Jean-Louis Gassée

Jean-Louis Gassée (born March 1944) is a computer marketer, former chief technology officer of Apple Computer, founder of Be, Incorporated, current chairman of PalmSource

Sourced

• We must always give our users pure sex. It's like a rendezvous in the back seat of an automobile with a beautiful girl. One's experience with the personal computer should be better than the greatest orgasm you could have.
  • Personal Computer World, July 1990
  • On the user experience of the Apple Macintosh

• One of the deep mysteries to me is our logo, the symbol of lust and knowledge, bitten into, all crossed with the colors of the rainbow in the wrong order. You couldn't dream a more appropriate logo: lust, knowledge, hope and anarchy.
  • Apple Confidential: The Real Story of Apple Computer, 1999
  • As President of Apple Products, speaking on the Apple logo

• Yet you would not drive a car with your mouth unless you are my mother-in-law.
  • NetWorker, November/December 1996
  • Commenting on the gestures vs. speech debate in computing.

• The way to find what the mainstream will do tomorrow is to associate with the lunatic fringe today.
  • Sandy Reed, "Gassee's dual-processor BeBox challenges passe PCs", InfoWorld, 1995-10-09

• That makes my nipples hard!
  • Wired, May 1996
  • Repeated quotation, on many issues, including Microsoft and the BeBox

Attributed

• I didn't realise those spaces were for the emotionally handicapped.
  • Andy Hertzfeld in Revolution in the Valley
  • On seeing Steve Jobs park in a disabled parking space.
  • Jean-Louis says morally handicapped when he tells this story.

• I want to see the two CEOs of RIM and [Apple CEO Steve] Jobs working together. The thought of this ménage à trois is absolutely hilarious.
  • globalandmail.com, Simon Avery, June 2006