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"If my son wants to be a pimp when he grows up, that's fine with me. I hope he's a good one and enjoys it and doesn't get caught. I'll support him in this. But if he wants to be a network administrator, he's out of the house and not part of my family." Steve Wozniak, http://www.woz.org/

OK, if we're going to post bits of text from other sites, lets post the whole thing.

It is possible that between Woz, Jobs, and Bushnell, somebody isn't remembering it right. It was decades ago, after all.

Even if Jobs screwed over Woz, they were kids. I remember when I was that age, I did a few things that I am ashamed of today, some of them having to do with money. And, what I did back then has nothing to do with the kind of person I am today or have been for the past 15 years.

In other words, as you grow old you do in fact realize that people change. People can and do change.

Woz's Response To Jobs Question:

Q From e-mail:
I was in Barnes & Noble last night and stumbled onto a book by Gil Amelio which detailed his "500 days at Apple." I think his book was called "On the Firing Line." Anyway, given my interest in reading your comments in the wake of "Pirates," I looked up references to you. In one, he recounts your explanation of the Woz/Jobs friendship rift. He asserts that you told him that way back in the 70s, before the Apple I, you were working on something for Atari with Jobs. You did all of the work, and you and Jobs were supposed to get $1000. When you produced the product, Jobs gave it to Atari and came back to you with $300, saying all he got from them was $600. You didn't find out until the mid-eighties that Jobs actually did get $1000, and he ripped you off. Can you confirm this story?

WOZ:
I don't like to stir up old things that carry a negative note, but Steve was actually paid more like $3000 or $5000 or something. Nolan Bushnell, who paid him, gave the amount in a recent book, "Silicon Valley Guys." I was actually sort of thankful that Gil got it wrong, because it didn't sound as attrocious as it really was.

To clarify, this happened before Apple, when Steve and I were best friends with little to our names. Steve said we'd split it 50/50. If he'd just said that I could have $50 for doing it I would have done it anyway for the fun and honor of designing an arcade game.

You can see why I cried deeply when I found out the truth. I get hurt and cry very easily when people don't treat others well, or when the "right" thing isn't happening. Also, Steve doesn't remember the incident this way, so consider another possibility: that those saying the payment was large could be remembering it incorrectly. This is old stuff, and it's best not to use it as an indicator of Steve today.

Woz was a good guy, the real deal. Jobs was a shark, focused mostly on how he could exploit people like Woz to make money.

-Eric

I see that you have a nice list of your friends web pages on your site which is great, including the link to Kevin Mitnick's site which is nice because he was in jail and everything but now it redirects to Kevin's new business which I don't have any problem with either, except that Mitnick has actualy spent time in jail for doing bad things to people and their systems and now seems to make money advising people how to steer clear of people like himself.

I'm not making any suggestions or anything, just pointing that out.

Yes, mea culpa.

Also, from what I understand, there didn't just "happen to be" a record company name Apple, but rather the Steves chose the name as a homage to the Beatles.

I've heard that rumor, but Steve Jobs is also a vegan who said he named the company Apple because he spent time working at an apple orchard when he was younger. Steve Wozniak says that yes, Jobs spent time working at an Apple Orchard, so yes, I'd say there's a very strong probability that he named the company after the orchard and there just happened to be a record company named Apple Corps.

Now that you mention it, I would really like to know if it is at all possible to purchase a fully "Made in the USA" computer

Well, there's this one, but the parts are all made in Denmark.

Whatever happened to "1984 won't be like 1984"?

Simple; Steve Wozniak left. The Woz came from an electrical engineering background and was very interested in building expandable, hackable machines that you can do almost anything that you wanted with. Therefore, from 1976 to 1993 Apple built these types of machines. Unfortunately, after Woz left and after Jobs left for the first time, the executives made the Mac (closed system, from hardware down to software) a very high priority and milked the Mac continuing to this day, while the Apple II was left to rot until its discontinuation in 1993.

