Steve Wozniak

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Stephen "Woz" Wozniak (born August 11 1950) is an American computer engineer turned philanthropist. His inventions and machines are credited with contributing greatly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s. Wozniak co-founded Apple Computer with Steve Jobs in 1976 and created the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s. The Apple II became the best selling computer of the 1970s and early 1980s, and is often credited as the first popular personal computer.

Wozniak has several nicknames, including "(The) Woz" and "Wizard of Woz". "WoZ" (short for "Wheels of Zeus") is also the name of a company Wozniak founded. Woz also developed the classic Atari game Breakout in record time. He is known for his introverted character, and he finds his level of celebrity somewhat annoying. He is also known as the "Other Steve" of Apple Computer, the more prominent Steve being co-founder and current CEO Steve Jobs.

Early life and inspiration

Wozniak's early inspiration came from his father Jerry, a Lockheed engineer, and from a fictional wonder-boy: Tom Swift. His father gave him a fascination for electronics and would often check over young Woz's creations. Tom Swift, on the other hand, was for Woz the epitome of creative freedom, scientific knowledge, and the ability to find solutions to problems. Tom Swift also represented the potential rewards that invention might bring. To this day, Wozniak returns to Tom Swift books and reads them to his own kids as a form of inspiration.

Woz's values were shaped and strengthened over years by his family, individual thinking, moral philosophy, amateur radio ethics (helping people in emergency), books (Swift's utilitarian and humanitarian attitude), among other things.

Wozniak has always loved all that requires heavy thinking, even if it is devoid of any practicality or marketability. He learned the basics of mathematics and electronics from his father. When Woz was 11, he built his own amateur radio station, and got a ham-radio license. Later, he attended Homestead High School, and at age 13 was elected president of the high school electronics club there. He won first prize at a science fair for a transistor-based calculator. Also at 13, Woz began designing his first computers (including one that could play tic-tac-toe), which laid the foundation for his later successes.

After dropping out of the University of Colorado, Woz and his neighbor, Bill Fernandez, built a computer together (later dubbed the "Cream Soda Computer", because of the beverage they consumed during the creation of the box) in Fernandez's parents' garage. It burned up its power supply in a demonstration, but Woz wasn't fazed. However, because parts at that time were prohibitively expensive, he satisfied himself with designing computers on paper.

Around this time, Fernandez introduced Woz to his best friend and classmate, Steve Jobs. Jobs, an ambitious "loner" who "always had a different way of looking at things," quickly befriended Woz, and they started working together.

Wozniak matriculated at the University of California, Berkeley. He learned about the "blue box" through an October 1971 article in Esquire Magazine written by Ron Rosenbaum that led to an introduction to the leading "phone phreak" interviewed in the article, John Draper (a.k.a. Cap'n Crunch). The blue box was the basic tool of phone phreaking, a device with which one could misuse the telephone system by emulating signaling tones used by analog phone switches of the day to obtain free long-distance calls and explore the system. Unfazed by the trouble with the law that Draper and others in the article faced, Wozniak built and Jobs sold blue boxes for $150 apiece, splitting the profits. As Draper had become known as "Cap'n Crunch", Wozniak assumed the nickname "Berkeley Blue", and Jobs's nickname was "Oaf Tobark".

The dawn of Apple

By 1975, Woz dropped out of the University of California, Berkeley (he would later return to finish his BS degree in EECS, which he received in 1986) and came up with the computer that eventually made him famous. However, he was largely working to impress other members of the Palo Alto-based Homebrew Computer Club, a local group of electronics hobbyists. His project had no wider ambition.

