Steve Jobs' Not-So-Minimalist Home Office | Hacker News Reader

Steve Jobs' Not-So-Minimalist Home Office

lifehacker.com

100 pointscwan37 comments

I don't know who this Jobs character is, but he obviously doesn't know many of the 24 principles of maximum productivity or the 37 ways to unleash creative potential. He should probably spend more time reading articles about how to zen-up his workspace for maximum focus if he wants to get anything done. It doesn't even look like he owns a Moleskine! How does he do mind-maps!? I mean seriously, Steve, how do you expect to get Twitter followers with that cluttered desk?

I'd like to see http://steve.jobs.usesthis.com/ (note: link doesn't work).

Anyone know how to get The Setup (usesthis) an interview with Steve Jobs?

The About page evens says: "Despite appearances, the site is not actually sponsored by Apple - people just seem to like using their tools. We're a fan, too."

That office is pretty minimalist!

It only looks busy because of the clutter which is not part of the office design so much as just some stuff he hasn't found time to clean up.

The clutter is all temporary stuff for work, not permanent features of the office.

Considering the photos were taken several weeks after his pancreatic tumor surgery, I doubt keeping his office tidy was a top priority.

That clutter was artfully arranged by Japanese craftsmen. It's a mix of fine handmade rice paper, and paper-thin sheets of perfectly white marble. Possibly also sheets of tanned fetal unicorn skin.

Link to the actual picture collection:

http://allaboutstevejobs.com/pics/life/2004-2006/08-dianawal...

I love the scheming look he has in the last photograph:

http://allaboutstevejobs.com/pics/life/2004-2006/08-dianawal...

Actually his house, as presented on allaboutstevejobs.com, is very rustic and far away from Apple's clean industrial design. I'm actually surprised to find that kind of home in Palo Alto: I'd expect this in Normandy, not around here :)

From that website too: the last picture of this set http://allaboutstevejobs.com/pics/places/paloalto/paloalto.h... shows that his home office hasn't changed much in many many years based on the huge laptop he's using.

FWIW, I expect he was running OpenStep on that laptop.

Supposedly he kept using OpenStep on an Intel laptop after he returned to Apple. I suppose he switched once OS X was running on PowerBooks.

I seem to recall that the rumor was he only ran OpenStep until 10.2 or 10.3. Before that OS X had been pretty rough around the edges, and kind of slow on portable hardware.

There may have been some specific functionality he was missing too.

Probably he waited for Keynote to be available, and had been using Concurrence on Openstep.

Jobs is only living in Palo Alto "temporarily" until he can tear down the Jackling house in Woodside and build anew on that property.

From what I've read that's already happening.

But have you seen the outside?

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTyTt797GKO90lXFYDON...

You mean http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&...

Is that a Mac on the floor across the street?

No kidding.. there does appear to be a classic Mac in the trash across the street.

Given the effort he puts into simple, minimalist designs for the Mac, it's a bit surprising that kind of fastidiousness isn't present in his office organization, too. But it's not in mine either, so I'm no pot and he's no kettle. Even if it's an old pic, it's still fun to see the human side of a man so often put on a pedestal.

I'm more interested in the pictures of the NeXT factory at http://allaboutstevejobs.com/pics/places/fremont/fremont.htm...

I want the giant-sized NeXT Cube-front wall hanging in picture 4 of the "Steve at the NeXT Factory" set.

Has any one noticed the amazon shipping box in pic - 5 ??

Not a big fan of the ranch style, but check out #11, guy's got seriously good taste in those doors.

I like the tudor-esque slate roof.

It's interesting that it's so close to the road. Is it in a gated community?

After all , he too is human ! Nice to see a human , softer side to Steve. Despite the dizzying heights of AAPL Inc , he seems to be a very modest person privately, compared to his peers.

One thing that's interesting: Steve dogfooding that single button mouse. Image was from 2004, but still – figured he'd be using a multi-button mouse like the rest of us were back then.

As far as I remember there was no multi-button mouse by Apple in 2004.

Most people were using third-party multibutton mice. They worked just fine.

I'd bet against "most", but who knows.

Nah, I'm sure you're right if you take it literally. There was supposed to be an implied "among people who gave a crap about their computers."

Right – their first was the Mighty Mouse, introduced in '05. It's just interesting to me that Jobs was consistent enough in his beliefs supporting one button mice that he even used one himself. His use of a computer is certainly frequent and deep enough to benefit from a more powerful mouse.

Steve's glamor shots rival those of Jimmy Wales that have commandeered Wikipedia recently. The pic of Jobs with his legs dangling over the chair is particularly charming.

The chair looks uncomfortable. I wonder how much sitting and concentrating someone like Jobs does, though.

Not all humans sit alike.

At work, I've had an Herman Miller Aeron for about 18 months. It's a solid chair, as is the Think, the Leap, the Mirra... except for me. I don't sit completely upright, and I tend to have my posture degrade into a half-slouch at times. I need a very firm surface. Sometimes I tend to sit on one of my legs, and that non-uniform pressure eventually forces the thigh support foam out and onto the floor.

With this in mind, the Aeron, and the other aforementioned chairs, fall short since I don't fit the intended use case. It'd be like teaching me to "type correctly" despite being able to type at 90-100wpm with a horrible, bastardized technique.

I use an Eames molded armchair. It's polyethylene with aluminum wire legs. The arms are at the perfect height, and provide enough support, but the polyethylene still has enough flex in it. It shrugs off my shoes. And it's much cheaper than any of the other chairs, will outlive me, as well as being better looking and 100% recyclable. If you presented it as an original option, I wouldn't of even considered it. However after hours and hours of sitting in chairs, I struggle to think of one that might suit me better.

I also don't have lounge chairs that force an upright posture (van de Rohe's "Barcelona", and Jacobsen's "Egg" come to mind). Sometimes I want to slouch, even if I'm talking to you. And when no one's around, I guarantee you I'll be slouching.

I sit like that too, but tried not sitting like that for a while, and decided I could get a lot more comfortable if I ignored my desire to fold one leg under the other.

I've noticed the same thing in bed. My body wants to sleep on its side, but if I force myself to sleep on my back, I'm much more comfortable and sleep better. It's very odd.

(I guess it's the same as wanting to drink 24 cans of soda, eat eight pizzas, and finish it off with a slice of deep-fried chocolate cake. What leads to short-term pleasure is not necessarily what's best in the long term. brain--.)

Huh? No dual screen?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com