33 ms·

Celebrate Woz's 70th

393 points by salgernon 6y ago

saagarjha 6y ago
For the curious, his birthday is August 11th.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
russellbeattie 6y ago
I've always been amazed at Woz's annus mirabilis from 1976 to 1977. At the age of 26, he designed a commercial micro computer from scratch, which had sound, color output, an OS, Integer BASIC, all the peripherals, programming guide, and more. Think about this. At the beginning of 1976, Woz got hold of a 6502 chip for the first time. By March, he had the Apple I running. By April, he and Jobs (and briefly, Wayne) started Apple. In July, they started selling Apple I kits, and by August, Woz had completed a prototype of the Apple II. By April of 1977 (only one year later!!) they were at the West Coast Computer Faire with the full-fledged Apple II computer as we know it today. It continued in production in one form or another until 1993. This was a tour-de-force of focus, efficiency, innovation, hard work, and plain brilliance that is almost unbelievable today. Think about what you've accomplished in the past year, and compare. Woz deserves all the credit he gets.
- grugagag 6y ago
  Woz was the wiz
- coldcode 6y ago
  Woz was an amazing genius as a young man and turned into a lovable character when older, but really hasn't done anything besides that since. Which is OK, lots of people peak when young (most mathematicians), but still those accomplishments ended. Jobs was a horrible person for much of his life but turned Apple into the world's most successful company from a start in the grave (I know I was in the grave before he returned) and created technology that changed the world. One succeeded early and late (but not in the middle) and one succeeded early and enjoyed the success). Who leaves the bigger legacy? Jobs. Who is loved by all? Woz. Which is greater is not really fair to anyone.
Sam_Harris 6y ago
What a horrible website.
gamesbrainiac 6y ago
Woz is a good man.
- grugagag 6y ago
  I like Wozniak too and find him very inspiring but in a different way than Jobs - who was all about outwinning himself. Wozniak is a good soul type of guy, it wouldn’t even suit him to be in the same limelight as Jobs.
empressplay 6y ago
I was lucky enough to interview Woz about his development of the Disk II floppy disk system for the Apple II – it's quite a tale! https://paleotronic.com/2018/05/19/steve-wozniak-talks-disk/ https://paleotronic.com/2018/05/19/steve-wozniak-talks-disk/ He's a wonderful fellow to talk to...
- kristopolous 6y ago
  I was at a table alone in a room with him, we were both at some Ted Nelson event and we had gotten there early. I talked to him for about an hour and honestly had no idea it was him. He just came across as a jolly tech guy. Totally friendly and down to earth. There was crafts service there so when he got up to get something to drink, he brought back something for me, you know, just like some nice guy. It was only later when people were giving him such reverence and acted flustered around him asking for photographs that I was like "wait, is that ... Steve Wozniak?!"
lovehashbrowns 6y ago
There are some people I can admire for their success, some people I can admire for their generosity, some people I can admire for their passions, etc. etc. Woz, for me, is the person I can admire for all of those qualities at once. He's just a great person overall. I'm excited for this event! It sounds super fun.
ThinkBeat 6y ago
I will share my father's impression of Woz. He didn't work at Apple, but had a lot to do with them for a while in the early days. He thought that Woz was a true intuitive genius. One of the best he had ever met. He did in a short amount of time what would take a team of others a long time. He had such a creative mind about how things could be done differently, more efficiently more elegant. He was far away from being a businessman. My dad thought that was a sign of sanity. He got increasingly disillusioned with the financial aspect and seeing how it impacted other people at Apple (or did not) He decided to get out it. He had lots of money already. (He did). Dad thought that Woz would have preferred to give exciting solutions away and see what became of them. He followed his heart and has (I think) enjoyed his life a lot more than most who just keep chasing more and more of it. I am sure he was happy his Apple stock kept incrasing in value :)
- quickthrower2 6y ago
  Nice summary there. I think anyone who wins the lottery (or similar) would "enjoyed his life a lot more than most who just keep chasing more and more of it." So don't feel bad about chasing!
- swinglock 6y ago
  He left after a head injury. Was that truly Woz own pure and simple choice or was it influenced by his accident? Did it change his ability to perform like he did before and thought it wasn't worth it to continue? Did it change his personality? Brain damage aside, did coming close to death by his own hand changed his outlook on life? He never left Apple behind completely. Sure it ended up great but if not for the crash maybe what happened wasn't what he really wanted at the time.
almostdeadguy 6y ago
I went to elementary and middle school (Blossom Hill and Fisher Middle respectively) in Los Gatos, where Woz resides. I remember he donated the Mac lab at Fisher (and I think Blossom Hill too?). My memory of this is a little hazy, but I'm fairly sure Fisher had introductory programming classes that I took also, which I'm sure he had a part in. This would have been around 1999-ish when that was fairly uncommon. I wasn't a theater kid, but Woz was also well known for being a big sponsor of the theater program as well, and I remember kids in the theater program at Fisher often got cool tech gifts courtesy of Woz (like the Game Boy Color before it came out in the US). It's probably hard to attribute this to one thing growing up in Silicon Valley in the 90s, but I consider Woz a big part of why I'm a software engineer today. And as an adult, he's one of the engineers who I most admire both professionally and personally as a kind, curious, and generous person.
