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  • Steve Jobs: The Stonking Big Profile

    Steve Jobs: The Stonking Big Profile

    Posted on August 17, 2009 | No Comments
    steve-jobs-1984-macintoshThe aptly named Bryan Appleyard had an interesting profile in the Times of London. He wrote about Steve Jobs without actually being allowed to talk to the man and resulting tale sounds more like a Mark Oliver profile of the Bilderbergers than a fluff piece on a popular company. However, what Appleyard did come away with was a picture of a company so strange and dysfunctional it makes most Communist dictatorships look like fantasy football leagues. One of the best paragraphs describes Apple's development style:
    The answer is that, along with computers, iPhones and iPods, secrecy is one of Apple’s signature products. A cult of corporate omerta — the mafia code of silence — is ruthlessly enforced, with employees sacked for leaks and careless talk. Executives feed deliberate misinformation into one part of the company so that any leak can be traced back to its source. Workers on sensitive projects have to pass through many layers of security. Once at their desks or benches, they are monitored by cameras and they must cover up devices with black cloaks and turn on red warning lights when they are uncovered. “The secrecy is beyond fastidious and is in fact insultingly petty and political,” says one employee on the anonymous corporate reporting site Glassdoor.com, “and often is an impediment to actually getting one’s work done.”

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