"I didn't plan to pick a fight with Steve Jobs," says Gawker's Ryan Tate, but after a few cocktails on May 14, Tate shot off an angry late-night email to the Apple CEO — and got a response. In their 10-email "one-on-one" sparring match, which ended at 2:20 a.m., Tate accused Apple of micromanaging iPad content in power-mad ways, and Jobs defended Apple, saying it gave its users "freedom from porn," among other perks. What does the "feisty" back-and-forth reveal about Apple's CEO? (Watch a report about Steve Jobs' heated e-mail exchange with a blogger)
Jobs' legendary passion is no myth: Jobs' mostly "level-headed" responses to Tate's "clearly agitated" e-mails make one thing clear, says Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch. "Jobs in on a mission to reinvent computing," controversies be damned. And for better or worse, "it sounds like he genuinely believes that what Apple is doing will lead to a better future."
"Steve Jobs spars with Gawker blogger over revolutions, freedom, and porn"
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Jobs has a God complex: The most revelatory exchange, says Nick Farrell at Tech Eye, occurred when Tate wondered if Bob Dylan, a Jobs hero, would find the iPad revolutionary; after all, "Revolutions are about freedom." This evidently "miffed" the "Apple Messiah." But Tate is right: "At no point in the past would a revolutionary Bob Dylan ever wanted a ban on porn and locked in gizmos"
"Steve Jobs gets in a fight with Valleywag"
He's certainly not a normal CEO: Whether you "respect or hate Steve Jobs a little more after this exchange" probably depends on whether you're a "PC lover" or "Apple fanboy," says Bill Green at Make the Logo Bigger. And both sides have a point. Tate's "Apple = Big Brother" argument raises "legit concerns," but kudos to the "iGod" for being "the rare company leader who communicates directly with the people who reach out to them."
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