- flashno 6y ago
  woo lg. I had no idea that mac lab was donated by woz
- forgotmysn 6y ago
  we used to go trick or treating up in monte sereno where he lives, and for a couple years he gave away ipod nano's instead of candy lol
  - niczem 6y ago
    ... the first time is always free ;)
tus88 6y ago
Happy Birthday Woz.
andrewstuart 6y ago
I met Woz when he came to Melbourne and he signed two Apple 2 computers for me.
- phist_mcgee 6y ago
  Gotta be worth something now!
  - andrewstuart 6y ago
    I think Apple 2 computers aren't cheap anyway these days.
- fsagx 6y ago
  I saw Woz at the Delta Sky Club in Madrid and gave him what was probably a too enthusiastic "Hello!" He said "hi" while trying really hard not to look at me. I realized then that it must be exhausting to have so many people want to talk to you. It ain't easy being Woz.
  - abhgh 6y ago
    I had seen Woz at the Computer History Museum at Mountain View. Much as I wanted to meet him and take a picture with him, I saw him politely turn down a woman who had walked up to him with what I'd assume was a similar request. It must be tiring, like you mention. I decided not to bother him.
- suyash 6y ago
  I got my MBP signed by Woz almost 10 years ago, remember there was a conference in San Jose where everyone was lining up to take a picture with him, I just asked him for his autograph on my MacBook Pro. It's very old now but I kept it mostly because of the signature, will be posting a picture during the Woz birthday challenge :)
- incanus77 6y ago
  I got him to sign my first-gen Intel MacBook Pro at a booksigning in DC in about 2006. I know that doesn't really even make sense, but he was glad to do so. Still have it.
xsmasher 6y ago
The video was really good; Looks like the party will be streamed Tuesday 5pm pacific.
- pimlottc 6y ago
  It's surprisingly moving, quite lovely. Raises my expectations that the party will really be something.
- DiffProg 6y ago
  Definitely above my expectations. What a great man.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
jimbokun 6y ago
It's always interesting to think about who has had the more successful, fulfilling life between Woz and Jobs. Jobs had far more financial success, and was involved in the release of far more products, was far more famous than Woz, but died young and had...complicated relationships with everyone in his life. Woz cashed out when he had enough to enjoy doing whatever he wanted for the rest of his life, organized music festivals, taught kids about computers and technology, played with cool gadgets, seems to be beloved by everyone who ever knew him, and is still going strong at 70.
- readhn 6y ago
  > It's always interesting to think about who has had the more successful, fulfilling life between Woz and Jobs. “You smell like a toilet.” This is what Steve Jobs told his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs while on his deathbed, she wrote in her new shocking tell-all memoir about her bumpy relationship with her father. “I was afraid of him and, at the same time, I felt a quaking, electric love,” she wrote. In her memoir, titled “Small Fry”, Brennan-Jobs says that a lot of her memories with her father were not a typical father-daughter relationship. She talks of him denying paternity despite a DNA match, not sending financial help to her and her mother, and saying mean things to her in the little times that he spent time with her.
  - stormdennis 6y ago
    It's like he enjoyed inflicting unhappiness on others. Is sadistic the correct name for that or perhaps psychopath?
    - celim307 6y ago
      He just seems like someone who was incapable of enjoying anything he couldn’t perfect, including people. I wonder how he viewed his daughter, someone directly from his own matter but so alien to himself.
      - stormdennis 6y ago
ztratar 6y ago
It's always been clear that Woz's integrity is off the charts. Just a good human all around, wanting to build things for fun and help people because that's what people with power do. A true icon who encompasses many of the things that make America great, and serves as a compass for us all to be a little better. Let's get wozzy.
- lquist 6y ago
  Hmm..is that true? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woz-u-steve-wozniak-former-students-employees-raise-concerns/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woz-u-steve-wozniak-former-stud...
  - jentist_retol 6y ago
    Considering his fame, brand recognition, and interests in education, it's pretty plausible to me that he got sort of "scammed" by the people who proposed woz u to him. If you read up on them, they're unsavory for sure. It's a bad mark, for sure, but basically the only bad mark on an otherwise impeccable record. I feel like you certainly get one. So no, I don't think he was trying to scam people. He certainly didn't seem happy about the situation or try to smooth it over.
  - ztratar 6y ago
    Agreed that Woz U has been quite the failure. That being said, what online education institution hasn't had a huge amount of blowback, either due to poor instruction or lying about results? Not saying two wrongs make a right. Just saying it's all quite predatory and built on promises of tomorrow, most of which will go unfulfilled.
