The world forgives geniuses some bad practices. Just don’t think that you can reproduce what he did in the same manner. Apple is definitely not “Built to Last”, nobody else can run the thing but Steve Jobs.

I have the same feeling which is why I've held out buying any Apple stock. I might change my mind if at MacWorld Steve Jobs introduced a new product and a VP that had almost total control of the design. I want to see that someone else can run the company and keep Apple at the forefront of innovation before I invest.

I could! Make me your protege Steve!

i've always had the feeling that the author, leander kahney, doesn't "get" apple, despite how often he writes about the company. and this article suffers from the usual dumbing-down given to material intended for people who don't understand the technical details.

John Gruber disagrees apparently: http://daringfireball.net/2008/03/kahney_jackass

One of the very few complaints I've heard from my friends at Google is about secrecy: they are under strict orders not to talk about what they work on.

Kinda undermines the entire argument.