When asked if he felt miffed about being left out of the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the PC, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak replied that fundamentally, every PC today is a Macintosh. True enough.
When asked how he would improve the Mac today, he says he would:
…come up with a set of user interface guidelines that’s shorter than the book that Apple used to make […] and come up with a very strict set and go back and make every program that Apple is associated with everywhere possible consistent with those and to write higher level APIs that pretty much lead any application to that same type of consistency.
Listen to this great audio interview with Steve Wozniak (link via Slashdot. The interview is about an hour long and starts 55 minutes into the audio stream.
Woz strikes me as a simple, good person, who was bulldozed by fame, wealth, and success. But I’m sure its uneducated presumtions like this one that make life difficult for someone like Woz.
Upon reading this post, I found myself nodding my head in agreement. I believe Wozniak’s comments about the majority of today’s PCs being Macs “at heart” were unquestionably correct.
If you’re really interested in Wozniak and the entire history of computer giants (eg. Microsoft and Apple), then I highly recommend you watch Pirates of Silicon Valley, which documents both corporations from their inception up till, oh, about the early 90’s. An excellent film for those who can’t get enough of Woz.
Hey Ryan, I agree, Pirates of Silicon Valley is totally worth watching. The dialog is pretty lame, but it’s not about the actors, it’s about the story.
The bonus is, since it’s such a lame movie, you can probably get it from the bargain bin at the rental place.
You can actually read Woz’s responses to reader letters and questions about ‘Pirates’ on his personal site, Woz.org.
According to a fellow I’ve met who was around in the early Macintosh days (not the earlier Apple days), the portrayal of the personalities is quite accurate.
I had dinner last night with Robert Scoble from UserLand. He’s been a casual acquaintance of Woz’ for several years now. He confirmed all of my suspicions about Woz: he’s a curious, friendly, generous guy. We could use more geeks likek him.
Peter, I’ve been enjoying your coverage of the Pop!Tech conference. I’ve also been reading along with Robert Scoble (he gave you props on his site, btw). Way to have lunch with cool people.
I tried to participate remotely, but as usual, QuickTime did not work. I bet Camden is beautiful this time of year.
And, Peter, why don’t you tell the good readers of AOV what color Jetta you chose.
Virginia Howlett at Microsoft told me she designed Windows using a Macintosh (she was lead interface designer on Windows 3x). I have a feeling that she moved over to Windows 95 shortly after she told me this, but it still is an interesting piece of trivia.
Steve Wozniak is one of the nicest and most genuine people I know. He still answers his email, by the way, and if you call him on his phone number (you can find it on the Internet — it’s the same number he’s had for more than 10 years) he’ll pick up the phone and talk with you.
I owe my career to Woz and will always have a soft spot in my heart for him.
i want to have email address of steve wozniak and its urgent.