mistrial9 6y ago
funhouse 1989 -- Happy Birthday Woz !
Arjuna 6y ago
Anytime Woz comes up, I can't help but think of this sentence that he wrote, way back on Google+, sometime in 2013, after the release of the Jobs film: "And when Jobs (in the movie, but really a board does this) denied stock to the early garage team (some not even shown) I'm surprised that they chose not to show me giving about $10M of my own stock to them because it was the right thing. And $10M was a lot in that time."
- jagged-chisel 6y ago
  I had the same disappointment when I watched. I thought it would have been a splendid bit of drama ...
  - uniqueid 6y ago
    "Pirates of Silicon Valley" is the only Apple docu-drama that actually cared about the docu- part. https://youtu.be/L4zE7WGfnuw https://youtu.be/L4zE7WGfnuw
    - baryphonic 6y ago
      Such a good movie. I have a copy on my machine, and I'm sometimes sad that it's a 4x3 analog cable TV broadcast before HD. On the other hand, the fact that it's so good despite the constraints speaks to how well made it was.
      - LeonM 6y ago
        The Pirates of Silicon valley DVD was the first item I've ever bought on Amazon. This was circa 2001, I was 15 and living in Europe. Ordering something from the US over the internet and having it delivered 2 weeks later was very exciting back then. I also had to 'hack' my DVD player to circumvent the region lock. Anyway, my point being is: there is a 572p 16:9 version available on DVD.
        BuildTheRobots 6y ago
fermienrico 6y ago
We need more love and compassion in the world today than ever before. Focus on the common threads and be good humans like Woz.
ridiculous_fish 6y ago
Woz's Twitter is full of locations, occasionally exotic but often mundane, like a local dog park or restaurant. I have always wondered if he posts in hope that people will meet him there, and talk to him. Has anyone done so, have some stories to share?
- mark_mart 6y ago
  >> I have always wondered if he posts in hope that people will meet him there, and talk to him I don't think that's the case. If he wants to meet and talk to people, he can just organize an event and thousands would apply.
  - dt3ft 6y ago
    Not quite the same thing. Thousands vs spontaneous few.
- viralpoetry 6y ago
  When I was university student (~ 2012), Woz was traveling Europe visiting Macdonald's (:D) in lots of countries including Slovakia. Shared it on the internet, probably Twitter. One of my classmates tracked him and successfully asked for a photo with him. nice guy
GoodJokes 6y ago
Woz is still a rich capitalist profiting off the backs of poor workers. He is goofy and jolly though so he gets a pass I guess and should not be held accountable for his ill gotten fortune.
mindfulhack 6y ago
In the video, the words 'Go your own way' are inspiring alone. To the little child inside me. I just donated to that charity.
LeonM 6y ago
I can highly recommend Woz's biography iWoz [0]. Released in 2006, so before Jobs died. It's a fun read of the story of a young Woz that most off all just wanted to tinker with computers. I recognized a lot of my own youth in that story. Fun times. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWoz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWoz
- Insanity 6y ago
  I wanted to like it but it was hard for me to get into. The style of writing didn't particularly appeal to me unfortunately. :(
  - auslegung 6y ago
    I found a lot of chapters seemingly targeting a young audience, then other chapters had a decent amount of technical stuff and seemed targeted at very knowledgeable audience. I think it struggled in that regard. But I still loved it and will reread it many times :)
cateye 6y ago
I really hope he gets a lot more mainstream recognition and appreciation for what he has done for Apple. It would be nice to see that who laughs last laughs best. I don't like to hear phrases like: Engineers are important, but in the end it's all about marketing, see Jobs... People should realize that there is nothing to market if there is not someone who solves complex technical problems.
- SwiftyBug 6y ago
  Just as much as solved technical problems alone may go unused if they are not properly marketed. There's not one more important than the other.
deanclatworthy 6y ago
Slight off-topic tangent: Anybody able to identify all of the different covers of "Go your own way" in that video? I feel like I can hear Dolores (of Cranberries fame) even singing a version I'd not heard before. EDIT: Found at least that one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LL7CLRt-es https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LL7CLRt-es
jccc 6y ago
"Andy Herzfelt"?
stevievee 6y ago
Good to see https://signedbywoz.com/ https://signedbywoz.com/ is still up and running. I've had the signed Apple II schematic hanging in my office for over five years and I unexpectedly find it to be a constant source of inspiration.
nojvek 6y ago
Probably over-generalizing here and may get downvoted. I am always suprised how much effort rich people put into birthdays. I remember growing up that birthdays weren't really a thing when we were poor, but as we became more middle class, we celebrated with cakes and eventually decorations came in. I once got invited to a birthday party at a special venue and thought, wow! this is grander than a wedding. The inverse was also true, if someone did not celebrate their birthday they felt so sad, like no one cared about them and made a big deal about it. On the other side we were brought up with "well, no one cares about you other than your family, so be nice to each other and don't expect much from life, you get what you sow".

