Who is Steve Wozniak: the founder of Apple Corporation, who considers himself Ukrainian. "Now the world will change"

brilliant American engineer, co-founded Apple with Steve Jobs.

Stephen Wozniak ( floor. Stephen Gary Wozniak; August 11, 1950, San Jose, pc. California), American computer developer and businessman, co-founder of the company Apple. Considered one of the fathers of the personal computer revolution. His inventions greatly contributed to the personal computer revolution in the 70s. Wozniak founded Apple Computer (now Apple inc.) with Steven Jobs in 1976. In the mid-70s, he created the Apple I and Apple II computers. The Apple II became incredibly popular and eventually became the best-selling personal computer in the 70s and early 80s.

Stephen had several aliases, such as: " The Woz», « Wizard of Woz" And " iWoz» ( pun; iPod pun). « WoZ» ( short for "Wheels of Zeus") is also the name of the company that Stephen founded. He also created the initial prototype of the classical Breakout games for Atari, in 4 days. He is known for his introverted personality and finds his popularity annoying. IN Apple Computer he was also called " Another Steve" The more famous Steve is called Steve Jobs(Steven Jobs), co-founder and CEO Apple director inc. He was also called "Wiz" to differentiate between Jobs and Wozniak, because they had similar names. Only Jobs was called Steven, and Stephen Wozniak.

Dawn of Apple

Since I was ten years old, I wanted to become an engineer like my father. If for some reason it didn’t work out, I would become a school teacher. I was inspired by books that showed me that technical specialists- these are people who give others the opportunity to enjoy the results of technological progress, in fact, the saviors of the world! And already from childhood I began to work on my first inventions, testing the first developments for weeks. This is a good practice - a person from a young age learns to set goals for himself, spare no time and effort to achieve them, and remember all the time - no matter how many days, months or even years it takes to implement the project, you need to continue to move towards the goal and not give up.

I worked on the computer on weekends - alone. Solitude gave me freedom of thought, time to think through various decisions and find the best path. I didn’t need to convince anyone that this particular path was the most correct. At the same time, I did not perceive creating a computer as work. I thought that the job of an engineer was to design radio systems, television devices, navigation systems, but certainly not computers.

It took me a very long time to develop a technically perfect product, and to learn how to create computer technology there was nowhere at that time. Someone will tell me where I see an interesting article - this gave food to my inspiration. But there was no special literature, and you had to figure everything out on your own, trying this or that solution until the effect was achieved.

I designed computers on paper. I didn’t have the money to create prototypes or models. I had to bring every drawing to perfection; I could only implement every idea with an ideal solution that would not require rework. In addition, minimalism became my rule: the fewer parts in the computer, the better. I worked solely for myself, without receiving any praise or recognition. The only reward was in my head - I knew that I was doing something that I liked.

The most effective engines of progress in any project are a passionate desire to achieve a goal and a lack of money. Much of my passion for making computer hardware stemmed from my own interests and the same lack of money. I couldn't go out and buy something—I had to develop the same product, only more effective. The presence, and especially the excess of money, only harms. Now that Apple, the company we founded with Steve Jobs, has achieved such success and special people are engaged in increasing our wealth, it is sometimes even difficult for me to remind myself who I really am.

Wage labor

During my third year of college, I got a job at Hewlett-Packard. The innovators of my generation—Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison—often started out without much education. But I believed in higher education, so I took a year off after my third year to go to HP and earn money. True, the “academic” course was delayed, and I received my higher education several years ago. At that time, Apple and my name were already known, so I finished my studies under the fictitious name Rocky Raccoon (Raccoon) Clark (a combination of my dog’s name and my wife’s maiden name). So I am the holder of a college degree from Berkeley in the name of Rocky Raccoon Clark.

