Chapter 6 4 Farewell to "Apple"

We should now think about Sculley, who can no longer be at Apple.He doesn't know what he's doing every day. -Steve Jobs At Apple, John Sculley's ingenuity was completely overshadowed by Steve.Steve was super contagious and charismatic, and he was able to fool some people into believing he was wrong.In John Sculley's view, Steve was betting the company by overestimating the new Macintosh on the market.Steve still thought that in the first year of the Macintosh's introduction to the market, that is, in 1984, sales must reach 500,000 units, because according to the sales reports at the beginning, this number was completely achievable.Both Apple executives questioned the sales plan and hoped that Steve would keep his head above water.But unfortunately, they were subsequently dismissed by Steve.

When many companies in the world are looking at Apple and think that Apple is a model for the future joint stock company management, a very large force has formed in the executive management of Apple, which is enough to make Apple The company split into several parts. After the Macintosh machine was successfully introduced to the market, John decided to integrate the Macintosh machine development team with the "Lisa" computer development team, and then let Steve Jobs be their leader.But it was from John's decision that things became bad.On the first day of the integration of the two groups of personnel, when the two groups of personnel were gathered in the middle hall of the "Lisa" computer R&D building, the first sentence Steve said to the members of the "Lisa" computer R&D team was : "You guys are really a bunch of idiots." It was from his words that the situation got worse. "I was really ashamed to be part of the Macintosh development team," Don Denman recalled that day. Look at the staff of the 'Lisa' computer R&D team, they all have hatred and anger in their eyes. Of course, in my opinion, they cannot be blamed."

But the reality is that not all members of the Macintosh development team thought Steve's tirade was inappropriate.His speech also stirred up a lot of people's emotions, of course, bad emotions.Some members of the Macintosh machine development team believed that Steve's speech was absolutely correct. "I thought his talk was brilliant," Andy Herzfeld said. "That's how he should have told them. The 'Lisa' computer development team just didn't get their spirits up." Later facts proved that Steve's willful and self-centered personality was the key factor for his rapid crisis.His speech also showed that in his mind, there was a lack of humanity at all. This kind of people-oriented values ​​​​is the foundation on which Apple was founded, and now all these seem to no longer exist in Steve.Steve's speech shows that he has an attempt to control the entire Apple company, but it also indicates that his days of truly controlling the company are numbered.

Jay Elliott is the vice president of Apple's human resources department. He is also the only Apple executive in the Macintosh machine development team except for Steve. Man, he saw the growing tension between Sculley and Steve. "John is the president of the company," Elliott said, "but all the power is in Steve's hands. When the executives are in a meeting, you just have to watch Steve and John do it. The two of them could talk to each other, but other people who were supposed to report to John had to report to Steve instead. He was the real head of Apple." "We hired John to mentor Steve," Elliott explained, "but instead, it turned out that Steve was teaching John how to do things."

John Sculley was a deliberate, reserved, reasonable man of words and deeds, so he obviously couldn't stand Steve's way of doing things.But in the face of Steve's aggressive aura, he was helpless.Steve looked like Midas in Greek mythology who could "turn everything into gold" because the Macintosh was becoming the best-selling computer and had taken over the computer market in the United States.At the same time, from Steve himself, he is also reaping a personal benefit, because Regis McKinna is vigorously promoting Steve's deeds, the purpose is to let the world know that Steve Steve Jobs was "the true inventor of the personal computer".In the end, this propaganda offensive has achieved its goal.

Steve, the "true inventor of the personal computer", was about to become the center of a crisis storm at this time. There is a word in ancient Greek that is very suitable to describe the behavior and attitude of people like Steve.The Greeks called this "hubris" and believed that when a person dared to challenge God, his behavior must be characterized by insolence.And God's reaction to him was the same - beat the rebellious guy down in heaven. In 1984, one of the more eye-catching advertising words came from a Wendy's hamburger advertisement. One of the advertising words was: "Is there any beef?" Apple computer users began to have the same problem with Macintosh machines.For the first 100 years when the machine was sold, the Macintosh machine looked dazzling, but careful observation and analysis showed that there was really not much "steak".It is also a joke to say that there are only 6 software applications for Macintosh machines, namely: Macintosh data recording program, Macintosh display program, Microsoft word processing program, and 3 other data Recording, display and word processing programs.The situation at that time was that most software companies, including the American Lotus company that developed the best-selling spreadsheet software Lotus 1-2-3 for IBM's home computers, did not yet have the ability to develop high-level software for computers with visual functions. Difficulty software system capabilities.The Macintosh competed with IBM's personal computer, which had thousands of software programs to choose from, so computer users treated the Macintosh as a toy, one you might Machine mouths that I like but won't buy

Apple's market developers did a lot of market research on Macintosh machines, but the results were not optimistic.Retailers are the first to show users or IBM's personal computer.Even when customers sometimes asked about the Macintosh, they ended up buying an IBM PC.Computer buyers don't like machines without extended functions, and the screen of the Macintosh machine is too small and there are no brilliant colors. —A freelance writer recalls sitting in front of a Macintosh with Apple executive Betsy Pace writing a speech.The deadline for the presentation was tight, and Betsy had to turn in the manuscript the next morning so it could be used at Apple's all-important annual sales conference.The copywriter was in the habit of saving information every sentence or two, but this machine could only save information on a floppy disk.Incredibly, when it was time to save the information, the machine ejected the floppy disk, followed by a prompt asking to insert the disk containing the Microsoft word processing system into the disk drive.The writer followed the instructions of the machine, and the disk spun in the disk drive for a while, but it was ejected again, accompanied by a prompt asking to insert the floppy disk with the speech document into the drive again.This has been repeated several times without success.The copywriter was discouraged, and Betsy was anxious about not getting her speech.This problem occurs because the Macintosh does not have enough memory and does not have enough storage space on its internal hard drive.This time Apple's administrators got a real taste of the troubles Macintosh users encountered.Later, the developers of the Macintosh machine called this trouble "the Olympics of the disk drive."

Faced with the problems with the Macintosh, people complained one after another.In the field of computer technology and marketing operations, Steve is not very good at it, he just trusts his intuition and relies on the results of his market researchers, especially in early 1982, when Steve was in a good mood At that time, he felt that he was the kind of person who "turns things into gold" and could not listen to other people's opinions at all.In the design of the computer, he went his own way, arbitrarily deciding what components the computer should be assembled in order to better meet the market demand.Mike Murray vividly said: "Steve's market research is to look at himself in the mirror every morning."

By July 1984, Macintosh sales were a bit worrying, and the number of machines sold seemed to have been decreasing.At first Steve refused to believe this fact, thinking it was just a reflection of the sluggish summer economy.But when sales continued to drop in August, Steve started to panic.An organization at Apple that was very supportive of Steve (the organization that mainly makes some rosy sales estimates, in fact those numbers are not real sales), also cannot give sufficient support due to the decline in company revenue.It seemed that all of a sudden, Apple had a serious problem, for which Steve should bear a lot of responsibility.