393 points by salgernon 6y ago

saagarjha 6y ago

For the curious, his birthday is August 11th.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

russellbeattie 6y ago

I've always been amazed at Woz's annus mirabilis from 1976 to 1977. At the age of 26, he designed a commercial micro computer from scratch, which had sound, color output, an OS, Integer BASIC, all the peripherals, programming guide, and more. Think about this. At the beginning of 1976, Woz got hold of a 6502 chip for the first time. By March, he had the Apple I running. By April, he and Jobs (and briefly, Wayne) started Apple. In July, they started selling Apple I kits, and by August, Woz had completed a prototype of the Apple II. By April of 1977 (only one year later!!) they were at the West Coast Computer Faire with the full-fledged Apple II computer as we know it today. It continued in production in one form or another until 1993. This was a tour-de-force of focus, efficiency, innovation, hard work, and plain brilliance that is almost unbelievable today. Think about what you've accomplished in the past year, and compare. Woz deserves all the credit he gets.

grugagag 6y ago
Woz was the wiz
coldcode 6y ago
Woz was an amazing genius as a young man and turned into a lovable character when older, but really hasn't done anything besides that since. Which is OK, lots of people peak when young (most mathematicians), but still those accomplishments ended. Jobs was a horrible person for much of his life but turned Apple into the world's most successful company from a start in the grave (I know I was in the grave before he returned) and created technology that changed the world. One succeeded early and late (but not in the middle) and one succeeded early and enjoyed the success). Who leaves the bigger legacy? Jobs. Who is loved by all? Woz. Which is greater is not really fair to anyone.

