On December 2, 1996, Steve Jobs set foot on Apple’s Cupertino campus for the first time since his ouster eleven years earlier. In the executive conference room, he met Amelio and Hancock to make the pitch for NeXT. Once again he was scribbling on the whiteboard there, this time giving his lecture about the four waves of computer systems that had culminated, at least in his telling, with the launch of NeXT. He was at his most seductive, despite the fact that he was speaking to two people he didn’t respect. He was particularly adroit at feigning modesty. “It’s probably a totally crazy idea,” he said, but if they found it appealing, “I’ll structure any kind of deal you want—license the software, sell you the company, whatever.” He was, in fact, eager to sell everything, and he pushed that approach. “When you take a close look, you’ll decide you want more than my software,” he told them. “You’ll want to buy the whole company and take all the people.”

　　 1996年12月2日，史蒂夫·乔布斯在时隔11年后，再次踏上了苹果位于库比蒂诺的土地。在管理层会议室，他向阿梅里奥和汉考克展示了NeXT。又一次，他在那块白板上狂写乱画，而这次他是在讲计算机系统的4次浪潮，以及NeXT作为这次浪潮的顶点出现。他认为BeOS系统是不完整的，也没有NeXT那么精密髙级。他尽其所能吸引着听众，尽管事实上他面对的是他并不尊重的两个人。他尤其擅长伪装谦逊。“可能这是个完全疯狂的想法。”他说，但是如果他们感兴趣，“我愿意设计任何一种你们想要的合作方式——授权软件，把公司卖给你们——哪种方式都行。”事实上，他是渴望把公司全部卖掉，因此他着力推荐这个方式。“如果你们了解得更多，你们会决定想要的不仅仅是我的软件，”他对他们说，“你们会想收购整个公司并收编所有员工。”

　　A few weeks later Jobs and his family went to Hawaii for Christmas vacation. Larry Ellison was also there, as he had been the year before. “You know, Larry, I think I’ve found a way for me to get back into Apple and get control of it without you having to buy it,” Jobs said as they walked along the shore. Ellison recalled, “He explained his strategy, which was getting Apple to buy NeXT, then he would go on the board and be one step away from being CEO.” Ellison thought that Jobs was missing a key point. “But Steve, there’s one thing I don’t understand,” he said. “If we don’t buy the company, how can we make any money?” It was a reminder of how different their desires were. Jobs put his hand on Ellison’s left shoulder, pulled him so close that their noses almost touched, and said, “Larry, this is why it’s really important that I’m your friend. You don’t need any more money.”

　　 “你看，拉里，我想我找到了一种方式重回苹果并获得控制杈，而且你也不用去收购它。”在夏威夷的康娜度假村散步时，乔布斯这样对埃利森说。那年他们一起去那儿过圣诞节。埃利森回忆说：“他解释了他的策略，即促成苹果收购NeXT,然后他就可以进入董事会，离CEO的位子仅一步之遥。”埃利森认为乔布斯忽视了一个关键问题。“但是史蒂夫，有件事我不明白，”他说，“如果我们不收购公司，我们怎么赚钱呢？”这再次显示了他们的欲求是多么不同。乔布斯把手搭在埃利森的左肩上，把他拉到自己跟前，他们的鼻尖几乎要碰上了，他说：“拉里，这就是为什么有我做你的朋友非常重要。你不需要更多钱了。”