"OK, I've seen enough, " Steve interrupted me. "It's great. Apple is going to bundle it with the Mac. Congratulations."
But then he paused, and stared at me for a moment with an incredibly intense gaze, as if he was sizing me up or maybe just trying to scare me.
"But I don't want you taking advantage of this situation. I'm not going to allow you to take advantage of Apple."
"What do you mean?" I asked him, genuinely puzzled.
"There's no way that you could have written that program without confidential information that you learned by working at Apple. You don't have the right to charge whatever you like for it."
I started to get angry. "The program is only half finished, and if I don't think you're paying me fairly, I won't be motivated to finish it."
Steve gave me another intense stare as he paused for a few seconds. Then he stated a single number, without explanation.
"One hundred thousand dollars."
"I don't know," I told him, "I think it's probably worth a lot more than that."
"Don't argue with me. $100,000 is fair, and you know it."
I didn't seem to have any alternative but to capitulate to Steve's price setting,
there are better Steve stories on that site, mostly about abuse and psychological manipulation.
> "I entered Steve's office with a bit of trepidation, because I thought that Switcher was worth at least a quarter of a million dollars to Apple, but I was sure that Steve would never want to pay me that much. But I was also proud of Switcher, and was interested in seeing how Steve would react to it."
"OK, I've seen enough, " Steve interrupted me. "It's great. Apple is going to bundle it with the Mac. Congratulations."
But then he paused, and stared at me for a moment with an incredibly intense gaze, as if he was sizing me up or maybe just trying to scare me.
"But I don't want you taking advantage of this situation. I'm not going to allow you to take advantage of Apple."
"What do you mean?" I asked him, genuinely puzzled.
"There's no way that you could have written that program without confidential information that you learned by working at Apple. You don't have the right to charge whatever you like for it."
I started to get angry. "The program is only half finished, and if I don't think you're paying me fairly, I won't be motivated to finish it."
Steve gave me another intense stare as he paused for a few seconds. Then he stated a single number, without explanation.
"One hundred thousand dollars."
"I don't know," I told him, "I think it's probably worth a lot more than that."
"Don't argue with me. $100,000 is fair, and you know it."
I didn't seem to have any alternative but to capitulate to Steve's price setting,
there are better Steve stories on that site, mostly about abuse and psychological manipulation.