Sam_Harris 6y ago

What a horrible website.

gamesbrainiac 6y ago

Woz is a good man.

grugagag 6y ago
I like Wozniak too and find him very inspiring but in a different way than Jobs - who was all about outwinning himself. Wozniak is a good soul type of guy, it wouldn’t even suit him to be in the same limelight as Jobs.

empressplay 6y ago

I was lucky enough to interview Woz about his development of the Disk II floppy disk system for the Apple II – it's quite a tale! https://paleotronic.com/2018/05/19/steve-wozniak-talks-disk/ https://paleotronic.com/2018/05/19/steve-wozniak-talks-disk/ He's a wonderful fellow to talk to...

kristopolous 6y ago
I was at a table alone in a room with him, we were both at some Ted Nelson event and we had gotten there early. I talked to him for about an hour and honestly had no idea it was him. He just came across as a jolly tech guy. Totally friendly and down to earth. There was crafts service there so when he got up to get something to drink, he brought back something for me, you know, just like some nice guy. It was only later when people were giving him such reverence and acted flustered around him asking for photographs that I was like "wait, is that ... Steve Wozniak?!"

lovehashbrowns 6y ago

There are some people I can admire for their success, some people I can admire for their generosity, some people I can admire for their passions, etc. etc. Woz, for me, is the person I can admire for all of those qualities at once. He's just a great person overall. I'm excited for this event! It sounds super fun.

ThinkBeat 6y ago

I will share my father's impression of Woz. He didn't work at Apple, but had a lot to do with them for a while in the early days. He thought that Woz was a true intuitive genius. One of the best he had ever met. He did in a short amount of time what would take a team of others a long time. He had such a creative mind about how things could be done differently, more efficiently more elegant. He was far away from being a businessman. My dad thought that was a sign of sanity. He got increasingly disillusioned with the financial aspect and seeing how it impacted other people at Apple (or did not) He decided to get out it. He had lots of money already. (He did). Dad thought that Woz would have preferred to give exciting solutions away and see what became of them. He followed his heart and has (I think) enjoyed his life a lot more than most who just keep chasing more and more of it. I am sure he was happy his Apple stock kept incrasing in value :)

quickthrower2 6y ago
Nice summary there. I think anyone who wins the lottery (or similar) would "enjoyed his life a lot more than most who just keep chasing more and more of it." So don't feel bad about chasing!
swinglock 6y ago
He left after a head injury. Was that truly Woz own pure and simple choice or was it influenced by his accident? Did it change his ability to perform like he did before and thought it wasn't worth it to continue? Did it change his personality? Brain damage aside, did coming close to death by his own hand changed his outlook on life? He never left Apple behind completely. Sure it ended up great but if not for the crash maybe what happened wasn't what he really wanted at the time.

almostdeadguy 6y ago

I went to elementary and middle school (Blossom Hill and Fisher Middle respectively) in Los Gatos, where Woz resides. I remember he donated the Mac lab at Fisher (and I think Blossom Hill too?). My memory of this is a little hazy, but I'm fairly sure Fisher had introductory programming classes that I took also, which I'm sure he had a part in. This would have been around 1999-ish when that was fairly uncommon. I wasn't a theater kid, but Woz was also well known for being a big sponsor of the theater program as well, and I remember kids in the theater program at Fisher often got cool tech gifts courtesy of Woz (like the Game Boy Color before it came out in the US). It's probably hard to attribute this to one thing growing up in Silicon Valley in the 90s, but I consider Woz a big part of why I'm a software engineer today. And as an adult, he's one of the engineers who I most admire both professionally and personally as a kind, curious, and generous person.

flashno 6y ago
woo lg. I had no idea that mac lab was donated by woz
forgotmysn 6y ago
we used to go trick or treating up in monte sereno where he lives, and for a couple years he gave away ipod nano's instead of candy lol
- niczem 6y ago
  ... the first time is always free ;)

tus88 6y ago

Happy Birthday Woz.

andrewstuart 6y ago

I met Woz when he came to Melbourne and he signed two Apple 2 computers for me.