I began my collaboration with Hewlett-Packard by working on the first keyboard calculator, which made it possible to do without the slide rule that was common at that time. It was a fantastic device and I immediately loved my job. By the way, when you get a chance to do what you like most in the world, do not lose it under any circumstances. Two years later, our calculators had great computing power and could work with what mathematicians and computer scientists know as inverse parenthesisless notation, that is, make calculations in accordance with the steps of the operations performed. For example, you can type “5 +2 x 3” into a calculator and the machine will respond with “11” rather than “21.” Texas Instruments calculators required parentheses to indicate the order of operations. When we at Hewlett-Packard began analyzing Texas Instruments' experience, we entered a long expression into their calculator that contained six or seven parentheses. I thought, “God, I would never have decided!” We need to do something about this! “I came up with the idea that the expression should enter the computing unit written from left to right - and everything worked out! I don’t know why, but I was the only one who was able to discard stereotypes, look at the problem in a new way and figure out how to solve it.

In parallel with my work at Hewlett-Packard, I did many other projects in my free time - not for money, but simply out of interest. So I developed a computer game - long before there was software at all. This game was executed in hardware, not software, by transmitting signals across chips. After this and several other developments of mine, many companies began to lure me away. But I invariably refused them, adding that I would like to work at Hewlett-Packard all my life. Hewlett-Packard is a company of engineers, I want to be an engineer all my life, I said. I didn't want to get involved with management, politics, or finished products, didn't want to tell others what to do - just wanted to develop hardware and software. At Hewlett-Packard, engineers were given the honor and respect worthy of a CEO. In addition, the company allowed the use of its components for private development, if approved by the supervisor. Management believed that developing their own solutions outside of work hours sharpened the intelligence and creativity of employees and should therefore be encouraged.

“Let's sell this!”

Large electronics companies, one after another, declared that they were not interested in computers. Even Hewlett-Packard refused to develop them, although I came to my favorite company and proposed it. But I knew that a good computer must be a device that allows you to enter data into memory and write a program, and that microprocessors are the future. I decided for myself that I must have a computer, even if I have nothing to pay for the house. As usual, I didn't buy it but had to make it myself. From Hewlett-Packard components, I assembled a real terminal that could be connected to Arpanet, the prototype of the Internet. At that time, there were only about eight such terminals in different universities in the country, and they were incredibly expensive. I took my TV as a monitor - anyway, I didn’t have the money to pay to watch the broadcasts. All that remained was to invent a device that would allow letters and other symbols to be displayed on the screen in order to exchange information directly with interlocutors. I didn't want to equip my computer with a lot of switches and wires leading from the system unit to the monitor. And I came up with a keyboard based on an idea embodied in a calculator that I developed for Hewlett-Packard. I wrote special program, which translated the characters entered by the user into the computer’s memory, and they were displayed on the screen. I chose BASIC, developed by Bill Gates, as my programming language because I decided that a lot of computer games could be written in it. Steve Jobs saw this and said: “Let's sell this!”

We organized the first one in the USA computer Club Homebrew Computer Club, which united development enthusiasts in the field computer technology. We thought how convenient it would be for these specialists to simply connect a personal computer keyboard instead of hundreds of wires, and we sold them keyboards whose cost was $20 for $40. Steve Jobs and I sold the most expensive thing we had: me, my calculator, he - a Volkswagen minivan - and founded their own company.

"Now the world will change"

We started from absolute zero, we had nothing - no money, no property. Just ideas and a desire to see how it will all work, how this
bring it to life. Usually major innovations, new directions of development, new technologies begin with one exceptional technical idea or a detail executed absolutely flawlessly. But enthusiasm alone is not enough to sell this idea; resources are needed to tell many people about it and convince people of its attractiveness and usefulness; marketing is needed to understand how to present this invention. In our case, we had to convince people that they needed a computer at home. Computers at that time were perceived as devices for the defense industry and large companies. These were monsters that occupied huge rooms, with many strange blinking lights and switches. We had to show future consumers through visual advertising how they would use the computer, how it would fit into their lives, how it would change their lives. Sometimes success also takes time. You may create a great product that is ahead of its time, and then it may take twenty years before people appreciate it and want to buy it. Or perhaps you will be able to implement your idea only ten years after its appearance, since that is when the environment for its application will arise.

