Thursday, February 5, 2004

As Pixar's Chief Vents, Disney Answers in Kind. Disney and Pixar, which called off talks last week on extending their 13-year partnership, traded barbs in public on Wednesday. By Laura M. Holson. [New York Times: Technology] Beyond the trash talk, reading this story made me think about what's unique about Pixar's productions. In particular, why would sequels be a bad idea. Pixar's characters and situations are finely balanced on the crest of a technology wave. On a sequel two years later, the same characters would look passé as the technology makes new characters and characterizations possible. Which led me to what I think is the unique genius of Steve Jobs: to orchestrate the creation of artifacts in which technology and design have a subtle but deep emotional impact. In the original Mac or the iPod or Nemo, we have artifacts that engender the illusion of intelligent, slightly humorous, and warm agency. They behave predictably when that is needed, but they offer surprises when that will help or delight. They respond as if they were not just dumb artifacts, but helpers with style and ability but no attitude. No wonder that Pixar and Apple have such loyal following. No wonder also that Apple almost self-destructed in its non-Jobs period. Even though many of the same engineers and designers were still doing good work, no one at the top really knew what it is that they were really supposed to be creating: an useful illusion of friendly animacy. Except for Google, no other company has got even close. 6:30:23 PM