Jobs and Wozniak came to the conclusion that a completely assembled and inexpensive computer would be in demand. They sold some of their prized possessions (e.g. Woz's HP scientific calculator and Steve Jobs' Volkswagen van), raised USD$1300, and assembled the first prototype in Jobs's bedroom and later (when there was no space left) in Jobs' sgarage. Their first computer was quite an engineering marvel within the context of 1975 computing. In simplicity of use it was years ahead of the Altair 8800, which was introduced earlier in 1975. The Altair had no display and no true storage. It received commands via a series of switches (a single program would require thousands of toggles without an error), and its output was presented in the form of flashing lights. The Altair was great for hobbyists, for whom its assembly-required nature was actually a feature, but it was not suitable for the wider public. Woz's computer, on the other hand, which he named Apple I, was a fully assembled and functional unit that contained a $25 microprocessor (MOS 6502) on a single-circuit board with ROM. All that was needed was some RAM, a keyboard, and a monitor to make a fully-functional microcomputer.

On April 1, 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer. Wozniak quit his job at Hewlett-Packard and became the vice president in charge of research and development at Apple. The Apple I was priced at $666.66. Jobs and Wozniak sold their first 25 computers to a local dealer.

Wozniak could now focus full-time on fixing the shortcomings of the Apple I and adding new functionality. His new design was to retain the most important characteristics: simplicity and usability. Woz introduced high-resolution graphics in the Apple II. His computer could now display pictures instead of just letters: "I threw in high-res. It was only two chips. I didn't know if people would use it." By 1978, he also designed an inexpensive floppy-disk drive controller. He and Randy Wigginton wrote a simple disk operating system, adapting a file system and simple command line interface licensed from Shepardson Microsystems ^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} to his unique technology.

In addition to designing the hardware, Wozniak wrote most of the software that ran on the Apple. He wrote an advanced programming language interpreter named Calvin, a set of virtual 16-bit processor instructions known as SWEET16, a Breakout game (which was also a reason to add sound to the computer), the code needed to control the disk drive, and more.

In 1980, the Apple company went public and made Jobs and Wozniak millionaires. At the age of 27, Jobs became the youngest man on the Fortune 500 in 1982—a very young age before the dot-com era.

Beyond the Apple II

For years the Apple II was the main source of profit at Apple, and it assured the company's survival when its management undertook much less profitable ventures like the ill-fated Apple III and the short-lived Lisa. It was because of the reliable profits from the Apple II that Apple was able to develop the Macintosh, bring it to market, and evolve it into Apple's primary technology, eventually replacing the machine that paid for it. In this sense, Wozniak can be considered the financial godfather of the Mac.

In February 1981, Steve Wozniak crashed his Beech Bonanza taking off from Santa Cruz Sky Park. As a result, he had temporary short-term memory loss. He had no recollection of the accident and, for a while, did not even know he had been involved in a crash. He began to piece together clues from things people said to him. He asked his girlfriend, Candy Clark (an early Apple employee who worked in the accounting department) whether he had been involved in an accident of some kind. When she told him of the event, his short-term memory was restored. Wozniak also credits Apple II computer games for aiding him in restoring those "lost" memories.

Woz did not return to Apple after recovering from the plane crash. Instead, he married Clark (he calls her "Superwoman") and returned to the University of California, Berkeley under the name "Rocky (Raccoon) Clark", finally earning his undergraduate degree in 1987. In 1983 he decided to return to Apple product development, but he wanted no more of a role than that of an engineer and a motivational factor for the Apple workforce.

In 1982 and 1983, Wozniak also sponsored the two US Festivals, which were a celebration of evolving technologies and a marriage of music, computers, television and people.

Post-Apple career

Woz ended his full time employment with Apple for good on February 6, 1985, nine years after setting up the company, but he remains a major stockholder as well as friend to Steve Jobs. Wozniak then founded a new venture called Cloud 9, which developed home remote control switches, bringing the first universal remote control to market in 1987.

Woz went into teaching (he taught fifth grade students) and charitable activities in the field of education. Since leaving Apple Computer, Woz has provided all the money, as well as a good amount of on-site technical support, for the technology program for the Los Gatos School district (the district in which he lives and where his children attend school). Unuson (Unite Us In Song), an organization Woz formed to organize the two US Festivals, is now primarily tasked with supporting his educational and philanthropic projects.

