In a brief interview with Bloomberg Businessweek as part of highlighting Apple's #10 ranking on the magazine's list of "The 85 Most Disruptive Ideas in Our History", Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak discusses a handful of topics related to the company, mostly relating to Apple's early days. Among the topics Wozniak delved into was Steve Jobs' mindset in those early years of the company.
He had always spoken about wanting to be a person that moves the world forward, but he couldn’t really create things and design them like I could. Steve wanted a company real badly. His thinking was not necessarily about what computers would do for the average Joe in the average home. Steve found the words that explained what these computers would do for people and how important it was a little later in life.
Wozniak went on to mention his refrain from conflict, and that Jobs "was going to make sure that his position was strong and forceful and heard by others." He continued, "Thankfully he had the best brain. He usually had a little, tiny suggestion, but almost always he was right."
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Discussing the onset of the "computer revolution", Wozniak said he "knew that the computer was so far ahead of anything the rest of the world had seen. We knew we had a revolution. Everyone who joined Apple, this was the greatest thing in their life." Wozniak said that compared to every computer that came before it, the Apple I (which now sells for over half a million dollars at auction on occasion) was the point where he saw the future of widespread, affordable computing devices.
When asked where most of the work was being done in those early years, Wozniak mentions his cubicle at Hewlett-Packard in Cupertino, not the famous location of Steve Jobs' family home that is now a historical landmark.
The garage is a bit of a myth. We did no designs there, no breadboarding, no prototyping, no planning of products. We did no manufacturing there. The garage didn’t serve much purpose, except it was something for us to feel was our home. We had no money. You have to work out of your home when you have no money.
Wozniak has been in the news a fair amount in recent months, with rumors swirling about who will play him in the Aaron Sorkin-penned Steve Jobs film that Wozniak is consulting on, and the recent announcement of The Woz, a reality show about the future of technology Wozniak is set to host.
Top Rated Comments
I have many fond memories in my life that I repeat over and over to friends when they ask. Telling these stories make me happy.
I assume the same with Woz and his stories and memories. Why would he try to suppress happiness if someone is interested?
Woz has pretty much every entitlement to speak his mind. He's earned it.
whaaa...? this guy was the other major half of the computer revolution. he was there, at ground zero. he built with his own brains and hands the hardware that sparked everything and set this course of history into motion. why should he not talk about it? and why on earth wouldnt you want to hear about it?
go back to your toys, son.
He designed, and often built, the Apple 1. More importantly he designed the Apple 2. Without that Apple would have been another footnote in a website dedicated to '70s-era microcomputers.
Mike
So yeah, Woz did more for computing in founding Apple than Ive has ever done with all his inane anorexic designs. He also gets credit for recognizing Jobs's genius and engaging in a symbiotic relationship with him. Many engineers might not have wanted to share credit with Jobs and had that been the case with Woz the personal computer might have taken a rather different historical path.