One fine day, Steve Jobs called and said that he had received an order for the production of one hundred Apple I computers for $50 thousand! This was double my annual income - a shocking amount! I went to all Hewlett-Packard departments and signed permission to carry out this order everywhere, because I did not want to act unethically. I worked on the project day and night, and sometimes I was on the verge of sleep and wakefulness. best solutions. It was in this most creative state that I came up with the idea that games should be in color! I encoded the colors in binary code - and the Apple II already reproduced color graphics in high resolution. I wrote my first game in BASIC with hundreds of color variations - in just half an hour. Through hardware I would create it for the rest of my life! It amazed me. I told Steve Jobs, “Now that games have become software, the world will change.”

The order was waiting for us, but we also needed money to produce thousands of computers, and we went to venture capitalists. Then we were very inexperienced in business and when asked by an investor about the market size for our models, we answered: “A million copies.” “Why a million?” “Well, there are now a million users of shortwave communications, and our computers are replacing such radio communications.” But we still received the money. Now we had a full-fledged company. But here I was in for an unpleasant surprise: I was told that I had to quit my job at Hewlett-Packard! Me, who wanted to be an engineer all my life and only worked on computers at night! I stated that I don't want to lead own business and manage the company, I just want to do development. Steve Jobs gathered all my friends and relatives, and they all persuaded me: “Agree, this is a great chance, you will have a lot of money!” But I only agreed when they told me: “You don’t have to run the company. Stay an engineer - only at Apple."

Steve Wozniak's recipe for success

You are looking for great developers who can work quickly and think freely, without stereotypes. Engineers earn much less than managers, but to me engineers are the most important people in the company because they are the ones who develop new products. They must love their job and have strong self-motivation.

You should do a lot of testing to make sure that your product is simple and easy to use for the end user. To test the graphical user interface of our Lisa model, we invited people from a variety of humanitarian professions who were not familiar with the principles of computers, designers, teachers, and psychologists. This was not the first usability testing.

You should use an open architecture. This way you will allow many people to work on your product, improve and expand its capabilities. You create a whole community of people working with you. The Apple II was very open. Despite the large number of installed slots for various devices and multifunctional programs, each user could improve his computer if he felt that he was missing something.

You should strive for simplicity, down to the minimum components needed to make your product work. Let's say you are planning to build a house and you have an architectural design and building materials. If you have a good understanding of materials, you will be much better at planning the house itself without accumulating unnecessary things. I apply the same approach to computers. If you know the architecture of the machine well, the number of parts in it can be halved. For me it was akin to art. I constantly improved first the drawings, then the models. Apple computers were huge machines, each of which had to be designed by a whole team of developers. Today, for example, at Microsoft, even hundreds of specialists can work on one system. But between these periods there was a time when one person could easily develop an entire computer model.

People should always be more important to you than technology. Users should be comfortable and comfortable with your product. Look at today's Japanese appliances - they have a lot of different buttons, each of which is responsible for a function. And look at the German ones - they are simple and understandable, because they are designed for people, and not for the sake of technology. Any product must have balance functionality and common sense. If you add a feature, think about it; you cannot at the same time abandon some of the former ones that are no longer relevant. Naturally, your product must do everything you claim and be reliable. At the same time, it is important to find that small difference that will make your work unique and desirable. To do this, it’s worth investing a little emotion into product development. This is what happened with the iPod. It's almost identical in function and purpose to the MP3 players everyone else makes, but the iPod is a symbol and the other is just a device. And finally, do not write clear plans that would limit the imagination of your developers - outline only the main milestones of the project.

In 1980, the Apple II went public and made Jobs and Wozniak millionaires.