Wozniak received the National Medal of Technology in 1985 from Ronald Reagan, then President of the United States.

In 1997 he was named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum. Wozniak was a key contributor and benefactor to San Jose's Children's Discovery Museum (the street in front of the museum has been renamed [Woz Way] in his honor).

In September 2000, Steve Wozniak was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

In 2002, Woz founded Wheels Of Zeus (note the acronym, "WoZ"), to create wireless GPS technology to "help everyday people find everyday things". In the same year, he joined the Board of Directors of Danger, Inc., the maker of the HipTop (aka SideKick from T-Mobile). In May of 2004, upon nomination by Dr. Tom Miller, Woz received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from North Carolina State University for his contribution to the field of personal computing.

In 2005, Woz was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Kettering University, in Flint, Michigan. He also received an honorary Doctor of Science from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida

In 2006, Wheels of Zeus was closed, and Wozniak founded Acquicor Technology, a shell company for acquiring technology companies and developing them, with Apple alumni Ellen Hancock and Gil Amelio.

Popular culture

• An aphorism attributed to Wozniak, "Never trust a computer you can't throw out a window," is quoted in the game Civilization IV when players discover the "Computer" technology during single player games.
• In the movie Camp Nowhere, Christopher Lloyd's character scams parents into sending their kids to a computer camp under the fake name of Steve Wozniak.
• In the anime Eureka 7 the ship's hacker is named Woz in homage of Steve.
• The movie Tron featured a character named Dr. Walter Gibbs, an engineer at the highly successful Encom, and its original co-founder who started the business out of his parents' garage and who had developed a great deal of software for the company but found himself increasingly marginalized by management. This character has obvious parallels with Wozniak and was likely inspired by him.
• MC Lars references Wozniak in his song "Ahab."

Current activities

Woz is a member of the [Bay Area Segway Enthusiasts] and a [Segway Polo] team member. His play style is described as aggressive.

Woz and the Silicon Valley Aftershocks were challenged to a game by the newly formed New Zealand Pole Blacks; the match ended in a 2-2 tie, with the Woz Challenge Cup staying in Auckland. The Pole Blacks will visit the U.S. in 2007 to defend the cup.

Woz created yet another world first with his team - the 1st International Segway HT Polo Tournament - and his fellow teammates and the NZ Pole Blacks will be credited with the creation of such a large contest.

Wozniak has been working on an autobiography, titled I, Woz, which will be published in November, 2006.

Trivia

In 1973 Woz started a Dial-a-Joke line, which he says was the first in the San Francisco area, running it from his home. As he is Polish-American, he figured no one would object if he told Polish jokes, but legal threats from the Polish-American Congress caused him to switch to Italian jokes for a while. He switched back only after the Polish-American Congress sued Steve Allen for telling Polish jokes and lost.http://apple2history.org/museum/articles/ca8609/ca8609.html.

He met his first wife by responding to a Dial-a-Joke call "live," as he often did for fun, saying, "I bet I can hang up faster than you" and then hanging up. She called back, they chatted, and he asked her out. http://www.woz.org/letters/general/04.html

Woz is also known as a prankster. He has been known to pay for services using a $2 note from a "pad" of money—he buys uncut sheets of bills from the Treasury and has them bound into booklets; they are fully legal tender despite their perforated edges. On one occasion, this got him into a spot of trouble at a casino in Las Vegas. http://www.woz.org/letters/general/78.html

Woz has recently taken an interest in laser pointers, and is accordingly very knowledgeable on the subject (he possesses, quite literally, "all the colors of the rainbow").

Wozniak often signs mail with "TV is Wakezone" or "OK a new size TV", which are anagrams of his name.

Woz drives a Toyota Prius and a Hummer. He says that the two vehicles cancel each other out on an environmental level.

See also

• Triumph of the Nerds - A documentary about the rise of the PC industry by Robert X. Cringely.
• Pirates of Silicon Valley - A movie based on the rise of Apple and Microsoft. Woz is portrayed by actor Joey Slotnick.

References

External links