Jobs, on the other hand, is more of a business, money-making guy who would find a way to make money off of his products. He is the one who thought of very closed boxes that aren't very expandable. The original Macintosh is an example of that; functional but not very expandable. Macs didn't start becoming more expandable until the Mac II came out in the late 80s, and didn't become fully expandable until the Centris/Quadra series came out (neither of which are Jobs's designs; that is during the Sculley/Spindler/Ameilio era, before Jobs returned). They also closed the source of their OS. Even when they adopted BSD + Mach for OS X, although they have a very good record with giving back to the FOSS community (they didn't have to, after all), they also placed DRM into their kernel.

Don't let Apple fool you into thinking that they are a bunch of innocent fruit from a tree who will never do anything bad. They are one of the biggest supporters of DRM, even bigger than Microsoft is at this point (there is no DRM in Vista forbidding me to run on any computer). They're not in the Trusted Computing Group (but Intel is), but that doesn't mean anything. They have successfully launched the iTunes Music Store, and they have locked down OS X to run solely on their Intel Macs, even though the core of it is FreeBSD + Mach (both FOSS).

It's going to be a long road ahead, when your only choices are DRM-encumbered Windows boxen and DRM-encumbered OS X boxen.

Steve Jobs himself has spoken out against such "theft."

Yeah, I read that article, but somehow I don't see how cracking OSX86 is all that different to blue-boxing.

The first Difference Engine I built could do 2nd order differences to 3 digits. The second machine (the one I posted at http://acarol.woz.org/ had better carry timing and was built to the same 2nd order/3 digit size, but is capable of being expanded to 4 digits and 3rd order differences.

I've had a lot of people ask for directions on how to make it, so I'm cleaning up the design to be easier than it currently is. Mostly making the adder rotors removable and making the power drive gear box a distinct module.

Some day I'm hoping to do a mini-analytic engine. Perhaps three or four registers, a simple ALU, programmed through a gear chain. This will require a lot of thought.

I'm pretty sure this site got it even before this "Digg" did. This isn't a contest.

Fuck 'em. What about Steve Wozniak?

http://www.woz.org/

I met him at Apple Boston in 1983 and he had a great attitude, even when I asked him about the Franklin.

It's Wozniak - somebody who truely seems to care about the world, about the people on it, and helping children learn with technology...

I realize this is a post on a user forum and hardly authoritative, but it was the best I could find on short notice to respond to the 'nitwit' belittlement.

• Apple gave Xerox a $1 million block of pre-IPO stock in return for the rights to visit PARC, without an NDA, and take notes. Xerox showed them everything openly and happily. Keep in mind this is well before software patents etc. http://www.woz.org/letters/pirates/12.html, http://www.sitepoint.com/article/real-history-gui/ 5 http://www.smalltalk.org/alankay.html
• Apple subsequently hired half of the Alto staff.
• Xerox later sued Apple, claiming Apple was using Xerox-"copyrighted" code. The complaint wasn't so much that Apple was making money off of the code, as it was that Xerox was not able to license the code to others because the others were worried Apple would sue them. http://www.krsaborio.net/research/legal/xerox.htm
• The lawsuit was not dismissed on a "technicality" -- it was dismissed because Xerox's claims were found to be entirely unfounded. Apple wasn't using a single bit of Xerox code. Furthermore, Xerox had decided long ago not to patent the relevant technology. And the judge ruled that if other firms were worried about being sued by Apple, then it was they and not Xerox who should be suing Apple.
• Unlike the Apple-Xerox transaction, Microsoft didn't pay Apple anything.

The Globe was bought by the NY Times. Editorial standards, even just on a basic proof-reading level, seem to have gone nowhere but down ever since.

Why am I not surprised?

Q: Do you own any Apple stock?

WOZ: I do own Apple stock and I do believe in the company and I'll never desert it. If I had to use Windows, I'd switch to WebTV or retire forever from using computers.

John was more concerned with the total company operation and keeping things going while Steve wanted to keep advancing on the future, company and profits or not, in his own internally conceived directions. Actually, John Sculley promoted technologies like AppleTalk and PowerTalk and QuickTime and PlainTalk and the Newton. He was very supportive of the rare technical geniuses in the company. He was not just a "marketeer" who dressed things up in colors.

