

As far as "having control of your own network stability"....uhmmm...let me just say that is a trade secret...but there are plenty of books available if you want to do your own homework.

You know what they say "RTFM".

But everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion and if the BSD is your thing, go for it.

Oh, and I don't see in my previous comment where I insinuated that Macs stability is compromised.

[Jack Daniels Esq]

02:05 PM on 06/18/2011

Prefer open-sauce Linux to Mac - iPhone is a kingmaker - Gate's genius was EULA

[sazbad]

02:00 PM on 06/18/2011

Why do people tend to compare Microsoft to apple? Apple is not a software company at all. They are mostly a hardware company where most of the profit comes from Iphone, mp3 player, ipad etc. Their Mac sales is only a small percentage of their total revenue. Yes Apple makes some fancy looking hardware which is specifically targeted for a certain user group. But Microsoft is not a specific target user group software maker, they are the biggest software maker of the world and most importantly their OS runs on 90% of the worlds PC. They have so varied types of software like Biztalk Server, Outlook server, Hyper-v, Visual studio and so on. People who uses know how important knows how important those are. Microosft dominates both the consumer and corporate world in parallel.

On the other hand, What's the most popular apple software? Quicktime, Itunes, iWork? People who uses software from both company know how incomparable both are. Yes apple software looks nice. But that's about it. In terms of number of features, in terms of flexibility, in terms of versatility of the software world Apple is still nowhere to Microsoft.

[WSAY]

02:36 PM on 06/18/2011

Apple makes its OS. The very OS Microsoft has been trying to copy for decades. Anyone who uses Windows and then uses Macintosh's OS will never go back. It is stable, fast, easy to use, true plug and play, intuitive, and less expensive.

The only reason Windows does as well as it does is that Microsoft is willing to sell to anyone who is willing to pay. If Apple licensed its OS, Windows would be dead.

[StJames]

09:31 PM on 06/18/2011

My first computer was a PC with Windows...then I bought an iMac G4....I much prefer my Mac....I'm still using it (after 7  years) and while I own a newer PC, after my last move I never even set it up....,I agree with you....perhaps the real computer geeks prefer Microsoft....????

[firelord5000]

01:06 AM on 06/19/2011

That made no sense. Mac OS 1984-2001 was horrid, and ones after that until Leopard were still crud compared to say Windows XP which is STILL the goliath of stability.

The card Mac people always bring up is that Windows is easy to infect and find vulnerabilities, but the ONLY reasoning behind that is that until last 2 years hackers didn't care about going over the 1-3% of people running OS because who wants to waste time on that, but then Apple decided to call the guys out, and GASP OS gets hacked in what like 2 minutes? As original poster said, Apple is great at making hardware, and heck, they are great at making software for mobiles/tablets, but give me a break, Microsoft is still decades ahead of them when it comes to computers. I use Apple, Microsoft, and Android based products, all of them have their strengths and weaknesses, but when it comes to good old fashion Desktops/Laptops, Windows is still king.

[ufopp]

01:05 AM on 06/19/2011

So for a hardware company, Apple does better software than pure software companies?

[mgabrys]

01:45 PM on 06/18/2011

Again? John S., pops up every 6 months about this crap. Go away John.

[WSAY]

02:36 PM on 06/18/2011

You first.

[mgabrys]

07:17 AM on 06/19/2011

Really? You're defending the person who not only ran Apple into the ground - but actually spent a year trying to sell it off?

You're a great business genius. Perhaps you can try flying airplanes into the ground too.

[getoffmedz]

01:30 PM on 06/18/2011

When Sculley purged Jobs it was probably justified.

When that happened it greatly motivated Mr. Jobs to advance the PC state-of-the-art with the NEXT.

However, Sculley was a legend in his own mind and proceeded to run Apple Computer into the ground.

[jsgaetano]

01:29 PM on 06/18/2011

It's also hilarious how he says "Steve is right"... despite the overwhelming fact that Microsoft kicked Apple's ass in the software field.

Apple didn't beat Microsoft... they retreated to a different area. Apple's software is still garbage, but now they counter that by making their own little hardware monopoly. Apple is more like Nintendo than Microsoft.

[WSAY]

02:38 PM on 06/18/2011

Not too smart, are you? Even Gates admits they have always wanted to make their OS like Apple's.

[jsgaetano]

02:50 PM on 06/18/2011

I'm smart enough not to make up stories in my head. Clearly you aren't.

[firelord5000]

01:09 AM on 06/19/2011

I am sorry, but that is simply not true. I am sure Gates has praised OS, but OS post 2001 is a copy of Windows, not vice versa. Anything OS can do, Windows can do better, its just up to people to actually bother learning what Windows can do.

[jsgaetano]

01:27 PM on 06/18/2011

Why would we care what one of the biggest losers in Tech history has to say?

[WSAY]

02:38 PM on 06/18/2011

You are being way too hard on yourself.

[jsgaetano]

02:50 PM on 06/18/2011

Wow... if that's the best you can do, it's no wonder you need Steve Jobs to tell you what you're allowed to use.

[ResearchtheFacts]

01:13 PM on 06/18/2011

Now I know why I can't identify with Apple, I don't like control freaks. So you want to stiffle everyone else's experience to fit your viewpoint? Good luck with that and based on that perspective apple will always have a marginal share. It also explains the quick rise of Android who came late to the operating system party. Many are rejecting Jobs mindset.