You already know the background of the Mac Portable. Gassee strove for perfection and created a disaster. Sculley knew that laptops were a glaring hole in the product line and expected to be the next high growth area so he was very upset with the way the critics hammered the machine. Of course in fairness to Gassee, Sculley knew what the product looked like, he just had no sense of product design or requirements, he was purely a marketing guy.

From time to time Sculley would have a company meeting to give the staff a pep talk, set direction, etc. They were usually held at the Flint Center in Cupertino (adjacent DeAnza College) with a satellite feed to all the other offices globally, and frequently included some surprises. The only thing that I remember about this particular meeting was that Sculley and Gassee sat on these tall stools at center stage while Sculley described the Mac Portable as a disaster. I couldn't believe the way he went on and on with Gassee sitting next to him, particularly after the way he had put Gassee on apedestalin "Odyssey". It was the antithesis of the old management philosophy that you "punish in private, praise in public". He was just ripping Gasee in front of the entire company.

Of course Gassee resigned shortly thereafter.