back to article Steve Jobs chops student hack down to size

Steve Jobs may not be a ninja, but when an over-enthusiastic journalism student had the temerity to email him to complain about Apple's less than helpful press office last week, he quickly chopped her down to size. The Guardian splendidly reports that Chelsea Isaacs, a journalism student at Long Island University was tasked …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Sure glad.

    Sure glad I don't spend my money with this arrogant company.

    And it is their arrogance that keeps me from purchasing their products. I would actually like a Mac but I refuse to pay to be abused by a company.

    Anonymous because I don't want the fanbois descending on me like locust.

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Sure glad.

      Get a refurbished second-hand one then. That's how you circumvent!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Eh no.... not really...

        Then you're just supporting a second hand market in their kit which keeps the resale values high and encourages more people to buy the God-forsaken stuff in the first place.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Grenade

          Re: Eh no.... not really...

          Or maybe you're supporting the idea that it's sometimes better to buy second-hand and create a market that more efficiently reuses old equipment instead of just throwing it away in landfill to buy more new shit over and over again. It's recycling in its purest form :p

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Troll

        Yep...

        This is exactly the approach I've taken, for getting an OS X box to do test porting work on.

    2. webster phreaky ate my iphone
      Flame

      Descends ....

      ... like a locust.

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      What?

      "I would actually like a Mac but I refuse to pay to be abused by a company."

      Errmmm, you're paying for the Mac...

      I bought a Mac and, so far, no-one from Apple has abused me. Should I complain to trading standards?

      1. The Fuzzy Wotnot
        Happy

        Well...

        I bought a mac and went to the local park, believe me I got more than my fair share of abuse!

        Some people just appreciate the male human form in all it's beauty!!!

    4. The Other Steve
      WTF?

      It's true

      "I would actually like a Mac but I refuse to pay to be abused by a company."

      If you pay money for a Mac, Steve Jobs sends flying monkeys to flash mob bukakke you.

      1. LinkOfHyrule
        Jobs Halo

        phow! eeww!

        Wow! These Macs actually sound quite hot if its true you get abused why you buy one! Cor! Do you have to type in a safe word though if Steve starts pushing past your limits?

        So maybe there is added value in Apple gear after-all! Sign me up as a new slave to the cult please!

      2. jnewco81
        Thumb Up

        The Other Steve

        "If you pay money for a Mac, Steve Jobs sends flying monkeys to flash mob bukakke you."

        Well done, that's the funniest thing i've read for ages

    5. Doshu

      Forget the fanbois

      I don't like apple's practices and attitude -- on that i believe we agree. That being said, i like some of their products (ipod and ipad, for example) and to me there's no greater (additional) satisfaction than to bypass apple's anal (and imaginary) control in order to bend them to my will.

      That and, hey, they're cool gadgets.

    6. Fred Flintstone Gold badge

      Wowie, what an adult reaction

      Let me present an option to you. It may shock you to know that you don't actually have to decide on a /company/. You can also decide if a *device* is actually going to be of any use to you, and guess what? With a bit of effort all of this stuff actually occasionally works together (which you can also select on, whooo!).

      Personally, I don't care a flying whit about Jobs, Gates, thingie, err, hang on, ah Ballmer, Linus Torvalds - sorry. I have a job to do, and whatever tool helps me best is what I will buy. I have used Windows and Linux for years, but OSX beats the crap out of that at the moment because it just works. Simple. I have an iPhone, but I'll also have a Blackberry because it's easier to secure - think of the iPhone as an iPod touch which can do more.

      I don't do cult/fashion buying (I prefer the Groucho Marx approach to club membership), I don't buy a version 1 of anything and I don't pay attention to the top people other than when they get in my way. The most stupid thing you can ever do is denying yourself the use of products that help you do your work better or more efficient because you don't like the guy at the top (the reverse is stupid as well - don't buy a product just because you like the sales guy or associated cult).

      Simple..

      1. Anonymous Coward
        WTF?

        Damn Damn Damn...

        You owe me a keyboard and a coffee...

        OSX just works? OSX is a steaming pile of donkey shit. The only decent feature in OSX is bootcamp, so that I can put Windows 7 on it. Seriously, their kit is the dogs bollox, the build quality and the shinyness... but OSX blows chunks. And on that note, when Snow Leopard was first released it was Apples Vista, but no-one noticed... The have improved it but all they are doing is polishing a turd.

        Sheesh, I dunno "it just works"...

        P.S. For the record, I own several iPhones, a MacBook Pro, an iPad and several iPods of varying ages... Some would call me a fanboi...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Grenade

          @"OSX Just Works"

          One of the reasons that Apple generate such polemic is because in a limited sense their gear does "just work". But, they are never as fully featured as other gear. One of the ways they generate simple user interfaces is by stripping things out. They are actually very aggressive at this, often preventing third party developers adding it back in. Let me show you some examples:

          1st gen iphone. Didn't support MMS or Copy and Paste.

          iOS: No desktop widgets, even from third party suppliers.

          iOS: No proper multi-tasking.

