architect42  01  600

From left: Bobby Shriver, Jurvetson, and Jobs in 2007

Venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson, who worked with Steve Jobs at NeXT and Apple, writes in Businessweek about his memories of Jobs. He shared one story in particular -- from the NeXT years -- that would foreshadow Steve's vision for the future:

When I invited Jobs to take some time away from NeXT to speak to a group of students, he sat in the lotus position in front of my fireplace and wowed us for three hours, as if leading a séance. But then I asked him if he would sign my Apple Extended Keyboard. He burst out: “This keyboard represents everything about Apple that I hate. It’s a battleship. Why does it have all these keys? Do you use this F1 key? No.” And with his car keys he pried it right off. “How about this F2 key?” Off they all went. “I’m changing the world, one keyboard at a time,” he concluded in a calmer voice.

See Businessweek for Jurvetson's full piece.

Top Rated Comments

chrmjenkins Avatar
172 months ago
What's funny is that he was put in a situation where two possibilities are common. One - the person asked is thrilled to sign it for the fan. Two - the person is offended that this lowly fan is asking for his time. Instead, Steve sees past the request and sees a product to fix. Gotta love Steve.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
RoboCop001 Avatar
172 months ago
Hahaha... naturally.

And now every key has a purpose. The F keys are used to trigger different things instead of being just F keys, especially on MacBooks. I don't think I've ever actually used an F key for a "Function" command. I've only used them for the other icons that are on them, such as brightness, dashboard, keyboard light, etc.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
r2shyyou Avatar
172 months ago
"Do you use this F1 key? No." And with his car keys he pried it right off. "How about this F2 key?" Off they all went. "I'm changing the world, one keyboard at a time," he concluded in a calmer voice.

Awesome. So awesome.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nagromme Avatar
172 months ago
If he popped off the keys AND signed it, that would be a great keepsake!
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Yvan256 Avatar
172 months ago
This might also explain why the function keys on the most recent Apple keyboards are smaller than regular keys.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DESNOS Avatar
172 months ago
When did that happen? Apple keyboards still utterly, completely suck. They're the worst in the industry - at least for people who actually WRITE. And they're even worse for programmers, especially when you use a German version that has not even the brackets accessible in a usable way. Life would be easier if those damn stupid Apple keyboards would at least follow industry standards, but of course they don't. The only thing they have going for them is that they look quite nice. Yes, after iOS and iTunes "synchronization", the keyboards are the things that I hate most in the Apple universe, followed by Apple mice.

But the story is nice, and there are a lot of great stories about Steve Jobs. He was one of the most impressive characters in the computer industry and one of the very few who actually had taste.

I mean fixing the fact that the function keys did nothing genius...
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18

20 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Monday December 16, 2024 8:55 am PST by
Apple released iOS 18.2 in the second week of December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. Apple has added a handful of new non-AI related feature controls as...
apple tv 4k yellow bg feature

New Apple TV Rumored to Launch Next Year With These Features

Tuesday December 17, 2024 9:02 am PST by
The current Apple TV 4K was released more than two years ago, so the streaming device is becoming due for a hardware upgrade soon. Fortunately, it was recently rumored that a new Apple TV will launch at some point next year. Below, we recap rumors about the next-generation Apple TV. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman last week reported that Apple has been working on its own combined Wi-Fi and...
iphone 16 apple intelligence

Apple Drops Plans for iPhone Hardware Subscription Service

Wednesday December 18, 2024 11:39 am PST by
Apple is no longer planning to launch a hardware subscription service that would let customers "subscribe" to get a new iPhone each year, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Gurman first shared rumors about Apple's work on a hardware subscription service back in 2022, and at the time, he said that Apple wanted to develop a simple system that would allow customers to pay a monthly fee to gain...
iPhone 17 Pro Dual Tone Feature 1

iPhone 17 Pro Rumored to Stick With 'Triangular' Camera Design

Wednesday December 18, 2024 2:36 am PST by
Contrary to recent reports, the iPhone 17 Pro will not feature a horizontal camera layout, according to the leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post on Weibo, the leaker said that a source has confirmed that while the appearance of the back of the iPhone 17 Pro has indeed changed, the layout of the three cameras is "still triangular," rather than the "horizontal bar spread on the...
elevation lab airtag battery

Your AirTag's Battery Will Last for Up to 10 Years With Elevation Lab's New TimeCapsule Enclosure

Wednesday December 18, 2024 10:05 am PST by
Elevation Lab today announced the launch of TimeCapsule, an innovative and simple solution for increasing the battery life of Apple's AirTag. Priced at $20, TimeCapsule is an AirTag enclosure that houses two AA batteries that offer 14x more battery capacity than the CR2032 battery that the AirTag runs on. It works by attaching the AirTag's upper housing to the built-in custom contact in the...
Apple TV 4K hero 221018 feature

Here is Everything New for the Apple TV in the tvOS 18.3 Update So Far

Tuesday December 17, 2024 6:25 am PST by
Apple on Monday seeded the first tvOS 18.3 beta to developers for testing. The update will likely be released in January. So far, there are only minor changes for the Apple TV, with one new feature and a few code changes discovered. Below, we outline what is new in tvOS 18.3 so far. Robot Vacuum Support in Home App First, tvOS 18.3 will add robot vacuum support to the Home app on the...
blackmagic vision pro

Blackmagic Debuts $30K 3D Camera for Capturing Video for Vision Pro

Monday December 16, 2024 4:17 pm PST by
Blackmagic today announced that its URSA Cine Immersive camera is now available for pre-order, with deliveries set to start late in the first quarter of 2025. Blackmagic says that this is the world's first commercial camera system designed to capture 3D content for the Vision Pro. The URSA Cine Immersive camera was first introduced in June, but it has not been available for purchase until...
iPhone 17 Slim Feature

'iPhone 17 Air' With 'Major' Design Changes and 19-Inch MacBook Detailed in New Report

Sunday December 15, 2024 9:47 am PST by
Apple is planning a series of "major design" and "format changes" for iPhones over the next few years, according to The Wall Street Journal's Aaron Tilley and Yang Jie. The paywalled report published today corroborated the widely-rumored "iPhone 17 Air" with an "ultrathin" design that is thinner than current iPhone models. The report did not mention a specific measurement, but previous...