Steve completely ignored what the typical computer user thinks. He missed the most basic considerations when buying a computer.He didn't understand that when users have to spend thousands of dollars on a computer, most people don't care how good-looking it is, whether it has a mouse or what color the computer is, all they care about is that the machine they buy works. Do not work for them. In this case, resentment began to breed repeatedly in Apple's management.The Apple II computer promotion agency——mainly responsible for the promotion and sales of Apple IIe and Apple IIc computers—had never understood the company's development strategy adopted by the company's management, and its members had almost become "untouchables" in the company's hierarchy.At the same time, Steve and other top executives of the company were also anxious about the plummeting price of Macintosh machines, and John Sculley still could not control the company's situation.Apple's reputation as a leader in the computer industry has also been seriously damaged by the erratic behavior of its chairman, Steve.

When the members of the Macintosh computer development team learned how much the employees who did the same work as them in the "Lisa" computer development team were paid, an even bigger blow came to Steve. up.In the "Lisa" computer development team, an electronic engineer's salary can reach more than 50,000 US dollars a year, while in the Macintosh machine development team, only Andy and Burrell can get such a high salary .Steve paid his employees between $10,000 and $20,000 a year and encouraged them to work hard on Macintosh machines, and he expected them to work for him day, night, and weekend, and he asked them to employees "work 90 hours a week".An Apple manager wrote in a memo: "Engineers in the development group were very upset when they learned about this incident." Dissatisfied, but later, some members who worked longer hours found that the salaries of some later hired employees in the "Lisa" computer R&D group were actually higher than the salaries of some managers in the Macintosh R&D group, and they were even more aggrieved up.Everyone in the Macintosh development team felt they were being betrayed, that Steve was using them.They gave their hearts and minds to Steve and the Macintosh, but Steve did that to them.As a result of this situation, Steve never restored the trust of these employees in him. (Few of the people who worked on the Macintosh later worked for Steve.) Steve's disputes with his loyal employees were only part of the problem.While Apple is widely regarded as the leader and innovator in the world of personal computing, its lack of consistency still lost the trust of many, not to mention their "boss" Steve.In the process of desperate competition with IBM, people do not regard Apple as an extremely powerful "cannon", but more as an "cannon" that cannot be fixed.For computer users, IBM represents a trusted name, Apple is not. Apple holds an annual event for salespeople in international markets, and since Macintosh sales have been stagnant, Steve sees this event in 1984 as crucial, because he can take advantage of this once-in-a-lifetime event. Opportunity to encourage new salesmen to devote all their energy to product sales.On the other hand, however, Del Yakem faced a different challenge than Steve's when it came to Apple II sales.Dell was in charge of the production and sales of the Apple II computer at the time. He realized that although the "glamorous" Macintosh machine had become the focus of people's attention, it still could not bring huge profits to the company. Computer products can bring good benefits to the company and can help the company get rid of possible difficulties.But the bad thing is that their R & D personnel did not develop the follow-up products of the Apple II computer, which means that their sales will not last forever.On the other hand, this also shows that the company's main profitable product, the Apple II computer, is facing the danger of being replaced by the Macintosh machine. For the salespeople, the Hawaiian event was all about having fun, maybe even carnival, for a week.And for Apple executives, returning to Cupertino, the company's headquarters, after the event was a source of anxiety. "Steve was extremely frustrated," Jay Elliott recalled, "and he thought that John Sculley, who hadn't been given the 'power' of the company before, had started to pull himself together and was going to formally run the company. In this case, he, Steve, should give up the power to this president who 'doesn't understand business'." Steve's complaints like this are meaningless, just like when an airplane is about to run