I think he was all of those things, but also could be the opposite of those things, too.
Humans are complex and when you already changed the course of history by 25 or whatever, you are going to be even more complex.
I don’t idolize Steve Jobs but I do find him to contrast positively against other similar figures like Gates and Ellison. Low bars, I know. But I guess I wanted to defend that people can have a soft spot for Jobs without ever making a dime from any of his endeavors.
There's a great interview of Allen Baum, high school friend of Wozniak and peripherally involved in the early years of Apple (he pilfered the HP stock room to supply Woz with parts for the Apple 1 & 2 prototypes). He was a roommate with Jobs for one summer and, notably, doesn't say anything bad about him over the course of the three hour interview.
People are complex, with good and bad areas, which is precisely what makes cults of personality problematic. And the discourse around some people (Jobs in particular) is waaaay more cultish than is healthy.
And this particular anecdote is the poster child for it.
'Printing out and framing the response' as the daydream reaction to receiving that e-mail is wild, even with the caveats.
At the end of the day, they'll be the "Andrew Carnegie" of the era, and no one will actually remember them unless they have a famous hall named after them.
Humans are complex and when you already changed the course of history by 25 or whatever, you are going to be even more complex.
I don’t idolize Steve Jobs but I do find him to contrast positively against other similar figures like Gates and Ellison. Low bars, I know. But I guess I wanted to defend that people can have a soft spot for Jobs without ever making a dime from any of his endeavors.