John was more concerned with the total company operation and keeping things going while Steve wanted to keep advancing on the future, company and profits or not, in his own internally conceived directions. Actually, John Sculley promoted technologies like AppleTalk and PowerTalk and QuickTime and PlainTalk and the Newton. He was very supportive of the rare technical geniuses in the company. He was not just a "marketeer" who dressed things up in colors.

The movie Pirates of Silicon Valley is pretty interesting. I know it's not 100% accurate (probably not even 70%...), but it has some interesting moments of the "Bad" and the "Good" Steve. Steve Wozniak has 33 (!) sets of Q&A about the movie and what really happened on this website. It's worth reading!

• Information is power.
• It's better to be a pirate than to join the navy.
• 90 hours per week and loving it.
• Real artists ship.

Perhaps we can include hack reporters too!

Wonder if they would give Bill Gates the death penalty for hacking BASIC for microcomputers, or Steve Wozniac, the Woz for hacking the Apple.

Imagine all the 'hard' work teachers, parents and guidance counselors put into brainwashing every kid that he/she must go to University."

Jobs should keep his mouth shut. Its not reasonable (normal, or frankly, directly dependant on his single person) that Apple is what it is today. Serendipity. Timing. *OTHER* People (ahem) for instance.

Jobs is not the mesiah. He is not the ubermensch. He is not a guru visionary.

It is a fluke that he was able to overcome the barriers setup by the plutocracy and end up leading apple (and filthy rich). It is not wise or practical for him to give such advice.

What would be better? For millions to fail and end up hungry or for them to put in their time, hard work and dedication to end up better selves.

This "it worked for me and Im great -- its the way to go" conceit is sickening. And the poster should shake of his sycophant leanings and realize that the world should not be lead by egos but by considered and learned.

Im not overly educated myself -- nor am i prostrate in deference to those i consider better credentialed -- but I realize that simply "dropping out" is just that. To drop out. And unless your goals are humble (which, frankly, I would *ALSO* agree are worthy) then dont plan to become Steve Jobs by dropping out. Not that Im suggesting Steve Jobs is some kind of role model. He's obviously not. He sounds like a unmitigated egotist.

Lighting doesnt strike twice. Mr. Job's ego cannot will it so.

He basically says, maybe it happened and maybe it didn't

Er... no. From the very page that you linked to, he says that it happened (and he didn't like it):

I was hurt in later years when I heard that Steve was paid more than he'd told me, and I don't think that I hurt easily.

[linguae wrote:]the Woz went back to Berkeley and got his degree in 1982

Woz dropped out too. I'd put him into the great minds because he did a hell of a lot more technologically than a lot of grads still can't do.

I followed the Wikipedia reference to Woz talking about it on his home page: http://www.woz.org/letters/general/91.html
He basically says, maybe it happened and maybe it didn't - could be that memories were fading by that point and that he's over it anyway.

Assuming it did happen - I agree, you'd have to be a jerk to treat your friends like that.

I find it apprpriate to quote the Woz, from http://www.woz.org/letters/general/78.html

About 3 years ago I took my daughter, Sara, to Las Vegas for a gymnastics regional that she was in. During the lengthy warmups my wife and I walked down to the Hard Rock Casino and played slot machines. While generously feeding these machines I tipped the waitress a couple of $2 bills. Waitresses in casinos and other places often exclaim at how much they like getting these and how their kids love them. I have tons of $2 bill stories that will make a whole chapter in my book someday. My $2 bills are real and legit but unusual.

A short while later a casino security manager sat down next to me. He was very quiet and showed no emotion about anything. He was 30-ish and acted like a dedicated security man who knew everything about every type of cash situation ever. This man asked me where I'd gotten the bills and I started a little BS about buying them from a guy that hawked basketball tickets. I sometimes say this to peak the interest in people that wonder if these bills are real or not. I said that I thought the bills were good and acted like I didn't know what was going on, just enough to seem evasive. This man told me that they had tested the bills with their testing pen and that the bills were good.