out of fuel, its Pilots don't check before takeoff, blaming other crews when things go wrong. Macintosh sales continued to decline, and Steve's mood only got worse with report after report.He increasingly believed that the solution to Apple's current woes was to join forces with another large company.He considered working with AT&T, GE, and even Coca-Cola on a sales plan.At this critical juncture, Steve called on General Motors CEO Roger Smith and invited him to tour the Macintosh machine production department.Steve suggested that Apple and General Motors develop a strategic alliance. Smith replied that he knew little about computers and that he would send a director of their company to discuss cooperation with Apple's board of directors. The director who came to Apple was a man named Ross Perot, who was very different from Steve.Steve is young, promising, wild and arrogant, but this rigid Texas enthusiasm is very different from Steve.The two of them are like a pair of complementary and harmonious farm hands at a picnic in the country.That said, Apple Computer impressed Perot, but he never saw a reason for the two companies to work together. With no hope of seeking cooperation in the United States, Steve had to lead a group of members to Japan to discuss cooperation with Epson Technology.Epson, a business machine company, Steve thought would work better with Apple.But the journey to Tokyo, Japan made Steve and the others extremely discouraged, because it coincided with an earthquake and many roads were blocked, so they had to get out of the car and take the train instead, but they also learned that the railway transportation was also interrupted.When they finally arrived, Epson put them aside again and kept them waiting for several hours. Although the staff of Epson were kind and courteous to them during the interview, Steve did not care about it. Very displeased. During the meeting, the president of Epson stood up and showed the product in person. The Japanese gentleman was interrupted by Steve almost at the beginning, that is, after showing for a little more than a minute.Jay Elliott, who was there at the time and witnessed the incident, recalls: "Steve confronted the company president and said, 'This is not going to work, do you have a better idea?' After speaking, walk away." When the negotiation failed, Steve and the others had no choice but to return to Tokyo. On the train, Steve began to vent his dissatisfaction.Of course, he didn't take this opportunity to discuss with employees how to solve the current predicament, but to talk to others about his new girlfriend. "He didn't understand why the things he encountered were always so troublesome," Elliott said. "He didn't care what happened at Epson. , as soon as this incident passed, he completely forgot about it. In Steve's mind, the love for his career is the most important thing, but now he seems to suddenly not understand why his enthusiasm can't solve the problems he is facing. What about the problem?" The train was speeding across the territory of Japan. The billionaire and the founder of the famous Apple Computer didn't even forget to confide his thoughts to others.This year, Steve was 30 years old. He was still eager to start a family of his own, but he was afraid of what this family would become in the future.When they were about to arrive at the station, Steve suddenly turned to Elliott and said his resentment without thinking: "I am not an ordinary person, why do they not understand me so much?" It might have made some sense to say it out of the mouth of a great man like Lang or Beethoven, but for Steve it was a bit out of place. Apple Computer's sales "big vortex" is still getting bigger and bigger.Macintosh sales fell to less than 10,000 units a month, Steve was restless, and Sculley still didn't really run Apple.Up to now, the driving effect of the Apple IIc computer on the Macintosh machine has gradually disappeared.To make matters worse, Del Yacam's product orders for the company's production department were based on the good sales of Apple computers in the past, but now due to the sharp decline in sales of Apple computers, the company suddenly found that the computer products with a backlog Already "overwhelmed".Apple had to announce the disposition of the backlog of products, which really made investors concerned about Apple's share price on Wall Street stock markets nervous. 