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Early Apple Employees Talk Memories of Steve Jobs, Thoughts On New Movie

Posted by Soulskill on from the i-never-realized-steve-jobs-was-a-transformer dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "Daniel Kottke and Bill Fernandez had front-row seats to the birth of the personal computing industry, as well as the most valuable technology company in the world. Both served as employees of Apple Computer in its earliest days: Kottke working with the hardware, Fernandez developing the user interfaces. Both have some strong opinions about the new feature film Jobs, which dramatizes the personal and professional escapades of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs and his more technically inclined partner, Steve Wozniak. Kottke consulted on early versions of the script, attended the movie's premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in February, and is currently planning to see it again shortly after its release on August 16. Fernandez, on the other hand, hasn't seen it and doesn't intend to, because he considers it a work of fiction and thinks it will upset him. In this lengthy interview with Slashdot, both attempted to distinguish the facts and longstanding geek legends from the instances of pure creative license exercised by the filmmakers."

18 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. Perhaps Pirate of Silicon Valley is better? by rolfwind · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Metacritic and Rotten don't seem to be encouraging this movie.

    1. Re:Perhaps Pirate of Silicon Valley is better? by Golddess · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well Pirates of Silicon Valley wasn't just about Steve Jobs and Apple. It also followed Bill Gates and Microsoft.

      While I'm not exactly interested in seeing Jobs, I am curious to see how Jobs compares to Pirates.

      --
      "I'm not sure I like the fugnutish tone you used in your post!" -RogL (608926)-
  2. Link to film by SpaceMonkies · · Score: 3, Informative

    "For a man whose singular vision alienated many – a point illustrated by Kutcher's straight-talking, temper-riddled reading of Jobs – those closest to him are barely given time to voice their concerns, let along develop as characters. Jobs's Apple co-founder, self-taught software whizz Steve "Woz" Wozniak (Josh Gad), already a vocal critic of the film, is presented as a mere backdrop. We learn little about Woz: where he came from, how he met Jobs, or what happened after he quit Apple, dissatisfied with the direction in which the company was heading."
    http://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/jan/28/sundance-festival-jobs-first-look-review

    Heres a link to info about the film itself: Jobs (film).

    Check out the new Slashdot iPad app

    1. Re:Link to film by deKernel · · Score: 4, Informative

      Uhm, I hate to break the news to you, but the name of the movie was "Jobs" and not "Jobs & Woz".

    2. Re:Link to film by Zero__Kelvin · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I hate to break it to you, but without Woz it is highly likely that nobody would even have heard of Jobs. Not making him an integral part of the story is like doing a movie called "Robert Plant" and glossing over the Led Zeppelin part.

      --
      Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
  3. Hey, remember when Steve used to screw us over? by TWiTfan · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Oh, those were the days. We used to laugh, and then he would deny us stock options, and then we would go to a bar and drink, and then he would curse at us and fire us. Oh man, were those great times!

    --
    The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
    1. Re:Hey, remember when Steve used to screw us over? by TWiTfan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      My personal favorite Steve Jobs "asshole moment" was when he came back to the company in the 90's. One of his first acts as CEO was to end all of Apple's charitable giving programs. Such a sweet fella. I think that's even better than when he used to regularly park his Porsche in handicapped spots (starting back in the 80's, long before he was sick, mind you).

      --
      The cow says "Moo." The dog says "Woof." The Timothy says "Thanks, valued customer. We appreciate your input."
    2. Re:Hey, remember when Steve used to screw us over? by UnknowingFool · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't have any major problems with Jobs removing the program when the company was struggling. I have a problem with him not reinstating it when Apple got back to sound financial footing.

      --
      Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
  4. Film casts Woz in bad light. by nitehawk214 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The one true geek character in the entire Apple saga. Well that is enough for me to not bother with it.

    --
    I'm a good cook. I'm a fantastic eater. - Steven Brust
  5. A legend? by Opportunist · · Score: 4, Informative

    Woz is the legend. Jobs was the PR machine.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:A legend? by orthancstone · · Score: 5, Insightful

      That's somewhat disingenuous. Steve had great ideas and vision, but more importantly he knew how to get people to buy into it. You can downplay that as "PR" all you want, but strong leadership involves convincing others to collaborate on a common set of goals.

  6. For balance by ciderbrew · · Score: 3, Informative

    For balance here is comedian Bill Burr talking about Jobs.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iGm4dl0Ys4
    Bill Burr - Night of Too Many Stars 2012

  7. Birth of PC - Altair, not Apple by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 3, Informative

    It really amazes me how badly some people want history to read that Apple started the computer revolution. If there is any one group responsible for starting the home computing boom, it was the Homebrew Computer Club and the advent of the Altair . Please stop trying to make Apple history happen differently than it happened. If anything, Jobs and Gates were douc^H^H businessmen and acted as such trying to screw everyone else over in order to gain wealth and power.

    --
    Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
    1. Re:Birth of PC - Altair, not Apple by 0racle · · Score: 3, Informative

      I knew someone was going to say something like this, because people can't read. The article doesn't say Apple was the birth of the PC, it says Apple was at the birth of the industry, not the birth but at the birth, which is true. Therefore those who were part of Apple were at the birth of the industry as well.

      The interviewees also lament that the movie in question doesn't even mention all the others that were there to provide context, and that Apple was by no means a sure thing.

      --
      "I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
    2. Re:Birth of PC - Altair, not Apple by msauve · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Nope. Only a techie would flip front panel switches to enter a loader, so they could then run a program from paper tape. The Altairs, IMSAIs, SOLs, North Stars, Cromemcos, Poly-88s, etc. were hobby or industrial computers, not home computers.

      It was indeed Apple, Radio Shack, and Commodore who started the home computer industry. They were the first packaged systems which could be purchased, set up, and operated by a normal person.

      Apple, especially for the relatively low cost/high performance disk drive Woz developed, which made things like Visicalc practical.

      --
      "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  8. Re:the cynic in me revolts. by ebno-10db · · Score: 3, Insightful

    the man is more of a pop culture consumer electronics icon than he ever was a tech mogul

    Well put. Non-techies go "ooh, ahh" because the end products are what they see. Meanwhile, how many people have heard of Nyquist, Bardeen, Brattain, Shockley, Shannon, Kilby, Noyce and all the other tech pioneers and inventors who made this stuff possible. Money? Sure, but there are others with more. Nor is Jobs even colorful enough to be interesting, like Howard Hughes. Please stop, this is getting worse than the 24x7 coverage of the OJ trial.

  9. oh Woz, you crazy PRANKSTER! by Thud457 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Woz gave St Jobs pancreatic cancer by spiking his yoghurt with polonium.[*]


    [*] Payback for the breakout ripoff of 1976. Just you wait, it'll come out after Woz is dead. OK, I'm wrong about the polonium being the mechanism, that's just not correct. Revenge is a dish best served cold.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  10. A partnership by sjbe · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I hate to break it to you, but without Woz it is highly likely that nobody would even have heard of Jobs.

    And without Jobs it's pretty unlikely most of us would have heard of Woz. It was a partnership and while it lasted a pretty remarkable one. Woz was a technical genius and Jobs was a sales/design genius. You need both to be successful, especially in a startup.