Then he calmly said that they don't make them like this. I sat for a long time silent and he repeated his statement. I said "you mean, on sheets?" These two $2 bills were attached to each other and perforated. You can purchase $1, $2, and now $5 bills from the Bureau of Printing and Engraving on sheets. The sheets come in sizes of 4, 16, and 32 bills each. I buy such sheets of $2 bills. I carry large sheets, folded in my pocket, and sometimes pull out scissors and cut a few off to pay for something in a store. It's just for comedy, as the $2 bills cost nearly $3 each when purchased on sheets. They cost even more at coin stores.

I take the sheets of 4 bills and have a printer, located through friends, gum them into pads, like stationery pads. The printer then perforates them between the bills, so that I can tear a bill or two away. The bills that I'd tipped the waitress came from such a pad.

Well, the casino security guy kept rubbing the perforation between the two bills but he still showed no emotion at all. He was strictly professional. When he said that they don't make bills like this I asked "They don't?" as though I thought it was quite normal to have sheets. My answer was also so emotionless as to confuse him about me, and to make me seem even more evasive. This, again, I do for a comedic effect. The gentleman then said "they don't make them with perforations." I again asked "they don't"", acting a little like maybe I got ripped off by the person that sold them to me. The security guy kept rubbing the perforation slowly.

Every currency bill has to have a different serial number. We all know that. But for the bills on a sheet, the serial number ends with the last digits the same, and the starting digits the same. It's harder to detect that an inner digit is changing when you look at the serial numbers on a sheet of bills.

So I next said to the casino security guy "you'd think that the serial numbers would be sequential." I normally say "the serial numbers are all the same" but I knew that he'd catch this falsehood more quickly than most people that I use it on. I also sensed a serious tone, based on his attitude, and didn't want to lie outright. Well, this emotionless guy looked slowly down at the two bills and his jaw jerked open. Even his head stayed still and no other signs of emotion showed, but his jaw jerked. I'm sure that he thought for an instant that he had captured Al Capone, counterfeiting $2 bills.

He remained motionless and expressionless for a few seconds and obviously must have discovered that the serial numbers changed in the middle. He calmly raised his head and acted as though nothing had happened, a

If a store threatened me like that, I'd be pissed, probably much more than if they called the cops because the ink smeared on a bill I gave them (a part of the story everyone seems to be missing -- it wasn't the $2 denomination alone that caused suspicion).

BTW, check out Woz's $2 bill stories. He buys them in perforated sheets from the U.S. Treasury, and leaves them on the sheets. People really have a hard time believing they are real when he pulls out the sheet.

You mean Steve Wozniak is your friend?

http://www.woz.org/letters/general/78.html

VERY funny read, about Woz and his stack of perforated two dollar bills he carries around.

Steve Wozniak has his own crazy story about using $2 bills at a Las Vegas casino. True or not, it's hilarious...

After being detained and then asked for photo ID by a Secret Service agent, Woz hands over a fake ID that features himself as a "Laser Safety Officer".

Wearing an eye patch.

For the "Department of Defiance."

It's probably one of the funniest stories I've read this year. Anyway, if you've never actually seen a US $2 bill, the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing has front and back images of $2 bills posted on its website.

Wozniak got in trouble for paying with $2 bills, too. Although, his story is a little funnier: http://www.woz.org/letters/general/78.html

probably because he's not a segway enthousiast, whereas the Woz is. http://www.woz.org/seg/

http://www.woz.org/letters/general/92.html

in particular states that Woz did not use VRAM at all in the Apple I, but instead went with 7-bit PMOS shift-registers in a 4-pin package.

Can you imagine buying a whole chip to store just 7 BITS, in this day and age? (I didn't think so. Not to mention that PMOS is obsolete in favor of CMOS and others.)

http://www.woz.org/letters/general/92.html

in particular states that Woz did not use VRAM at all in the Apple I, but instead went with 7-bit PMOS shift-registers in a 4-pin package.

Can you imagine buying a whole chip to store just 7 BITS, in this day and age? (I didn't think so. Not to mention that PMOS is obsolete in favor of CMOS and others.)

You got it.

Woz is a millionaire and to this day a good businessman (he helped bring the T-Mobile Sidekick (nee Danger HipTop) to market, for example), but above that he is an upstanding guy and incredible philanthropist. I doubt that there are many things that he couldn't afford to do if he wanted to, and I'm sure he's found happiness in his philanthropic pursuits. Just read his site for proof of that.