200,000 computers were liquidated by a company accustomed to "bartering" in this way, which shows that Apple has failed and is going downhill. Even so, the Macintosh machine research and development department still firmly grasps the power of the company's affairs, and they pay special attention to the internal functional departments that manage the company's affairs, such as the advertising department, customer relations department, product distribution department, and service department.Steve's philosophy on this is that only by doing so can he ensure that he, the chairman of the company's board of directors, is in charge of the company and that some things can be done according to his "meaning".But Apple's excessive concentration of power in the Macintosh machine research and development department is also a major problem for the entire company.Especially when the Macintosh R&D department was run by Steve, the situation was even worse. In 1985, a week after Apple's conference in Phoenix, Arizona, the company's executives went on another retreat.While Sculley was in a meeting with customer relations specialist Regis McKinna that morning, they were approached by Apple's marketing president, Mike Murray.Mike told them it was time to talk to them, so serious in his tone that McKinna and Sculley had to discuss matters with him. When the three of them were going to take the elevator together, Steve saw it and asked them what they were doing.Murray was confused by the question and just said that they were going to a meeting, and Steve said he also wanted to attend the meeting.Mike Murray never said "no" to Steve Jobs in his three years at Apple, but now he's refusing Steve Jobs.Although Steve insisted again and again, Murray still did not let go.Eventually, they brushed aside the chairman of the board and closed the elevator doors.For the first time, Steve had a hunch that something bad was going to happen to him, and he decided to investigate. Meanwhile, the three masterminds, Murray, Sculley, and McKinna, hid secretly in Sculley's hotel room, making decisions about Apple's future.Murray told President Sculley that it is time to consider letting Steve, the "head" of the Macintosh R&D department, leave.Sculley and McKinna were a little taken aback when these words came from Murray, who was both a trusted authority in the company and a loyal figure to Steve.After saying this, Murray briefly explained the reasons for Steve's resignation.Later, Sculley also thought: If Murray, who is so close to Steve, let Steve resign from his position as the head of the Macintosh R&D department, then the matter may have developed to a serious level. up. Because Steve has been grabbing the power of the company, the Macintosh R&D team has now become a closely-knit "pirate gang", and the entire R&D team has rapidly expanded to more than 700 people. They act in unity and have the same goal. It is a force to be reckoned with.Also, because some time ago, the members of the Macintosh R&D team complained about the low salary, Steve made an impulsive decision to increase the salary of the R&D team members, but that was from the company's declining salary. allocated from the income. It's easy to assume that Murray, at least in part, is responsible for Apple's computer sales woes.In a sense, this statement makes sense, because as the president of Apple's marketing department, he should have a strong ability to control the current chaotic situation.After all, companies have such big problems because they lost their market.Murray and the others believed that Apple's computers could be sold to office workers in various companies, but they didn't know (or didn't want to know) that the computers used by these office workers were often purchased by groups.The sales of Apple computers are all aimed at individual users. The sales strategy they adopt is to satisfy individual users, and they have not thought of group buying. Steve kept reminding the sales department that their plans were for the profit of the company, and even Sculley let Steve deceive him.They all believed that the sales strategy formulated by the company was correct, and that the decline in sales was just a temporary downturn and seasonal weakness in the computer market, or because their company had not developed a software program. "Steve's vision is very long-term, and he can reach 1,000 miles," Jay Elliott explained vividly, "but he can't see the details of each mile. He doesn't understand that only by walking every mile , it is possible to reach 1000 miles. His business genius is because of his long-term vision, and his decline is also because of his long-term vision.” After the Phoenix retreat, Steve and his old partner, Apple founder Woz, went to Washington for a ceremony.At that ceremony, President Ronald Reagan awarded the two of them the first Global Technology Medal in recognition of their contributions to the development of American technology.However, the moment was