          I could go on, but this short list makes my point. If you don't mind the shortcomings, they can often be great devices. But if you want the features that Apple refuse to provide, you have to look elsewhere. From my personal perspective for example: I won't have an iPod because I'm an audiophile and the quality is too low. Most people don't mind because they listen on the train or similar with lots of background noise, or just aren't audiophiles. I played around with a few generations of iPhones, and can't use the on-screen keyboard. My fingers are like pig's tits and it just doesn't work. I've got a Motorola Droid now because it has a physical keyboard. I can use the physical keyboard, but the onscreen one is virtually unusable for me. If you can use the keyboard on an iPhone, then aside from the slowness of AT&T in the US, they can be good devices.

          Finally, Mac OSX can be great if you can live with its shortcomings. If not, it is a disaster.

  2. Ty Cobb
    Megaphone

    Might I suggest another angle on her project?

    Mahaps the lady should check with professor regarding the topic of her article.

    I personally would make it a point to write a piece about the poor to non-existent levels of helpfulness of the Mac beast in the politest of terms myself. Arrogance at the top does not bode well for any company.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      re: Might I suggest another angle on her project?

      Slight snag... the PR department of Apple has been like this for over a decade. Apple routinely ignores, or rather is 'unavailable for comment', requests from professional publications as a matter, of course - which is mentioned in the article.

      Jobs' dislike of journalists is well known, as is the way Apple's PR dept. handles enquiries - my main feeling is that the student should have done a bit more research rather than assuming that Apple is just a snuggly-wuggly teddy bear of a company,

      1. Ty Cobb
        Linux

        First reaction

        My first reaction is the lass could have asked a little more nicely, her comments were likely to bite her in the rear regardless of who read them. More flies with honey and all that.

        I also think she could have easily found descriptive information at multiple websites (correctly cited of course), handled the damn thing herself (the iPad that is), and maybe even spoke with one of the local Mac Geniuses that are supposedly salespersons. Although an official quote or response from a corporate drone would have looked nice in her article.

        BTW - Lenovo 9211 running 'Buntu, Mistress Sarah

    2. Ainteenbooty
      Unhappy

      Wrong Major

      She's apparently too lazy to make a good journalist if her plan is to just simply fail the assignment if Apple's PR department doesn't do it for her.

      I do feel that Job's needs his public interface screened for the company's protection, but this girl's story failed to illicit my sympathy.

      1. nichomach
        Stop

        True enough, and voted up accordingly, but

        ELICIT, damn it, ELICIT. Illicit means unlawful or immoral/unethical.

      2. Wombat

        It's "elicit" your sympathy ...

        .... otherwise your post is illicit.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Jobs...

    what a wan.....

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      ..ker

      that is all

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    PR

    If every request to a company's PR department was responded to then the company would fairly soon be doing nothing else. I note that this is a journalism student who clearly missed the section on research and using multiple sources such as previous Apple Press releases. It certainly does not seem to be news that Apple will not help an undergrad student complete their course work, or is this modern journalism get somebody to create the original story ie Apple and then copy it over the whole web. Hang on that's called blogging....

    1. Bear Features

      rubbish

      I got a reply and oodles of material from every company I ever wrote to about such things.

    2. ElReg!comments!Pierre

      PR departments. Answering journalist is what they do.

      >If every request to a company's PR department was responded to then the company would fairly soon be doing nothing else.

      The PR department's job is to answer requests, ESPECIALLY from journalists. Well, not in Apple's case obviously. But in every other company in the world that's what they do. Now if the Big Man Himself in could take the time to answer 3 times from His Shiny iPhone of Power, maybe some lowly PR drone could have spent 3 minutes gathering some material and let the girl dig through it. Mind you, more like 10 seconds as they probably already have canned answers for most cases, because that's the very first thing a PR department would do when coming in existence: prepare canned answers. Even before they get an internet connection.

      1. The Other Steve

        Er no

        "The PR department's job is to answer requests"

        The PR department's job is to do PR.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Unless...

          they're outsourced.

        2. pablo011
          Megaphone

          @The Other Steve

          ""The PR department's job is to answer requests"

          The PR department's job is to do PR"

          What do you think PR stands for???

          Thats correct, PUBLIC RELATIONS!

          (and correct again... including via journalism)

          1. The Other Steve
            FAIL

            Quaff the decaff

            "What do you think PR stands for???

            Thats correct, PUBLIC RELATIONS!"

            Well cheers for clearing that up for me pablo old chap, I thought it stood for "PENIS REPUBLICAN".

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        For proper journalists

        But not for wannabe training journalists who want some one else to get their grades for them

    3. James Hughes 1

      I agree

      She really should be capable of doing the research herself. Perhaps a symptom of the current internet essay culture - "why should I write something when you can do it for me?"