For years, the Apple II remained Apple's main source of revenue and ensured the company's survival as its management took on much less profitable projects such as the ill-fated Apple III and the short-lived Lisa. Thanks to the robust earnings from the Apple II, the company was able to develop the Macintosh, bring it to market, and make it its core technology—eventually supplanting the computer that paid for it all. In this sense, Wozniak can be considered the godfather of "Mac"

In February 1981, Steve Wozniak crashed his Beach Bonanza while taking off from Santa Cruz Air Park. As a result, he received retrograde amnesia and temporary anterograde amnesia. He had no memory of what happened and did not know that he had been in a plane crash. He also had no memory of his time in the hospital or the things he did after he was discharged. He was doing ordinary things, but did not remember them. Woz began to piece together information from different people. He asked his girlfriend, Candy Clark (formerly of Apple), that he had not been in any accident. When she told him about the incident, his short-term memory returned. In fact, Woz and Candy were engaged, they ordered their wedding rings in San Diego and flew there to get them. Wozniak also thanks computer games on the Apple II for his recovery from amnesia.

Stephen did not return to Apple after the plane crash. Instead, he married Candy Clark (he called her "Superwoman"), perhaps for her achievements in Olympic kayaking in 1976) and returned to UC Berkeley under the name Rocky Clark (Rocky was his name). dog, and Clark was his wife's maiden name, where he received his degree in 1986. In 1983, he decided to return to the Apple development team and needed a position as an engineer and a driving force for the company.

In 1982 and 1983, Wozniak sponsored two national rock festivals, The US Festival, which were dedicated to developing technologies and the commonwealth of music, computers, television and people. They were a combination of a technology exhibition and a rock festival. Such rock legends as Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, Judas Priest, Scorpions, Van Halen, U2 and others took part in the festivals.

Woz and Candy divorced in 1987. At that time they had three children, two boys and a girl. Later, during a high school reunion, he rekindled his relationship with Suzanne Mulkern, a former cheerleader. They married in 1990 and divorced in 2000.

Careers outside of Apple

12 years after founding the company, on February 6, 1987, Wozniak left Apple again, this time for good. Despite this, he is still listed as an employee there and even receives a salary, and he also retains a block of shares. Wozniak then founded a new company, CL9, which developed remote controls remote control. It launched the first universal remote controls on the market. Out of anger, Jobs threatened his suppliers to stop doing business with Wozniak or they would lose business with Apple.

He found other suppliers than the ones he had worked with for four years, but was disappointed in his closest friend.

Wozniak went into teaching (he taught fifth grade schoolchildren) and charitable work in the field of education. After leaving Apple, Wozniak transferred all his money to technological program Los Gatos School District (the district where Steve lives and where his children attend school). Unuson (Unite Us in Song) is an organization that Steve founded to organize two National Festivals, and is now mainly used by him for his educational and philanthropic projects.

In 1985, Ronald Reagan presented Wozniak with the National Medal of Technology.

In 1997, he was appointed a member of the Computer History Museum in San Jose. Wozniak was the main sponsor and patron of the Children's Discovery Museum (the street opposite the museum was renamed in his honor, Woz Way).

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

In 2001, he founded Wheels Of Zeus to create wireless GPS technology that would "help ordinary people finding ordinary things." In 2002, he joined the board of directors of Ripcord Networks Inc., which included all Apple alumni. Later that year, Wozniak became a member of the board of directors at Danger Inc., maker of Tor's Hip (aka T-Mobile's SideKick). In May 2004, Wozniak received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from North Carolina State University for his contributions to the field of personal computing.

Personal life

In February 1981, Wozniak survived a plane crash when the private jet he was flying crashed while taking off from Santa Cruz Skypark Airport. His return to normal life took two years, during which he healed from injuries and struggled with memory loss.

Steve Wozniak, who does not show off his personal life, is married to Janet Hill, the head of the department educational projects Apple company. Not as famous as Jobs, Wozniak still appeared on programs such as Kathy Griffin's show My Life Sucks (My D-List Life) and on the eighth season of ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

Late work

After the accident and recovery, Wozniak founded numerous companies, one of which was CL 9, the company that produced the first remote control.

Nicknamed one of Silicon Valley's most creative engineers, Wozniak and Mitchell Kapor founded the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit advocacy organization, in 1990. The organization provides support to hackers in criminal cases against them. In 2002, Wozniak founded a company called "Chariot of Zeus" (the acronym WoZ is his creative name), which developed wireless GPS technology.