uncomfortable for both Steves, as neither could tolerate the other or hold back their respective grievances any longer. When Steve returned to California, he found that Wozniak had publicly stated that he was leaving Apple.Woz severely criticized the company's severely inadequate support for the Apple II computer production line, and its management was chaotic.The Apple II, the company's only lucrative computer product, was ignored at Apple's annual meeting, and Woz lashed out at the practice, clearly targeting his former benefactor. Friend Steve's. "During the shareholder meeting last week," he said, "the word 'Apple II' wasn't mentioned even once, and I have a big problem with that." By February 1985, Elliott and Murray had decided to look for a replacement for Steve.They believe that in Apple, the most visionary with market management capabilities is the 41-year-old Frenchman Jean-Louis Gasser, who can replace Steve as the head of the Macintosh machine research and development department. At the time, Gassé was the head of Apple's French headquarters, a mathematician, a charismatic leader, and a master of several popular philosophy books.Gasser has a strong reputation as a philosopher and future thinker.On the other hand, he is also the head of Apple's only perennial profitable department abroad.During the sluggish period of software development and sales in the autumn of 1984, the Macintosh machines sold in Europe at that time did not have any applicable programs except for the data recording program and display program of the Macintosh machine.Relying on his ingenuity and business acumen, Gasser sent an employee to New York with tens of thousands of dollars in cash and bought as much software as possible for the Macintosh.Upon his return, Gasser distributed the software to retailers. While others planned to replace him, Steve was busy drafting a proposal to solve the problems facing the Macintosh development department.His advice is like putting a Band-Aid on a heart attack patient.His proposed solutions include cutting food service fees and allowing clerical workers to fly economy class instead of business class. At the end of that month, Steve celebrated his 30th birthday.On the same day, he held a grand party. Only a billionaire or the CEO of a large company can hold such a birthday party.In the ballroom of the St. Francis Hotel, he invited more than 1,000 of his best friends and staff to a dinner ball in semi-formal attire. During the week of March 11, Macintosh sales had barely reached 10 percent of the original plan, and by this time the company's top management knew it was time to show off with Steve. Facing the sales dilemma of Apple Computer, Sculley had no other choice but to take action. He announced the closure of several computer production lines.But fortunately, IBM later announced the discontinuation of the poorly conceived low-cost personal computer, the "Peanut" computer (PCjr).American business news reports also have targets for criticism and abuse, and Apple can take a breather for a while. Meanwhile, Mike Murray was releasing a memo to key Apple executives summarizing the concerns he had told Sculley and McKinna in Phoenix.The title of the memo reads, in which he describes: "Steve's failure in corporate growth strategy is attributable to major decision-making problems in the company...his growth strategy was clearly at the expense of the company's survival.¨ In fact, it was the first time that Murray treated a person like this, and this first time happened to Steve.From Steve's point of view, even his most loyal friends began to question his significance as the head of the Macintosh machine, and he felt that it was time to take a hard look at the reality of the situation he faced.Throughout that month, Steve and Murray kept in touch, trying to convince the marketing executive that only he, Steve Jobs, could save Apple.As for Sculley, let him resign, and he, Steve, will be the president and CEO of Apple.Of course, Murray didn't buy his account. He thought in his heart that if someone else was to be the person in charge of the Macintosh machine, Steve would have to be "sacked" and let him do research and development. When developing a new project, he will have a creative passion, just like the exciting moment when he developed the Macintosh three years ago. Apple is slowly collapsing in front of Murray and Sculley.A large number of employees began to leave for other companies, and Sculley was really distraught.His survey data showed that the Macintosh was still seen as a tool for Yuppies (young, upper-middle-class professionals) rather than a true business computer.Sculley had always believed that Gasser had