      On the other hand, Jobs could have simply replied in a more pleasant manner saying much the same thing. e.g. "Whilst I appreciate your contacting us regarding this mattter, I believe you should find all the information that you require to complete your assignment in the public domain. As i am sure you are aware, researching in this way is an important part of the journalist students learning process, and I would not want to short cut this process for you"

      Or is that over 128 characters or something? Perhaps modern students are incapable of digesting a sentence that long.

      On the other other hand, at least she now has something to write about.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        on the other, other hand

        You have a lot of hands

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Perhaps he should have said

          "on the gripping hand"?

      2. Sean Baggaley 1
        FAIL

        You expect the CEO of a major corporation...

        ... to type all that on a fucking *phone*?

        (Did you even bother to read the original article? It explicitly mentions the "From my iPhone" signature on Jobs' reply.)

        Even "Piss off and stop wasting my valuable time" would have been a far more polite and erudite response than I'd have bothered to give.

        Here's a hint: You don't get to be treated with respect until you've earned that respect. It's not freely given.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      FAIL

      Err no

      Just publishing press releases parrot fashion is not journalism although more and more writers think it is (obviously excluding El reg from that)

    5. Nanki Poo
      Boffin

      Original research. . .

      I have to say that when I did my final dissertation in business and marketing, I was encouraged to contact original sources, not just photocopy articles and print the web. It's part of the 'investigative' part of it! Albeit it was 12 years ago, I'd imagine there is more pressure now NOT to just to the web for old press releases.

      I had many responses to my requests, including national bank and insurance companies' staff who gave me half an hour on the phone, a financial services company who gave me a three hour meeting with one of their directors and also a whole afternoon with the assistant Ed of an understaffed national publication. <shrugz> Maybe my subject was just suitably sexy (Hard Cash or Soft Philosophy - The Pink Pound in the Financial Services Sector).

      Regurgitating multiple sources is one thing, but there's nothing quite like the initiative of gathering your own original source straight from the horses mouth.

      now that's initiative!!

      nK

    6. Daniel B.
      FAIL

      Journalism...

      ... is everything about going to the source, not just plagiarizing some second-hand article from Engadget, which ripped off some CNET article, which ripped it off from the BBC and such. The student actually did what every journalist should do: go to the source. Most PR departments will have some kind of answer, even if it's a canned statement. Hell, *I* was able to get McDonalds' PR department to answer one of my inquiries.

      A company that can't be arsed to answer is a company that will treat their customers in the same manner. Apple has somehow managed to keep on looking "cool" despite having this rude attitude towards inquiries.

    7. Little Brother
      Grenade

      Got it in one

      Jobs is to be congratulated for providing such a vital lesson to this journalism student, and free of charge as well. The lesson? Do your research in plenty of time and don't blame others when you miss your deadlines through lack of planning, effort or imagination. Jeez. Why doesn't she just do like every other gutter journalist out there? If you can't get the information, make something up :-)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    At least he didn't ....

    ... ban her from ever using Apple products for life - unlike the student who's got a life ban from visitng the US for sending an offensive email to Obama

  6. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: iHate

      Don't you know by now? We're for and against everyone. Why would we have one single agenda shared by all? We're autonomous individuals, you know.

      Tsk.

      I bet you'd like to know what I'm typing this on. As if it matters one single jot of an iota. You know most 'sane' people - those who don't work in IT - don't give a rat's ass who made their gear so long as it works, and they can be reasonably assured that it wasn't built from the shattered dreams of orphans.

      1. Richard 120

        Tsk?

        Who actually writes "Tsk." and more to the point what does it actually mean?

        Incidentally I heard to make the new iPad it takes an average of 4 orphans to produce the shattered dreams and 12 angels tears to distill the magic they put into the device.

        1. Sarah Bee (Written by Reg staff)

          Re: Tsk?

          I write 'tsk', as you can plainly see. Tsk. It's an expression of exasperation or mild admonishment, much as 'pfft' is an expression of dismissal or incredulity or nonplussedness.

          I know you could have figured that out if you wanted to.

          1. Someone Else Silver badge
            Boffin

            Put the thesaurus down...and slowly back away....

            Nonplussedness?!?

            Shirley, you jest!

          2. I didn't do IT.
            Happy

            Re: Sarah Re Tsk?

            Sarah, that would have required "research", and well... that's the whole point of the story, innit?

          3. Richard 120

            fine

            I only have this to say on the matter.

            meh.

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Jobs Horns

        You're typing that

        using a magnetised needle, an openned hard drive and a very steady hand.

        Anything less and you'll incur the wrath of the god-that's-so-n00bish commentards...

      3. This post has been deleted by its author

    2. The Other Steve
      WTF?

      WAR!!!!

      "I would appreciate it if we knew that the Reg was for or against Apple?!?"

      Or neither ? You know you don't actually /have/ to spend your life writing lists of things you hate ?

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