After the company closed in 2006, Wozniak published an autobiography, Steve Jobs and Me. The true story of Apple. In 2008, Wozniak joined the Salt Lake City startup Fusion-io, where he served as chief scientific advisor.

Criticism of the movie “Jobs”

The long-awaited film adaptation of the biography of Steve Jobs was released in 2013 with Ashton Kutcher as Jobs and comedian Josh Gad as Wozniak. To the negative reviews of the film from critics, Wozniak added his own on the Gizmodo website, in which he wrote: “I feel sorry for the many people I know well whose relationships with Jobs and the company were portrayed inaccurately.” He also later wrote that the discrepancies between Jobs in life and in the film were mainly due to Kutcher and his performance.

Kutcher responded that Wozniak did not want to help the filmmakers because he was already working on a film about a technology tycoon (Jobs). Kutcher said that Wozniak was absolutely useless to the filmmakers informationally.

How a real geek feels about money, what he thinks about happiness and Apple after Jobs, and how he behaves on social networks - read the review

More than 40 years ago, Steve Wozniak invented the first personal computer, the Apple I, marking the beginning of the creation of a world-famous company. And despite the fact that years later this brand is associated primarily with Steve Jobs, Wozniak’s contribution to the development of Apple is enormous.

Today, Steve Wozniak, also known as WOZ, is the same technology-loving inventor. He attends major tech conferences to inspire young inventors. He has been awarded a number of honorary degrees for his contributions to technology. And he continues to be involved in inventions - since 2014, he has been the chief scientific consultant at the IT company Primary Data.

On September 30, the co-founder of Apple will speak for the first time in Kyiv at the OLEROM FORUM 1 conference. The editors of PaySpace Magazine learned from the interview recent years, how the famous inventor lives and what he thinks about Apple, money and social networks.

About Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs was not involved in the creation of any of my projects - the Apple I and Apple II computers, nor the printer interfaces, floppy disks and other inventions I made to improve the PC. He didn't know technology. He had never designed anything as a hardware engineer, and he didn't know software. He wanted to be important, and important people are always businesslike. That's what he was striving for - quote from interview for YouTube channel Reach A Student

However, Steve has repeatedly talked about Jobs as the cornerstone of Apple's success.

He sold the Apple II, the product that made us all our money within the first 10 years. I just designed it

Calling Jobs his friend, Wozniak does not deny that the head of Apple had a complex character.

The most creative Apple employees who worked on the Macintosh left the company and refused to ever work with Jobs again. Because of Steve's bad character, Apple has lost impressive talent, in an interview with the Business Journal.

About Apple

“I’m very pleased with how things are going for Apple,” WOZ said at the Paypal FinTech Xchange 2016 conference.

In five years at the head of the company, Tim Cook managed to double its income. When he took office, Apple had annual revenues of $100 billion. By 2017, the figure increased to 200 billion.

Also among positive aspects Tim Cook as CEO, Wozniak noted the refusal to cooperate with the FBI and provide the agency with data on the owners of Apple equipment.

“I admire Tim Cook for standing up for people's privacy because my whole life Apple has made me question what's more important, the people or the technology.”

Also, according to Wozniak, under Cook's leadership the company never released a terrible or ugly product.

However, Steve can also criticize the company he created. The engineer is not enthusiastic about smart watches, wireless headphones and even Apple smartphones, which, according to the engineer, lack innovation.

At the same time, he acknowledges that Apple's model is not designed for immediate success, but for long-term customer loyalty. In this case, the smartphone war is not a sprint, but a marathon.

About smartphones

In an August 2016 interview with the Financial Review, Steve named his favorite smartphone model. Turns out it's not an iPhone. At the time, his favorite was the Nexus 5.

One of my favorite smartphones is the Nexus 5X. It is compatible with USB Type-C cable. I believe USB-C is the future - interview with Australian Financial Review

About money

Wozniak's net worth is about $100 million. Steve Jobs' capital in 2011 exceeded $10 billion. The reason for this gap in the income of the Apple co-founders lies in the fact that Wozniak was not initially interested in money.