There is a reason that this man is considered a guru for engineers around the world, including those who may even have more money than Woz himself does. We should all do so well.

And just to cut off the Bill Gates fans before they get started, Woz never sacrificed his sense of humor or his ethical responsibilities just to stand in anyone else's way technologically or financially. If there could only be one clear example of the opposite of selling out, it would be good ole Woz. Good on ya, Steve!

I went to FROG Design, a company that had designed the enclosures for many Apple products. They came up with several design possibilities for my remote control. But one weekend (I heard) Steve Jobs encountered this product design there and blew up. FROG told us they could not do it for me. They even tried to collect money after this attrocious thing. I suspect that Steve had a bad impression of my departure, probably fueled by a very inaccurate article in the Wall Street Journal that made it sound that my reason for leaving Apple was because of bad feelings about Apple

Woz actually took this one step farther. He gets uncut sheets and has them perforated between the bills, then made into a pad.

Funny story, especially his encounter with the Secret Service.

Shameless Karma Whoring

Just think what Ms. Ellsworth could have achieved with a proper education.

MUCH LESS

For the really creative problem solver types like her, school is a dangerous reconditioning of one's mind and social outlook. If you're not suited for it, excessive schooling/socialization can kill both your entrepreneurial spirit and your creative talent.

It is NOT ironic in the slightest that so many great innovators were drop-outs.

it would appear so. and i think he's already doing ads for the company!

Doesn't the Woz play Segway polo?

I remember my first remote control watch. I could turn off TV's in stores and other places all the time, very discretely. My sons loved these.

Pirates is an absolutely EXCELLENT movie. It captures the true nature of Gates, Allen, Ballmer, Job and the Woz. If you check out Woz.org he has many an interesting thing to say on that period

As told by the Woz here.

You're not fooling anyone, Steve.

...is that HP has completely lost sight of its sound roots in the engineering/geek world. HP used to be known as the producer of such geek icons as the HP48 series of calculators, the fantastic old LaserJets (not to be confused with the modern versions) and, of course, the venerable DeskJets. Today, their calculator business is a ghost of its former self, the new calculators are almost uniformly agreed to suck, and their once-vaunted printer business has devolved into the "drug dealer" model of doing business-- hook 'em with cheap printers, then sell them ink at obscene prices. (I remember reading a quote on SlashDot in the recent past saying that ink, ounce for ounce, is worth more than rare old wines now? Or something to that effect...)

Anyhow, HP used to be an engineer's company-- a geek's company. Didn't the Woz used to work there? And he was a geek's geek. Even as recently as my high school education (I'm 25), HP was a touchstone of geek culture.

And now that it's merged with Comcrap, its devolution into yet another mindless "cheap plastic crap computers" business has been completed.

There seem to be only two companies nowadays with solid geek-friendly engineering-- Apple (excepting many of their first-generation products) and IBM (think: ThinkPads... solid engineering and a simple, robust design virtually unchanged in 10 years). HP is now just Compaq wearing a tie. DEC is long gone ("Compaq Tru64 Unix", anyone?), swallowed by the Compaq beast. SGI is going out with a whimper instead of a bang. Sun sold their soul to Redmond and is now producing x86 and x86-64 hardware that are Windows-certified.

And, as usual... no one gives a damn. We're all too damned addicted to ShinyPlasticCrap(TM) to care about the lack of sound engineering.

As far as I'm concerned, Carly Fiorina's head should be on a stake somewhere, the damned sellout. She robbed us all of a good, solid, geeky company in favour of more anticompetitive, mindless, corporate, plastic crap.

visicalc ~ dan bricklin (danbrickin.com)

apple 2 ~ steve wozniak (woz.org) , others (folklore.org)...

visicalc ~ dan bricklin (danbrickin.com)

apple 2 ~ steve wozniak (woz.org) , others (folklore.org)...

Do people really need a biography for Steven Wozniak?

If they do, I might as well suggest an unusual one. Of course, you can also just learn about him from the man himself.