to replace Steve if things were going to change.Steve's reaction seemed to be telling Sculley: "Gase doesn't know anything about computers, let alone sales. At this critical moment, what Apple needs are people who really understand business, not people who only understand technology." people." Still living in his own imaginary world, Steve doesn't understand that the coming "storm" is about to knock him down.At the end of March, he went to Germany's Frog Design Company (Frogdesign), which successfully designed the appearance of Sony's Walkman products in Japan, because in the past, when Steve first saw the Sony designed by Frog He was impressed by the design ability of Frog Design Company when he was using the Walkman, and then he signed a large number of cooperation projects with Frog Design Company to help Apple design all types of computer products developed in the future.But this time when he went to Germany again, he suddenly discovered that Frog Design Company was doing design work for Steve Wozniak's new company Cloud-9. When Jobs saw the patterns of the projects they designed for Wozniak Company everywhere in the frog design company, he flew into a rage and immediately asked frog to either send these design drafts to Apple or tear them up.In fact, Jobs had the authority to do so, too, because the terms of frog's agreement with Apple stipulated that frog could design projects for other corporate employers, but Steve Jobs' former partners were excluded. The press covered it at length, and the prevailing perception of Steve Jobs was that he was rather narrow-minded, even a bit mean. "Steve Jobs hated me so much," Woz explained.Herbert Pfeiffer, an executive at Frog's corporate offices, aptly described it: "It's really a close race." Apple's board finally took a big decision on April 11, spearheaded by a reticent investor named Arthur Rock, who has been on the company's board since its inception.Arthur is a tall, self-contained man, on the one hand he admires the good things, but on the other hand he hates the evil, the shirking, and the flashy.Facing so many resignations, facing a huge backlog of Apple II computers and Macintosh machines in the company's warehouse, and facing the fact that the sales of Macintosh machines have been lower than 1/10 of the expected sales, He felt compelled to give John Sculley the real power of the company. Facing the company's depressed situation, Sculley took a series of measures to deal with this situation.His first decision was to cancel the development plan of the large-scale Macintosh machine, which was more conducive to the development of the Macintosh II machine, which was still in its initial stage.Sculley's second plan was to cancel production of the struggling, but never successful "Lisa" computer.In other words, in the end, the "Lisa" computer was officially and permanently discontinued at Apple. In order to cope with the complex situation facing the company, the company's board of directors told Sculley to stop acting like a Steve Jobs sycophant, and that the entire Apple company should be run by Sculley alone.Sculley was also very aware of his situation. He realized that he would soon get out of a precarious situation, and he decided to take charge of Apple himself.Of course, he also realized that he must have the courage to face the chairman of the board, Steve Jobs, on the company's board of directors.Sculley believes that only by giving him the real power to manage the company can the company's unfavorable situation be reversed.But he also said: "As the CEO of the company, you have to command the chairman of the board of directors, which is very difficult,¨ 几分钟之内，公司董事会的决定就做出了。史蒂夫不再担任麦金托什机研发组的负贵人，他的职位由加塞接替，而实权牢牢地被斯卡利抓在了手中。 史蒂夫对这个决定非常震惊，对斯卡利也是极其仇恨。在决定做出后，他和斯卡利擦肩而过，一句话没有说就离开了会场口 为了恢复自己的权力，史蒂夫再一次展示了他可以不计前嫌的能力。他找到了他的好朋友、苹果公司市场部的主管麦克·默里，当然在不久以前也是他使用便函在逼迫史蒂夫辞职这件事上火上浇油，并极大地激怒了史蒂夫。史蒂夫能不计前嫌，也有能力让其他人忘记这些事情，史蒂夫和默里两人一起策划并草拟了一份大胆的公司改革计划，涉及金额达1O亿美元。按照他们的计划，苹果公司将成为一个总公司，它下面设4个分公司。其中有一个叫电脑天地( ComputerLand)的公司负责零售业务，由斯卡利出任这个公司的总裁。也就是说，把他撇在一边，不让他干涉乔布斯的事情。史蒂夫还是作为总公司——苹果公司董事会的主席。 在星期六的早晨，默里到他的办公室开会，却突然发现加塞坐在门口外面。这个法国人并没有接替史蒂夫担任麦金托什机研发组的主管，而是被指派担任另一个截然不同的职位。和默里面对面地站在那里，加塞感到非常尴尬，因为当时默里还被蒙在鼓里。直到星期一的早晨才有人告诉默里，加塞将接替他出任苹果公司市场部的主管，也就是说他必须让位于加塞。默里听到这个消息后，当时头就晕了，感到天旋地转。他和他的好朋友史蒂夫在一起策划了这么长时间的公司改革新方案，但同时，史蒂夫在背后竟然把他的工作“拿掉”了，而且还没有对他提起。当默里再次碰到他的老朋友时，史蒂夫给他唯一的解释就是：“我忘了告诉你。” 斯卡利不愿失去颇具商业头脑的默里，于是，就安排了一次聚会，邀请默里、史蒂夫共同商议这件事。最后的解决方案是让默里出任苹果公司商务部门的副总裁。方案做出后，斯卡利借口自己要出席一个商务会议就离开了。史蒂夫马上改弦更张，竭力想把默里拉到他这一边。于是，他就对默里说：“现在应该考虑一下斯卡利的问题，他不能再待在苹果公司里了。他不知道自己每天都在做什么。” 在星期一，关于加塞新上任的消息就像野火燎原一样迅速在苹果公司传开了。然而，对于默里将出任商业部门副总裁的消息却没有任何只言片语。 在这之后，斯卡利要去中国旅行几天，在这几天里史蒂夫还在策划把他赶下台。“我认为他们俩简直就像是小孩，”埃利奥特说，“史蒂夫竭尽全力想赢得这场'宫廷政变'，而约翰行动起来也像一个被宠坏的小孩。