phist_mcgee 6y ago
Gotta be worth something now!
- andrewstuart 6y ago
  I think Apple 2 computers aren't cheap anyway these days.
fsagx 6y ago
I saw Woz at the Delta Sky Club in Madrid and gave him what was probably a too enthusiastic "Hello!" He said "hi" while trying really hard not to look at me. I realized then that it must be exhausting to have so many people want to talk to you. It ain't easy being Woz.
- abhgh 6y ago
  I had seen Woz at the Computer History Museum at Mountain View. Much as I wanted to meet him and take a picture with him, I saw him politely turn down a woman who had walked up to him with what I'd assume was a similar request. It must be tiring, like you mention. I decided not to bother him.
suyash 6y ago
I got my MBP signed by Woz almost 10 years ago, remember there was a conference in San Jose where everyone was lining up to take a picture with him, I just asked him for his autograph on my MacBook Pro. It's very old now but I kept it mostly because of the signature, will be posting a picture during the Woz birthday challenge :)
incanus77 6y ago
I got him to sign my first-gen Intel MacBook Pro at a booksigning in DC in about 2006. I know that doesn't really even make sense, but he was glad to do so. Still have it.

xsmasher 6y ago

The video was really good; Looks like the party will be streamed Tuesday 5pm pacific.

pimlottc 6y ago
It's surprisingly moving, quite lovely. Raises my expectations that the party will really be something.
DiffProg 6y ago
Definitely above my expectations. What a great man.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

jimbokun 6y ago

It's always interesting to think about who has had the more successful, fulfilling life between Woz and Jobs. Jobs had far more financial success, and was involved in the release of far more products, was far more famous than Woz, but died young and had...complicated relationships with everyone in his life. Woz cashed out when he had enough to enjoy doing whatever he wanted for the rest of his life, organized music festivals, taught kids about computers and technology, played with cool gadgets, seems to be beloved by everyone who ever knew him, and is still going strong at 70.

readhn 6y ago
> It's always interesting to think about who has had the more successful, fulfilling life between Woz and Jobs. “You smell like a toilet.” This is what Steve Jobs told his daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs while on his deathbed, she wrote in her new shocking tell-all memoir about her bumpy relationship with her father. “I was afraid of him and, at the same time, I felt a quaking, electric love,” she wrote. In her memoir, titled “Small Fry”, Brennan-Jobs says that a lot of her memories with her father were not a typical father-daughter relationship. She talks of him denying paternity despite a DNA match, not sending financial help to her and her mother, and saying mean things to her in the little times that he spent time with her.
- stormdennis 6y ago
  It's like he enjoyed inflicting unhappiness on others. Is sadistic the correct name for that or perhaps psychopath?
  - celim307 6y ago
    He just seems like someone who was incapable of enjoying anything he couldn’t perfect, including people. I wonder how he viewed his daughter, someone directly from his own matter but so alien to himself.
    - stormdennis 6y ago

ztratar 6y ago

It's always been clear that Woz's integrity is off the charts. Just a good human all around, wanting to build things for fun and help people because that's what people with power do. A true icon who encompasses many of the things that make America great, and serves as a compass for us all to be a little better. Let's get wozzy.

lquist 6y ago
Hmm..is that true? https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woz-u-steve-wozniak-former-students-employees-raise-concerns/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woz-u-steve-wozniak-former-stud...
- jentist_retol 6y ago
  Considering his fame, brand recognition, and interests in education, it's pretty plausible to me that he got sort of "scammed" by the people who proposed woz u to him. If you read up on them, they're unsavory for sure. It's a bad mark, for sure, but basically the only bad mark on an otherwise impeccable record. I feel like you certainly get one. So no, I don't think he was trying to scam people. He certainly didn't seem happy about the situation or try to smooth it over.
- ztratar 6y ago
  Agreed that Woz U has been quite the failure. That being said, what online education institution hasn't had a huge amount of blowback, either due to poor instruction or lying about results? Not saying two wrongs make a right. Just saying it's all quite predatory and built on promises of tomorrow, most of which will go unfulfilled.

mistrial9 6y ago

funhouse 1989 -- Happy Birthday Woz !

Arjuna 6y ago

Anytime Woz comes up, I can't help but think of this sentence that he wrote, way back on Google+, sometime in 2013, after the release of the Jobs film: "And when Jobs (in the movie, but really a board does this) denied stock to the early garage team (some not even shown) I'm surprised that they chose not to show me giving about $10M of my own stock to them because it was the right thing. And $10M was a lot in that time."