I didn't want to be around money because it can corrupt your values - interview with Fortune

Among the strange stories about money that come to mind when thinking about Wozniak are two dollar bills. On the Engadget Show, the engineer said that he makes money for himself. He buys sheets of $2 bills from the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, cuts them into sheets of 4 bills, and staples them into a notebook. You can snatch two dollars from a notebook for a Big Mac at any time.

About investments

This quote from an interview with Fortune speaks volumes about Woz's attitude toward wanting to increase his savings. In a conversation with Business Insider, he added that he does not even invest in young projects.

I don't remember the last time I supported projects on KickStarter. Typically, by the time a product reaches the end consumer, it either doesn’t work, isn’t useful, or is no longer relevant, Business Insider interview

Wozniak also explains his reluctance to participate in crowdfunding by the fact that the investor cannot see how the startup team used the funds.

About social networks

Wozniak has never been very active socially. And he himself has said more than once that social networks are not for him.

I have 5,000 Facebook friends that I don't know, why should I keep track of what they're doing in life every day?

However, there is a resource that Steve uses with pleasure. This is Foursquare - social network with geolocation function.

“Waiting for a train to Rome,” says Woz on Foursquare

Oh happiness

Steve Wozniak has his own formula for happiness, and it has nothing to do with money.

The first component is to smile and joke more often. The second is to avoid a bad mood.

Don't worry when things go wrong. Just think about how to be constructive - CNBC interview

Steve also advises creating things just for fun, even if they never make a profit. After all, this is how we develop our brain.

Steve Wozniak is a lesser-known but no less significant founder of Apple. He is also called The WoZ (Woz - a derivative of his surname) and Another Steve (another Steve). Moreover, it was Wozniak who developed the first computer of the current IT giant.

Woz is a true inventor, an engineer who strived to solve problems creatively. Even before the advent of Apple, his talent had found excellent use.

“I was an engineer at HP developing the iPhone 5 at the time, their engineering calculators. I had many friends there and a good reputation. I created things for people all over the country to enjoy, including the first movie rental system for hotels and SMPTE timecode readers for the commercial video world,” recalls Steve Wozniak.

Childhood, education, hobbies

Steve Wozniak was born on August 11, 1950 in San Jose (California), in the family of an engineer, his mother is Margaret Elaine Kern (b. 1923) from Washington. His father, Jacob Francis "Jerry" Wozniak (1925-1994) of Los Angeles, a graduate of the California Institute of Technology, worked as an engineer at Lockheed, developing missile guidance systems. It was his father who instilled in young Steve a love of electronics.

I felt like I knew secrets that no one else knew.

At school, the boy liked most to assemble and disassemble existing calculators, radios and some others electronic devices. While in the 4th grade, Wozniak received a radio amateur license, and in the 8th grade he assembled a complex calculator, which won first prize in a city competition held by the BBC.

In 1975, a computer called the Altair 8800, developed by MITS, appeared on the market. By that time, Wozniak was already working at famous company Hewlett-Packard.

According to his stories, in the company they had only one computer, which about 80 engineers, constantly standing in line, intended to use. Steve Wozniak understood how important it was for a technology company to be equipped necessary equipment. But back then, not everyone could afford to buy a computer for $400.

In terms of ease of use, the Apple I was years ahead of the Altair 8800. The latter had no display and no real data storage. The computer received commands using switches (a single program could require several thousand switches, executed without a single error), and its output device was a series of flashing lights. The Altair 8800 was perfect for people who did electronics as a hobby. For this kind of people, its must-assemble nature was just a specific feature, but unfortunately it was completely unsuitable for the general public.

In contrast, Wozniak's computer was a fully assembled and working device, on board which was a $20 MOS Technology 6502 microprocessor and ROM. To get a real PC, all that was left was to add some RAM, a keyboard and a monitor.

Commercial success of the Apple I and creation of the company

Steve Jobs had far-reaching plans for Wozniak's new computer. He decided that the Apple I could not only be given as a gift, but also sold as a finished PC.