他们两个都想把苹果公司编入自己的麾下。”当史蒂夫看到5月20日星期一斯卡利在公司高层战略规划会议上提出的公司重组计划时，更是疯狂到了极点。斯卡利的重组计划巩固了两位执行副总裁在苹果公司的权力地位，其中一位是苹果Ⅱ电脑的主管德尔·亚凯姆，他负责苹果电脑的生产；另一位是比尔·坎贝尔，他掌管苹果电脑的市场和销售。史蒂夫只是担任了新产品研发部的副总裁，这个职位并没有多少实权。 有一天下午，当史蒂夫和默里在苹果公司班德雷驱动器产业区闲逛时，默里惊奇地察觉到现在史蒂夫竟然还在想办法把斯卡利赶下台。同样令人难以置信的是，默里知道这件事后还提出要帮助史蒂夫完成计划。史蒂夫还把他的“政变”计划偷偷地告诉了加塞，因为史蒂夫对加塞还有一种好感，认为他还算是值得信任的人。但这个法国人却很明白他对苹果公司的忠诚要比对史蒂夫的忠诚多得多。加塞告诉史蒂夫他要认真考虑一下。但加塞和苹果公司的首席法律顾问阿尔·艾森施塔特是一对非常要好的朋友，当天晚上，加塞就去艾森施塔特的家吃烤肉。吃饭时，加塞就把史蒂夫要策划一场“宫廷政变”的消息告诉了艾森施塔特，艾森施塔特迅速地把这件事通报给了斯卡利。 第二天早晨，苹果公司的首席执行官斯卡利就召开了紧急会议。他在会议上大发雷霆，怒吼道：“是我在管理苹果公司，史蒂夫，我要你马上给我从这里消失，就是现在！”史蒂夫被人当场抓了个正着，因此也无话可说，他第一次表现得这么安静。史蒂夫极力地控制住自己的情绪，在那里忍受了3个小时的痛苦折磨而没有爆发。 当史蒂夫在场的时候，斯卡利要求公司的每个行政管理人员进行投票，迫使他们公开声明是对他忠诚还是对史蒂夫忠诚。杰伊·埃利奥特回想起这件事时非常愤慨，他说：“我告诉约翰，我认为他就是一头蠢驴，我拒绝投票。我认为在那个时候他和史蒂夫都应该'消失'。” 在那一天，史蒂夫和约翰两人都说要辞职，约翰是对他的妻子说的，史蒂夫是对忠于他的职员说的，而且说的时候泪流满面。当史蒂夫跨步到会议室门口准备退场时，麦克·默里说：“你最好明白你现在要做什么，你一旦跨过这道门槛，世界可能就会因你而改变。”史蒂夫最后还是听从了老朋友的建议，然后坐下来又考虑了几个小时，与会人员决定先不要匆忙做出决定，先把这件事情放在一边，冷静几天再说。但不论怎么样，这一天都是史蒂夫无法忘记的。为什么不仔细考虑一下，甚至是找斯卡利谈一谈呢？史蒂夫这样想。 第二天早晨，史蒂夫就开车去了斯卡利的住处，史蒂夫听从了麦克·默里的建议，他要让约翰相信他所做的这一切都是为了苹果公司更好地发展，而不是针对斯卡利个人。对斯卡利，史蒂夫展示了他极具魅力的一面，所说的每个词都是精心挑选的，不尖锐刺耳，也没有挑战意味。他们两个人沿着斯卡利住处附近弯弯曲曲的人行道走着，一路上，史蒂夫竭力替自己辩解。他坚持说，他所说所做的都是为了苹果公司能够最好地发展，如果他的离开能使苹果公司获得良好的发展，他宁愿这么做。史蒂夫说，他完全支持斯卡利最终做出的决定，但他还是想要斯卡利再给他一次留在自己创建的公司里的机会。 斯卡利也主张和平地解决这件事，因此他被史蒂夫说服了，他说，只要史蒂夫发誓对他忠诚，他愿意再给史蒂夫一次机会，让他有机会为苹果公司服务，做苹果公司的客户发言人。“没有同题。一史蒂夫说，因为这是他希望得到的结果。史蒂夫和斯卡利谈了好几个小时，临走时他们还握了握手。实际上，斯卡利当时就同意了对让史蒂夫在苹果公司重新担任一个职务的事再考虑一下。 史蒂夫认为，斯卡利不可能让他如此简单地就蒙混过去。在他的奔驰轿车还没有完全驶出斯卡利那新都铎建筑风格的房子外的车道时，史蒂夫就策划好了使出这场“政变”的最后一招。史蒂夫认为，斯卡利是一个懦弱之人，不能让他这样的人再管理他史蒂夫·乔布斯创建的公司，他必须要行动快一点。 在一个具有非常“纪念意义”的下午，史蒂夫把他的“忠诚卫士”们召集到了一起，史蒂夫要和他们一起密谋怎么样让麦克·马库拉相信，只有史蒂夫才能担任麦金托什机研发组的负责人。马库拉虽然不喜欢热闹，也很沉默寡言，但却是一个非常精明的人，他在这场“戏”即将收场的时候赶到了。但马库拉对史蒂夫的做法非常不满，他提出不需要史蒂夫在一边说什么，他想要听一下史蒂夫手下的员工到底是怎么想的，紧接着，他就让史蒂夫的员工说出他们自己的想法，员工说完后，马库拉还对他们表示感谢，接着就离开了。 第二天上午一大早，斯卡利就在他的办公室召见了史蒂夫，并告诉史蒂夫他已经从马库拉那里知道—切了。他明白，史蒂夫又在暗地里找他的麻烦。虽然他们俩几天前还信誓旦旦，但现在他们又同时宣布要离开苹果公司了。 在这之后，斯卡利又逐个地给苹果公司的董事打电话，问他们是否支持把史蒂夫赶出苹果公司。他们一个接一个地都同意支持斯卡利的决定。在那天晚上7点，斯卡利打电话给在家里的史蒂夫，告诉他—切都结束了。斯卡利还告诉史蒂夫他要继续他的公司重组计划，另一方面，公司董事已经投票表决正式剥夺了史蒂夫在苹果公司的工作。史蒂夫可以留在苹果公司，但只能当一名“新产品构想者”，不再让他负责苹果公司的任何一个部门。很显然这种方案只有像苹果公司死硬的副总裁戴比·科尔曼这样的人才会接受，其他人是断然无法接受的。 史蒂夫泪流满面地打电话给比尔·坎贝尔和麦克·默里，告诉他们所发生的一切。这一天是1985年5月28日星期二的晚上。当时默里的妻子正在打一个长途电话，突然她接到一个紧急信号。她告诉电话接线员一定是有重要的事情发生了，要接线员把电话接过来，随后，她听到了史蒂夫的声音，几乎是那种毫无生气的声音。她马上叫她的丈夫默里接了电话，史蒂夫告诉默里：“一切都完了，约翰联合董事会投票把我赶出了苹果公司。”这位苹果公司的前市场主管还想再说什么，史蒂夫却把电话挂了。 默里又把电话打回去，但史蒂夫没有接。当时已是晚上10点30分了，默里害怕史蒂夫会想不开做出什么傻事来，他就开车去了史蒂夫的住处。等默里来到的时候，他发现史蒂夫家里一片漆黑。他爬上楼梯来到史蒂夫的卧室，接着把卧室的门打开，他发现这位苹果公司董事会主席正孤独地躺在地板的垫子上。默里不声不响地紧靠他坐了下去，然后紧紧地抱住他这位老朋友——苹果公司的前老板，两个人放声大哭。就这样，默里和史蒂夫两人一起在史蒂夫黑暗的卧室里坐了1个小时，默里只说了一句话：“把你憋在心中的话说出来吧。”他觉得只有这样的话才可以给史蒂夫以安慰。两人一起待到第二天凌晨，默里在确信史蒂夫不会出什么意外了，才从史蒂夫家里悄悄出来，开车回家了。 当默里第二天早晨又回来看看情况的时候，史蒂夫说他已经完全恢复了。第三天下午，史蒂夫还是去了苹果公司，并立即去见了默里，和他讨论到底该怎么办。应该就此离开，还是继续抗争？应该采取拖延战术直到最后垮台，还是应该发表悲愤的公开声明？史蒂夫没了主意。默里告诉他现在他有两种选择：一是采取低调一点的解决方式，现在就悲伤地离开苹果公司，任由新闻界笑骂评说；二是采取趾高气扬的做法，直接从政，站在他们的“头顶”上面，防止他们再出“损招”进行恶意中伤。默里仍督促史蒂夫第二天一也就是5月31日，这一天也是默里30岁的生日，去参加斯卡利召开的公司例行会议。默里还要让史蒂夫在会议上支持斯卡利的公司重组计划，这样做是为了向公司员工表明史蒂夫是支持苹果公司的，他不会持续不断地去进行毫无意义的争吵，史蒂夫是“伟大”的。对默里的提议，史夫失只是说他考虑一下。 在第二天举行的全公司意见交流大会上，默里很高兴看到史蒂夫悄悄地又坐到了听众席的最后一排：很显然，史蒂夫已经决定不再我行我素，而是要当一名积极合作者了。然而，会议开始后，斯卡利却拒绝承认乔布斯的身份。他介绍了苹果公司管理层的新成员，包括加塞、科尔曼，但没有麦金托什机研发部的任何成员。当他向与会人员展示公司的组织机构表时，故意把一个人的名字忽略了，甚至一直到最后，斯卡利也没有提及“史蒂夫”这个名字。对约翰·斯卡利和新的苹果公司来说，史蒂夫·乔布斯根本就不存在了。 史蒂夫最后一次来到他那位于班德雷产业区大楼一角的3号办公室，这座大楼是专门为他的“超级明星队”——麦金托什机研发组建造的。几分钟后，史蒂夫出了大楼，钻进了他的奔驰轿车，开走了。 在6月1日，也就是星期六的早晨，《圣何塞信使报》在它的头版用头号标题《苹果公司的创建人乔布斯被降职》对此事进行了报道。《旧金山纪事报》和《旧金山观察家报》也在头版对整件事情进行了报道。就美国其他地区来说，史蒂夫从受人瞩目的“舞台”垮下来也是各媒体争相报道的重要事件。 史蒂夫避开了新闻媒体的编辑、记者，仅仅向他的少数几个朋友和家人介绍了有关情况。夜幕降临后，他一直待在自己漆黑的房间里听着鲍勃·迪伦的歌声。 到1985年，史蒂夫已把他所有的一切都奉献给了苹果公司和苹果电脑。虽然落到这种境地，他还是不准备就这样安安静静地退出苹果公司的“舞台”。史蒂夫是一名斗志昂扬的战士、一个激情澎湃的竞争者，他相信他要比任何人都更能把握住什么是真理。在随后的一个星期里，他一直陷入沉思中，想着如何做出选择。最后，他准备了一下行装，乘飞机到了巴黎，开始了长时间快乐轻松的商务旅行。他行遍欧洲以提升麦金托什机研发部的形象，他还计划到苏联宣传苹果Ⅱ电脑，因为当时苹果Ⅱ电脑刚刚被同意在苏联销售。对于史蒂夫来说，可能这些活动能给他带来一些安慰。 史蒂夫在欧洲做完巡回演讲后，来到了意大利中部佛罗伦萨附近的托斯卡纳山。他买了一条睡袋和一辆自行车，晚上就在中世纪风格的圣吉米纳诺镇的果园里野营。当他骑着自行车穿过意大利这个山边小镇时，没有人认出他是谁。史蒂夫在那里想了很多，但当他思考自己的命运时，不是想着如何掌握自己的命运，而是更加沮丧、消沉了。 到6月底，史蒂夫去了瑞典，仍旧是为了苹果公司做宣传。他的心态也变得老练、稳健了。“事情的发展往往不是你想怎么样就能怎么样，”他对一位瑞典的记者说，“就像米克·杰格(米克·杰格（Mick JAgger），滚石乐队的主唱。——译者注)那样，'你不可能总能得到你想要的东西；有时你得到你需要的东西就足够了'。 “5年以前，可能我会对这样的说法不屑一顾，可现在我恢复到了原来的状态，仔细思考一下，这种说法还是有一定根据的。亨利·福特在20世纪20年代就遇到过几次挫折。 “我并不是一个天生就喜欢追求权力的人，我只在乎苹果公司的发展。我把我所有的精力都放在了研发电脑上，还创建了一家公司。为了苹果公司更好地发展，我宁愿奉献出我的一切。可以这么说，如果苹果公司需要我扫地，我可以去扫地；需要我去清理厕所，我也可以去清理厕所。” 史蒂夫在谈到苹果公司时，往往很难抑制住自己的感情。“沃兹这么多年以来并没有做多少事情，”在记者问到他是如何看待苹果公司最近有几名主要的管理人员相继离职的，史蒂夫如是说，“安迪·赫茨菲尔德总是抱怨太多，但最终他还是回来了。我能为麦金托什机研发组做的就是让他们所创造的成果得到别人的认可，但我不知道到底应不应该这样做。我在向这方面努力时，可能犯了一个错误。可以说，我的想法是好的，但却做得太过头了。” 在7月4日，史蒂夫去了苏联，但他觉得应该准备回库比提诺了。他还想着与斯卡利重修一下感情、调和一下观点，以便于能在苹果公司从事新的工作，当然不论什么样的工作都行。然而，当他在7月中旬回到苹果公司的时侯，他发现公司已经不再需要他了。 “他们叫我搬出我的办公室，”史蒂夫说，“他们在苹果公司大楼的街对面给我租了一幢小楼。我给它起了个绰号，叫'西伯利亚'。” “我就这样搬到了苹果公司的对面，我要让苹果公司的每一位行政管理人员都有我家的电话号码。