jagged-chisel 6y ago
I had the same disappointment when I watched. I thought it would have been a splendid bit of drama ...
- uniqueid 6y ago
  "Pirates of Silicon Valley" is the only Apple docu-drama that actually cared about the docu- part. https://youtu.be/L4zE7WGfnuw https://youtu.be/L4zE7WGfnuw
  - baryphonic 6y ago
    Such a good movie. I have a copy on my machine, and I'm sometimes sad that it's a 4x3 analog cable TV broadcast before HD. On the other hand, the fact that it's so good despite the constraints speaks to how well made it was.
    - LeonM 6y ago
      The Pirates of Silicon valley DVD was the first item I've ever bought on Amazon. This was circa 2001, I was 15 and living in Europe. Ordering something from the US over the internet and having it delivered 2 weeks later was very exciting back then. I also had to 'hack' my DVD player to circumvent the region lock. Anyway, my point being is: there is a 572p 16:9 version available on DVD.
      - BuildTheRobots 6y ago

fermienrico 6y ago

We need more love and compassion in the world today than ever before. Focus on the common threads and be good humans like Woz.

ridiculous_fish 6y ago

Woz's Twitter is full of locations, occasionally exotic but often mundane, like a local dog park or restaurant. I have always wondered if he posts in hope that people will meet him there, and talk to him. Has anyone done so, have some stories to share?

mark_mart 6y ago
>> I have always wondered if he posts in hope that people will meet him there, and talk to him I don't think that's the case. If he wants to meet and talk to people, he can just organize an event and thousands would apply.
- dt3ft 6y ago
  Not quite the same thing. Thousands vs spontaneous few.
viralpoetry 6y ago
When I was university student (~ 2012), Woz was traveling Europe visiting Macdonald's (:D) in lots of countries including Slovakia. Shared it on the internet, probably Twitter. One of my classmates tracked him and successfully asked for a photo with him. nice guy

GoodJokes 6y ago

Woz is still a rich capitalist profiting off the backs of poor workers. He is goofy and jolly though so he gets a pass I guess and should not be held accountable for his ill gotten fortune.

mindfulhack 6y ago

In the video, the words 'Go your own way' are inspiring alone. To the little child inside me. I just donated to that charity.

LeonM 6y ago

I can highly recommend Woz's biography iWoz [0]. Released in 2006, so before Jobs died. It's a fun read of the story of a young Woz that most off all just wanted to tinker with computers. I recognized a lot of my own youth in that story. Fun times. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWoz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IWoz

Insanity 6y ago
I wanted to like it but it was hard for me to get into. The style of writing didn't particularly appeal to me unfortunately. :(
- auslegung 6y ago
  I found a lot of chapters seemingly targeting a young audience, then other chapters had a decent amount of technical stuff and seemed targeted at very knowledgeable audience. I think it struggled in that regard. But I still loved it and will reread it many times :)

cateye 6y ago

I really hope he gets a lot more mainstream recognition and appreciation for what he has done for Apple. It would be nice to see that who laughs last laughs best. I don't like to hear phrases like: Engineers are important, but in the end it's all about marketing, see Jobs... People should realize that there is nothing to market if there is not someone who solves complex technical problems.

SwiftyBug 6y ago
Just as much as solved technical problems alone may go unused if they are not properly marketed. There's not one more important than the other.

deanclatworthy 6y ago

Slight off-topic tangent: Anybody able to identify all of the different covers of "Go your own way" in that video? I feel like I can hear Dolores (of Cranberries fame) even singing a version I'd not heard before. EDIT: Found at least that one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LL7CLRt-es https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LL7CLRt-es

jccc 6y ago

"Andy Herzfelt"?

stevievee 6y ago

Good to see https://signedbywoz.com/ https://signedbywoz.com/ is still up and running. I've had the signed Apple II schematic hanging in my office for over five years and I unexpectedly find it to be a constant source of inspiration.

nojvek 6y ago

Probably over-generalizing here and may get downvoted. I am always suprised how much effort rich people put into birthdays. I remember growing up that birthdays weren't really a thing when we were poor, but as we became more middle class, we celebrated with cakes and eventually decorations came in. I once got invited to a birthday party at a special venue and thought, wow! this is grander than a wedding. The inverse was also true, if someone did not celebrate their birthday they felt so sad, like no one cared about them and made a big deal about it. On the other side we were brought up with "well, no one cares about you other than your family, so be nice to each other and don't expect much from life, you get what you sow".