Soon Jobs and Wozniak received their first order for 50 computers from Paul Terrell, owner of the Byte chain of stores. According to legend, the first batch of computers were assembled and debugged with the help of relatives and friends in Jobs' bedroom, and later, when all the available space was occupied, they moved to Jobs' garage. However, in 2014, Wozniak told the truth: such complex production required a serious material and technical base, so the Hewlett-Packard laboratory was used.

The Apple I computer was listed for sale at $666.66. Jobs and Wozniak soon sold about 250 of their first computers.

Soon, Steve Jobs proposed creating his own company and selling Wozniak’s invention, but moving from artisanal production to industrial production. Wozniak was skeptical at first, but Jobs knew how to convince him. He did not entice Wozniak with the profitability of the project, but simply said that it would be an exciting adventure, and even if they went bankrupt, they would at least be able to tell their grandchildren about what they owned own company.

“When you do things for your own pleasure, nothing stops you from being completely creative and brilliant.”

On April 1, 1976, Jobs and Wozniak incorporated Apple Computer. To do this, they sold their valuables (Wozniak, for example, sold an HP scientific calculator, and Jobs sold a Volkswagen van) for $1,300.

Wozniak could now focus on fixing the shortcomings and expanding the functionality of the Apple I.

The Apple I was the fifth time that something I created (not based on someone else's design) was monetized by Jobs. My game Pong got him his job at Atari, but he was never an engineer or programmer. I had been a regular member of the Homebrew Computer Club since its inception, and Jobs was unaware of its existence. I took my diagrams to Club meetings and showed them there, with great success. I was not unsociable, although I was shy in my relationships with others.

Wozniak left Hewlett-Packard and became vice president in charge of Scientific research and development at Apple.

Possibility to create large company overnight still exists, but we founded Apple at a unique moment in time where 1 person could single-handedly assemble all the parts and build a computer. Those days are gone. An inventor will develop an idea regardless of whether he is hired by a large company or not. The process itself is important to him. I look at the work experience and education requirements needed to get into Apple, and I realize that Steve Jobs and I would never have been hired here.

Apple II

Its new design was supposed to retain the most important characteristics: simplicity and ease of use.

Wozniak introduced high-resolution color (raster) graphics into the new Apple II computer. Now his computer could display not only text and symbols, but also images: “I added high-resolution output capability. At first it was just two chips, because I didn’t know if it would be useful to people.”

By 1978, he also designed the Disk II, a low-cost floppy disk controller. Together with Randy Wigginton, he wrote Apple DOS and the file system. Shepardson Microsystems was hired to create a simple console interface for its DOS.

In addition to designing the hardware, Wozniak wrote much of the software that ran for Apple. He wrote the advanced programming language Calvin, a set of virtual 16-bit processor instructions known as SWEET16, and the computer game Breakout, which inspired the addition of sound.

In 1980, Apple went public, making Jobs and Wozniak millionaires. Over the next few years, the Apple II was Apple's main source of revenue and ensured the company's viability as management took on much less profitable projects such as the ill-fated Apple III and the short-lived Apple Lisa computer. With solid earnings from the Apple II, the company was able to develop the Macintosh, bring it to market, and make it its core technology.

In the movie Jobs (2015), Woz repeatedly asks Jobs to mention Apple team II at the presentation of new Mac computers:

“Just mention the main guys!!! This is an important milestone in the history of personal computing. Everything here is built thanks to the Apple II."

Interrupted flight

After Woz's plane crash in 1981, he effectively left Apple. According to Wozniak, he simply lost interest in her and moved on to more attractive projects.

Creativity is not about doing something familiar. This is when you have ideas on how to do something that has never been done before. And you take resources and do something that has never existed before.

Steve Jobs was furious. He did his best to interfere with Steve Wozniak’s new endeavors, but he was never able to return his friend to his native company. By the way, Woz is still listed as an Apple employee and even receives a salary.

In 82-83, Stephen sponsored two large-scale rock festivals, The US Festival, which represented a unique fusion high technology, music, people and television. He attracted such rock mastodons as Scorpions, VanHalen, U2, MotleyCrue, JudasPriest.

