I think the secret lies in the fact that Steve is the CEO of a tech company, and he's not a geek, he's a user, a true user.
I get the impression, that with all Apple's output there's SJ in the background, saying:
"No, don't put that feature in, keep it simple."
"You're losing sight of what [insert product] is used for, keep it simple."
"The user will never use that function, don't put it in."
Whereas at Microsoft, they come up with reasonable idea, and then a boat load of geeks jump on board and put as many features in as possible, and make said product as configurable as possible, thinking that more features = better product. What they end up with is a morass of features, cluttering up the product, making it confusing and difficult to use.
What Apple has is someone (SJ) who constantly reminds the software & hardware engineers who they are creating their product for, and keeps them in check by pulling them back from being to 'geeky'.
by Darby — Mar 21, 91
I get the impression, that with all Apple's output there's SJ in the background, saying:
"No, don't put that feature in, keep it simple."
"You're losing sight of what [insert product] is used for, keep it simple."
"The user will never use that function, don't put it in."
Whereas at Microsoft, they come up with reasonable idea, and then a boat load of geeks jump on board and put as many features in as possible, and make said product as configurable as possible, thinking that more features = better product. What they end up with is a morass of features, cluttering up the product, making it confusing and difficult to use.
What Apple has is someone (SJ) who constantly reminds the software & hardware engineers who they are creating their product for, and keeps them in check by pulling them back from being to 'geeky'.