I go by the wiktionary definition here: "Practical, concerned with making decisions and actions that are useful in practice, not just theory". To me, "pragmatic" does not carry any negative connotation.
Say for instance when Apple changed to greener manufacturing technology. They didn't do that outright, in fact, it took long years of public scrutiny to tip the scales to a direction where selling "green" technology was actually a smart business decision. In a way, they had to play the game that way and they often do - by keeping their position undefined until there is an opportunity to make a big statement to differentiate themselves. Now, other companies making similar pledges carry no meaning anymore.
I don't think that the "intellectual theft" in terms of Android really amounts to much but hot air to please stockholders. The facts certainly do not justify his anger. Over all the years, Apple has had to suffer a very basic issue - they do existing things, just a lot more refined. (To me, most of Apples innovation is in how they sell technology, not in what it is or does.) There is tons of prior art that they built upon themselves and being that outraged by the case of android following in their footsteps is simply not logical.
Like any salesman, Mr. Jobs did not like to show his cards, as there is always a necessary amount of building-on-sand-near-water, when you create theater like he did to sell his products. And I believe that's also the reason why he was so enraged by the Gizmodo phone theft. Not because his morals were hurt. It was that people messed with his game.
I also don't think that he saw "bringing technology to the masses" as moral, but it sure is a good way to sell technology. His beliefs about empowering people with technology may or may not have been important to him, but he sure selected them and portrayed them as means to a certain end.
So yes, maybe we only differ on our definition of pragmatic. I agree that his big thing was following his vision, but I maintain that to realize that vision, he had to make a lot of very pragmatic decisions. Turning his "inspired" hacker youth into a walled-garden adulthood is a sign of that to me.
Say for instance when Apple changed to greener manufacturing technology. They didn't do that outright, in fact, it took long years of public scrutiny to tip the scales to a direction where selling "green" technology was actually a smart business decision. In a way, they had to play the game that way and they often do - by keeping their position undefined until there is an opportunity to make a big statement to differentiate themselves. Now, other companies making similar pledges carry no meaning anymore.
I don't think that the "intellectual theft" in terms of Android really amounts to much but hot air to please stockholders. The facts certainly do not justify his anger. Over all the years, Apple has had to suffer a very basic issue - they do existing things, just a lot more refined. (To me, most of Apples innovation is in how they sell technology, not in what it is or does.) There is tons of prior art that they built upon themselves and being that outraged by the case of android following in their footsteps is simply not logical.
Like any salesman, Mr. Jobs did not like to show his cards, as there is always a necessary amount of building-on-sand-near-water, when you create theater like he did to sell his products. And I believe that's also the reason why he was so enraged by the Gizmodo phone theft. Not because his morals were hurt. It was that people messed with his game.
I also don't think that he saw "bringing technology to the masses" as moral, but it sure is a good way to sell technology. His beliefs about empowering people with technology may or may not have been important to him, but he sure selected them and portrayed them as means to a certain end.
So yes, maybe we only differ on our definition of pragmatic. I agree that his big thing was following his vision, but I maintain that to realize that vision, he had to make a lot of very pragmatic decisions. Turning his "inspired" hacker youth into a walled-garden adulthood is a sign of that to me.