Tashkent university of information technologies named after muhammad al-kwarizmi abdiyeva saida

Disarm, Rather Than Charm

In 1989, NeXT, struggling to win over buyers, got a meeting with IBM to discuss licensing the NeXTStep software for use on IBM's OS/2 computers, recalls a former NeXT executive, who asked not to be named. NeXT really wanted the deal (IBM did end up licensing the software for $65 million at the end of that year).

Executives from both companies gathered in a conference room at NeXT's headquarters on Deer Creek Road in Palo Alto, Calif., waiting for Jobs to arrive. He finally came in, turned to the senior IBM executive and said "Your user interface sucks." There were gasps from executives at both companies.

"This is kind of how he got to be a good negotiator. He would totally disarm people by dropping F-bombs," the NeXT executive recalls. "He would say, 'We're doing this deal but your products are s---. He was outrageous. But he always ended up getting exactly what he wanted."