I suspect that this was just a sound bite in 1997, but Jobs himself said it: "We have to let go of a few things here. We have to let go of the notion that for Apple to win, Microsoft has to lose."
I was amazed when he said "we lost, they won" with no sense of rancor, nor of defeat of self. Very growthful and in-reality. Say what you will about Jobs, he's not dogmatic; he's far from an apple fanboy.
He's doing what a recent article on disruption (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1375141) reminded me of: don't confront entrenched competition, it will "invoke a competitive response" and they'll win (or "never attack a fortified hill", from crossing the chasm). Instead, do something else.
In order to make great things, and then to sustain that, I really truly believe you have to grow to dislike what you made before. It's the only way to take a critical eye one what you have done and learn from it.
Lots of people think Jobs is a tyrant inside of Apple (and I agree with that sentiment), but I think the motivation for that is that he simply wants to create something he doesn't hate right now. It might be bootup time, or interface delays, or screen pixel density etc. That kind of thinking, a critical review of your own likes/dislikes is healthy I think in order to grow.
Fanboyism, by definition, is not a process of critical thought.