Few people know that Wozniak was the main initiator of the famous teleconference between the USA and the USSR, which took place in 1982.

In '83, he returned to Apple, becoming chief engineer and developer.

12 years after the founding of the company, on February 6, 1987, Wozniak again left Apple, this time for good.
Wozniak then founded a new company, CL9, which developed remote controls. It launched the first universal remote controls on the market. Out of spite, Jobs threatened his suppliers to stop doing business with Wozniak or they would lose business with Apple.

He found other suppliers to replace those with whom he had worked for four years and was very disappointed in his closest friend.

Wozniak went into teaching (he taught fifth grade schoolchildren) and charitable activities in the field of education. After leaving Apple, Wozniak donated all his money to the technology program of the Los Gatos School District (the district where Steve lives and where his children attend school). Unuson (Unite Us in Song) is an organization that Steve founded to organize two National Festivals, now mainly used by him for his educational and philanthropic projects.

In 2001, he founded Wheels Of Zeus to create wireless GPS technology that would "help everyday people find everyday things." In 2002, he joined the board of directors of Ripcord Networks Inc., which included all Apple alumni.

Later that year, Wozniak became a board member of Danger Inc., creator of Hip Top (aka T-Mobile's SideKick).

Personal life and new hobbies

In 1981, Wozniak crashed his Beechcraft Bonanza while taking off from an air park in Santa Cruz. The result was a complex form of amnesia. Short-term memory was severely damaged, so Wozniak did not remember either the plane crash itself or the time spent in the hospital. He did not even remember that he became a member of the Masonic order in California after his wife. Stephen tried to restore his memory bit by bit. After his fiancée Candy Clark told him about the accident and that they were flying to San Diego to pick up wedding rings, Woz's memory returned.

Wozniak, oddly enough, calls games on the Apple II another means of healing. After the disaster, Stephen decided not to return to Apple. He married his “Superwoman” (as he called Candy) and decided to finish his studies at the University of California.

His diploma was issued in the name of Rocky Clark - Wozniak took this pseudonym for himself during his studies, combining the name of his beloved dog Rocky and his wife’s maiden name.

In 1987, Stephen and Candy, who had three children, divorced. And in 1990, Wozniak married former cheerleader Susan Mulkern. In 2000, the couple separated.

And Steve Wozniak loves good TV shows to such an extent that he even played himself in the second episode of the fourth season of the television series “The Big Bang Theory.”

Woz always tries to improve, invent new things and do unexpected things. For example, in 2009, the inventor appeared on the floor of the “Dancing with the Stars” program. Although I couldn’t reach the final stage of the project.

Wozniak currently lives in Los Gatos (California, USA) with his wife Janet Hill.

Los Gatos is a small town in Santa Clara, California, USA. The population of the city was about 30 thousand people in 2010. The city is located near Silicon Valley. The cost of real estate in the city ranges from $1 million in downtown to $15-30 million in the center.

In March 2013, a house in Los Gatos that previously belonged to the founder Apple to Steve Wozniak has been put up for sale again, SFGate reports. The house has six bedrooms and six bathrooms; the building was built specifically for Wozniak according to his original design in 1986. The house is 7.5 thousand square feet and the lot is 1.19 acres.

Awards

To date, Wozniak has received numerous awards and academic degrees for his contributions to the development of the US computer industry.

In 1985, Wozniak received the National Medal of Technology from President Reagan.
In '97 he became a member of the Computer History Museum and a sponsor of the Children's Discovery Museum. The street leading to the Museum now bears his name - Woz Way.

In 2000 he was inducted into the National Invention Hall of Fame

For his contributions to technology, Wozniak was awarded a number of honorary Doctor of Engineering degrees:

University of Colorado Boulder: 1989

North Carolina State University: 2004

Kettering University-Flint: 2005

New Southeast University in Fort Lauderdale: 2005

Higher Polytechnic School of Litoral in Guayaquil, Ecuador: 2008

Michigan State University: 2011

Concordia University Montreal, Canada: 2011

Santa Clara University: 2012

University of Camilo José Cela in Villanueva de la Cañada, Spain: 2013