As anticipation grew ahead of the Macintosh launch, IBM was starting to outperform Apple in the personal computer market. In order to address this, Jobs believed that an extraordinary ad campaign would be necessary in order to “stop people in their tracks” (162). Jobs and his team hired Ridley Scott, spending $750,000 on the now famous “1984” television commercial, which portrayed the Mac as the anti-establishment computer that was meant for young rebels eager to avoid the traps of Orwellian control. The commercial launched at the 1984 Super Bowl that year and became a sensation, considered by many in fact to be the greatest TV commercial of all time. When the Mac launched into the marketplace, its success was greatly aided by the “1984” commercial.

Isaacson contrasts Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, who shared many superficial similarities (e.g., they both worked in tech and were born in 1955), but who were fundamentally different in terms of their philosophy and approach. While Jobs pursued Eastern spirituality and often lived as a rebellious hippie during his adolescence, Gates was the son of a wealthy Seattle attorney, attending a prominent private school. Gates was timid, geeky, gifted at computer coding.