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Because he is intelligent, wacky, and genuinely a good human being, the Woz is one of the few figures that many of us in the tech industry look up to and aspire

Because he is intelligent, wacky, and genuinely a good human being, the Woz is one of the few figures that many of us in the tech industry look up to and aspire to be like. I hope he sticks around for many more years to come.

iancmceachern 3y ago
Me too. For me it's because he didn't seem to lose, or trade, his soul. He just seems to stay true to the person he always was. So often people loose, or trade that.
jacquesm 3y ago
He's one of very few, most that make it big end up amplifying their negative sides, Woz came out amplifying his good sides. He's exactly what we need, but unfortunately the tech bros seek other kinds of role models. Let's hope he pulls through and in good health.
happytiger 3y ago
I’d throw a few others in there like Brewster Kahle. Recovery quickly Woz!
coderjames 3y ago
> the Woz is one of the few figures that many of us in the tech industry look up to and aspire to be like. Relatable. My Woz story is from junior high school (middle school) in the late 1990s. I was writing a report on him and read two different biographies that seemed to report conflicting information. So I emailed him asking what actually happened back at a childhood science fair. And he actually responded and recalled the history that knocked my report out of the park <3. That left a lasting impression on me that you don't have to be scared to reach out to "famous" people. They're people too and appreciate hearing from polite/civil fans.
- jetrink 3y ago
  That's wonderful. Do you happen to remember the true version of the science fair story?
- johnnyanmac 3y ago
  cool sentiment, but becoming increasingly harder to do. So many people an too many to not discount that some crazies will pop in. Few public/semi-public figures can just keep their contact info around freely. Even if it all is in good faith, they will just get so many mails about business inquiries, recruits, media reqesting interviews, academia, etc. Very hard for little Timmy to ask a quick question via email these days.
  - serf 3y ago
    emailing famous people or their handlers is kind of a hobby of mine. over about a hundred emails i've received about 30 replies. the surprising thing to me is that their level of 'fame' has little to do with whether or not they reply to me. I've received replies from some famously impressive people, and have been ignored by some real 'niche' ones. I have a suspicion that there is a bit of a bi-modal distribution between 'small enough to reply to fans' and 'so big that there is a reply crew on-staff', most of my emails that were ignored were "Famous but not that famous" types of folks that are in the middle between the two.
    - pfannkuchen 3y ago
      So for the really famous ones you think it wasn’t really the person who replied to you?
    - okr 3y ago
      A hobby? Sounds like stalking to me. :)
      - dzek69 3y ago
        stalking, because he had sent one e-mail to many people across some time? if he'd constantly sending one person dozes on messages, maybe demanding a response or something, that would be stalking
    - hombre_fatal 3y ago
      One of my hobbies as a preteen was to mail a hand written letter to famous people to ask for their autograph. I don’t remember what made me start doing it nor what my letters said but I have dozens of autographed pictures of famous people from Elton John to John Stamos just from asking.
kumarvvr 3y ago
I absolutely loved his 2 Dollar Bills story. Never have I ever not laughed out loud reading it, every time ! https://web.archive.org/web/20111122202554/http://archive.woz.org/letters/general/78.html https://web.archive.org/web/20111122202554/http://archive.wo...
- jacquesm 3y ago
  Thanks for that link. 'You only live once' :)

iancmceachern 3y ago

Me too. For me it's because he didn't seem to lose, or trade, his soul. He just seems to stay true to the person he always was. So often people loose, or trade that.

jacquesm 3y ago

He's one of very few, most that make it big end up amplifying their negative sides, Woz came out amplifying his good sides. He's exactly what we need, but unfortunately the tech bros seek other kinds of role models. Let's hope he pulls through and in good health.

happytiger 3y ago

I’d throw a few others in there like Brewster Kahle. Recovery quickly Woz!

coderjames 3y ago

> the Woz is one of the few figures that many of us in the tech industry look up to and aspire to be like. Relatable. My Woz story is from junior high school (middle school) in the late 1990s. I was writing a report on him and read two different biographies that seemed to report conflicting information. So I emailed him asking what actually happened back at a childhood science fair. And he actually responded and recalled the history that knocked my report out of the park <3. That left a lasting impression on me that you don't have to be scared to reach out to "famous" people. They're people too and appreciate hearing from polite/civil fans.

jetrink 3y ago
That's wonderful. Do you happen to remember the true version of the science fair story?
johnnyanmac 3y ago
cool sentiment, but becoming increasingly harder to do. So many people an too many to not discount that some crazies will pop in. Few public/semi-public figures can just keep their contact info around freely. Even if it all is in good faith, they will just get so many mails about business inquiries, recruits, media reqesting interviews, academia, etc. Very hard for little Timmy to ask a quick question via email these days.
- serf 3y ago
  emailing famous people or their handlers is kind of a hobby of mine. over about a hundred emails i've received about 30 replies. the surprising thing to me is that their level of 'fame' has little to do with whether or not they reply to me. I've received replies from some famously impressive people, and have been ignored by some real 'niche' ones. I have a suspicion that there is a bit of a bi-modal distribution between 'small enough to reply to fans' and 'so big that there is a reply crew on-staff', most of my emails that were ignored were "Famous but not that famous" types of folks that are in the middle between the two.
  - pfannkuchen 3y ago
    So for the really famous ones you think it wasn’t really the person who replied to you?
  - okr 3y ago
    A hobby? Sounds like stalking to me. :)
    - dzek69 3y ago
      stalking, because he had sent one e-mail to many people across some time? if he'd constantly sending one person dozes on messages, maybe demanding a response or something, that would be stalking
  - hombre_fatal 3y ago
    One of my hobbies as a preteen was to mail a hand written letter to famous people to ask for their autograph. I don’t remember what made me start doing it nor what my letters said but I have dozens of autographed pictures of famous people from Elton John to John Stamos just from asking.

kumarvvr 3y ago

I absolutely loved his 2 Dollar Bills story. Never have I ever not laughed out loud reading it, every time ! https://web.archive.org/web/20111122202554/http://archive.woz.org/letters/general/78.html https://web.archive.org/web/20111122202554/http://archive.wo...

jacquesm 3y ago
Thanks for that link. 'You only live once' :)