I recommend this interview by Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher. You’ll be treated to a rare chance of seeing Jobs and Gates sitting together, chatting about their past and future. The direct link leads to selected highlights, but it’s best to view the whole thing (you’ll find a list of 8 parts on that page).

Obviously these are both extremely bright and intelligent guys. And Bill, contrary to his common, media image, seems like a nice and friendly person. But what jumped out on me is the difference in how they speak their mind.

Steve just loves these lush, vivid stories and descriptions. He uses simple, carefully chosen words. And he prefers human, emotionally loaded expressions. Overall the impression he leaves is one of warmth and clarity.

Bill on the other hand speaks rather bland, with a mix of technical and business language. It’s valid and I have no doubt he can communicate his ideas effectively, but it doesn’t grab your attention as much. Certainly he speaks more to the head, while Steve goes straight for the heart.

I also think there was something about the way they use their voices. Steve seemed to me much easier to follow. If this was a printed word I guess he would be using much more spacing and shorter paragraphs than Bill Again, leading to more clarity.

You’ll find another perfect example of the differences in their presentation styles on the Presentation Zen blog. It’s a great article, highly recommended.

It was a great read and, surprisingly, quite a page-turner. The book not only provides insight into Steve’s character, but it’s also a good story about golden years of computers, the beginning of the industry. Even though I joined the revolution relatively late in the game (1988 or so) going down this memory lane still gives me nostalgic fuzzies. Good times

As for Steve Jobs — I had no idea he was such a ruthless guy! Having seen only few of his presentations, I’ve always taken him for a warm and friendly person. This book however shows him in quite a different light. In several places I’ve even felt sorry for the people he has so obviously mistreated. But he did come around eventually (I guess getting older helps you gain perspective) so this is something to be commended.

Like him or not, there are lots of things to learn from Steve. Few of my picks:

• People are drawn to extraordinary, bold projects. They’ll forgive you a lot as long as they can be a part of something important. This goes to prove that the best of the breed don’t need work to just bring them money. They want it to give meaning to their lives.

• Focusing on clients is essential. Through all these years Steve has been consistently obsessed about users’ experience. And that’s one of the things that resulted in a biggest pay-off for him and for Apple. People reciprocate the care.

• Presentation matters. The book shows that many of his revolutionary products were not invented by Steve, some were in fact born against his plans (like animated movies in Pixar). However I didn’t like how the authors seem to diminish his role in their success. Yes, he had lots of luck with great people, but good products don’t sell by themselves (as lot’s of disillusioned inventors learned). They need a little focus, dressing up and a charismatic push. And that’s where Steve shines.

• Dream big and don’t give up too soon. There certainly were tough times in Steve’s life. He rose up quickly in his young age only to fall down painfully after he was thrown out from his own company. Then he failed miserably in his NeXT business. He made a lot of (stupid, in the hindsight) mistakes, but he pushed forward, often against better judgment. As it turns out, when his life seemed the darkest the best thing was waiting just around the corner. In the end his persistence paid off heavily.

My rating: 4 out of 5 - very good.