我知道斯卡利肯定有，所以我就给剩下的那些人挨个儿打电话，让他们都知道我的电话号码。我还告诉他们，如果有用到我的地方，尽管给我打电话好了。” “他们说话都显得很亲密，但没有一个人给我打电话。这一招不灵，我只好像往常一样去公司工作。我到了那里后，只能接一两个电话，打开几封邮件看看。大部分公司管理方面的文件都不会再放到我的办公桌上了。一些人可能是因为看到我的车停在停车场里，就过来安慰我，向我表示同情。每当这时侯，我就会感到很沮丧，就得跑回家里待上三四个小时，真的很沮丧。” “我这样做了几次，但我感觉这简直就是对我精神的折磨，我就不再去了。要知道，在那里没有人是真的想念我。” 但有一个人还会想着史蒂夫，他就是仍然对史蒂夫忠诚的前麦金托什机市场部的主管麦克·默里。默里已经搬到和史蒂夫相邻的办公室了。有一天，默里收拾了一下自己的东西，然后就到了史蒂夫空荡荡的办公室。在这一个星期里，没有人想到史蒂夫。在重组后的管理层里，一些以前忠于史蒂夫的管理人员在几个星期前曾经答应过史蒂夫，如果有事就找史蒂夫，可现在他们好像突然从公司里“蒸发”了。斯卡利新的“忠臣”们认为，默里是一个不值得信任的人，因为他和史蒂夫走得太近。虽说如此，默里还是提出了“一个苹果”的口号，为了对苹果公司新管理层施加影响，他只有这么做了。在1985年的夏季和秋季，斯卡利为了赢得苹果Ⅱ电脑研发组成员和麦金托什机研发组这群“海盗队员”的忠诚，就把“一个苹果”这个口号当做苹果公司的“战斗口号一。默里每次听斯卡利说“一个苹果”的口号，他都要暗地里嘲笑斯卡利。（默里最终也离开了苹果公司，去了苹果公司的竞争对手微软公司。） 虽然史蒂夫仍旧是苹果公司董事会的主席，但他已经不参加公司的日常工作了，而是把注意力放在了监督工人装修自己的房子上。后来他又想去美国国家航空航天局做事，因为国家航空航天局正在进行宇宙探索方面的研究，史蒂夫希望有一天能够驾驶航天飞机。但他又发现，自己并不符合政府规定的条件，他那“探索宇宙”的梦想也随之破灭了。 苹果公司的股票还是一直下跌，最后跌至每股15美元。在6月28日，也就是在这一季度末的时候，苹果公司宣布，自公司成立以来第一次亏损l 720万美元，而且电脑销售量也比去年的同一季度下降了11%。苹果公司亏损这么严重，史蒂夫很吃惊，也开始责怪自己给公司带来的麻烦。然而几天后，史蒂夫遇到了更让他吃惊的事情，那是斯卡利在公司的季度会议上对证券分析师们做了一番演说，他这番演说主要是针对苹果公司最近的不良局面和未来计划的，“在公司里，已经没有史蒂夫·乔布斯发挥作用的部门了，”斯卡利在会议结束时告诉他们，“不论是现在还是将来。”斯卡利的演说很快就传到了新闻媒体那里。几天以后，斯卡利又对一群打算采访他的记者重申了他的话，说完后，就开着他的豪华轿车走了。史蒂夫对这样的话感到非常震惊。 “你似乎觉得有人在你肚子里用拳头打你，"史蒂夫在描述自己当时的感觉时这样说，“它简直要把你打得不省人事了，你无法呼吸。这就是我当时的感觉。现在我唯一要做的事情就是好好休息，但要做到这一点并不容易。我曾经在森林里走过很长的一段路，在那时，我真的不想同任何人讲话。” 几天以后，史蒂夫决定出售苹果公司的85万股股票，这只占他所有股份的lO%。多一点，这个数额也是证券交易委员会所规定的在一个季度里出售的最高股票数额。售出这些股票使史蒂夫净赚1 100万美元。史蒂夫的这次股票出售也平息了一些人的谣言，因为在5月底，史蒂夫曾经打电话给摩根士丹利公司，所以有些人就接连不断地散布谣言，说史蒂夫将会通过杠杆收购（杠杆收购(leveraged buy-out)。指以少量的自有资金，以被收购企业的资产和将来的收益魄力作抵押，筹集资金用于收购的一种并购活动。——-译者注）方式重新夺回苹果公司。史蒂夫没有那么想，他只是想尽快地走出苹果公司的阴影。但按照规定，史蒂夫要想出售苹果公司的个人创建股，就必须卖掉他那些零零散散的公司股票，而这些股票加起来就有600万股，即使是按照苹果公司股价下跌时的行情，其总价值也大约有9 000万美元。对于史蒂夫出售苹果公司股票的举动，外界有着各种各样的传言。没有人相信这个30岁的年轻人会接受被赶出自己公司的命运。外界对史蒂夫的推测主要有两种：一是利用他手中的巨额资金成立一个投资基金组织，然后当一个风险投资专家；二是重新创建一家计算机公司。人们这样推测是有理由的，因为在斯卡利最后一次对苹果公司进行重组前的几个月里，史蒂夫一直打算去乔治·卢卡斯电影公司的电脑图形设计部。现在史蒂夫手中掌握着这么多的资金，他要用它做什么呢？ 上面这个问题的答案很快就有了。由于史蒂夫没有多少事情，所以他的时间很充足，于是，他就找了一家咨询公司，想让这家公司给他找一条从政的路。同样是这家公司曾经和史蒂夫的行为榜样——佛教信徒、前加利福尼亚州州长杰里·布朗一起合作过。但史蒂夫从来没有投过票，也不属于任何一个政治派别。这家咨询公司明确地告诉史蒂夫要想获得选民的支持是很困难的。此路不通，史蒂夫只好去寻找别的出路。 “我认为最能发挥我特长的就是设计新型电脑产品，这也是我喜欢的工作。”史蒂夫后来这样说。也是在那个夏天，他才开始明白，为什么这么多年来他周围的同事都是这样描述他的。“因为我喜欢做，所以我能够做得最好。我召集了一小组计算机'天才'，成功地研发出了苹果Ⅱ电脑和麦金托什机。 “有—天，我拿出了一张纸，想写一下我最关心的事情。当然，这10多年以来我自己最关心的就是苹果公司和苹果电脑，因为我创造了苹果Ⅱ电脑和麦金托什机。但除了这些，我最关心的就是促成苹果教育基金( Apple Education Foundation)的创立。我提出了这个看似有点疯狂的想法，紧接着根据这个想法创建了一个名叫'孩子不能等'（The Kids Can'l Wait）的项目。按照这个项目，我们想办法给美国的每一所学校都赠送一台电脑，后来项目的实施情况是，加利福尼亚州的每一所学校都得到了一台我们赠送的电脑，总共大约是l万台。 “我把研发电脑和培养人才两个项目结合了起来，带领着为数不多的电脑'天才'一方面创造电脑奇迹，另一方面关注教育事业。” 史蒂夫还去了斯坦福大学的图书馆，在那里细细查看生物化学和DNA重组方面的研究成果，他想了解在湾区除了电脑产业以外的其他迅速发展的产业。他以前曾经会见过斯坦福大学的一位生物化学家，他就是诺贝尔化学奖获得者保罗·伯格（P8rrl Beir），那次会见是1年前在为法国总统弗朗索瓦·密特朗（Francois Mitterrand）举行的宴会上，现在史蒂夫打电话给伯格，邀请他一起吃午饭，并顺便询问他几个问题。就这样，史蒂夫和伯格在斯坦福大学附近的一家咖啡厅见了面，并谈了很长时间。 “他向我介绍他们正在研究人类基因修复项目，”史蒂夫说，“实际上，基因修复项目的研究规则性很强，要求精确无误，有点像计算机科学中的一些思想概念。” “他对我说他们如何在一间阴暗潮湿的实验室里工作，而且一两个星期才能做一次实验。我问他：'为什么不用计算机做模拟实验呢？用计算机做实验不仅可以使实验效率更高，而且以后学习微生物学的学生可以应用保罗·伯格开发的基因重组软件进行科学研究。'他听了我的话，眼前一亮。” 但伯格回想起那次谈话时，说的和史蒂夫有点不一样。伯格说，是史蒂夫听完他的话眼前一亮的。这位科学家向这位年轻的创业家解释道，现在能够模拟实验项目的计算机的价格还是太高，相关应用软件也很少。“突然，史蒂夫很是兴奋，因为他打算要成立一家研发这种电脑的公司，”伯格回忆说，“他跟我谈话前，头脑里就想到要创建一家新公司了。他很年轻，也很富有，因此他要在以后的日子里找一些事情做。这些都是顺理成章的事情。” 史蒂夫从参与设计“蓝匣子”到设计苹果I和苹果Ⅱ电脑，然后是设计“丽莎”电脑，最后是麦金托什机，可以说他这一路走来自己的创造能量都有释放的渠道，可现在他已离开苹果公司很长时间了。在与伯格谈话后，史蒂夫看到了希望，他的创造激情又重新被点燃了。他要研发一种新产品，一种新机器。他要全身心地投入，努力地去开拓一条新的路。 在8月底，正当史蒂夫打算以大学为市场设计一种新型电脑的时候，苹果公司又有了新的动向，公司决定设计开发一种新型电脑，这种电脑与史蒂夫头脑中所想的电脑不谋而合。开始时，是加塞取消了刚刚启动的麦金托什大型机的研发计划，而支持技术要求不高的小号麦金托什大型机。当1985年夏天加塞接管麦金托什机研发部后，他加大了对麦金托什机过渡型电脑的研发力度，这种型号电脑的内核基于麦金托什机研发部以前重点研发过的，后来又放弃研发的电脑——“小号麦金托什大型机”，它保留了麦金托什机的基本设计方案，只是简单地替换了一种性能更好的代号为“68020”的芯片。小号麦金托什大型机和麦金托什大型机相比有很大的不同，麦金托什大型机性能非常好，机内所使用的芯片是经过专门定制的，这种芯片是由“丽莎”电脑的主要设计人员里奇·佩奇设计的。当加塞取消了麦金托什大型机的设计时，佩奇有点恼火。他扬言要和他的好朋友巴德·特里布尔一起离开苹果公司，巴德·特里布尔从医学院毕业后就在原先的麦金托什机研发组里负责麦金托什机的软件开发，后来公司重组后，他还是负责麦金托什机的软件开发。 当史蒂夫计划重新创业时，特里布尔就是他考虑的第一个人选。在9月初，也就是劳工节( Labor Day)这一天，史蒂夫向这位言语温和的管理者提出成立一家新公司的计划。令史蒂夫高兴的是，特里布尔对这个想法很感兴趣。他们一起讨论了这种未来大学校园里使用的主打型号电脑——“3M”电脑（M代表miHion，也就是百万，指的是这种电脑的各项技术指标，即下面所说的3个lOO万。——译者注），这种型号电脑显示器的解析度可以达到100万像素，它的主存储器可以达到lOO万个字节，而且它的指令运算速度可以达到每秒100万次，也就是“3M”。这些技术指标对未来的计算机工作站来说也是必备的。虽然当时有些大型计算机公司，比如IBM公司，能够生产出这种类型的电脑，但价格却非常高，达到了每台1万多美元，远远高于大学愿意购买此种类型电脑的纷格底限——3 000美元。 特里布尔知道谁能够研发、生产这种类型的电脑。他向史蒂夫推荐了苹果公司的几个可能会帮助史蒂夫重新创业的人，其中包括佩奇和乔治·克劳，克劳是一位工程师，曾经是麦金托什机研发组里的一名成员。史蒂夫还建议找苏珊·巴恩斯，她掌管麦金托什机研发组的财政大权；还有丹尼尔·声因，他成功地创建了苹果电脑大学校园销售联盟，因此他在最近的公司重组中，被提拔为高等教育系统软件市场部的负责人。史蒂夫在私下里向这些人说明了他要创建公司的情况，这些人都同意加入到他的队伍中。在史蒂夫编织新公司梦想的时侯，他们的积极表态，真是让他又惊又喜。史蒂夫找的一些人有相当一部分都不是原先麦金托什机研发部的核心成员，也不是什么“大人物”，但他们都表示同意。他们都像史蒂夫一样是个人主义者，而且也都希望能够有机会创造出了不起的电脑产品，能够把他们的名字和他们创造的电脑连在—起，而苹果公司好像不能够让他们实现这种理想。 正如特里布尔所说：“我们每个人都想参与创业。”史蒂夫的一声号角，促使这些人又开始了新的创业，就好像回到了苹果公司创业的初期。他们信任史蒂夫，史蒂夫为他们铺的“路”，怎么会失败呢？就这样，好似一夜之间，史蒂夫就“挖”去了苹果公司的“内核”。<