Stephan Gary “Woz” Wozniak (born August 11, 1950 in San Jose, California) is an American computer engineer and the co-founder of Apple Computer (now Apple Inc.), with Steve Jobs. His inventions and machines are credited with contributing greatly to the personal computer revolution of the 1970s. Wozniak created the Apple I and Apple II computers in the mid-1970s. The Apple II gained a sizable amount of popularity, eventually becoming one of the best selling personal computers of the 1970s and early 1980s.
Wozniak has several nicknames, including “The Woz”, “Wonderful Wizard of Woz” and “iWoz” (a reference to the ubiquitous naming scheme for Apple products). “WoZ” (short for “Wheels of Zeus”) is also the name of a company Wozniak founded. 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 better known Steve being co-founder and current CEO Steve Jobs.
Origins of Apple
By 1975, Wozniak withdrew from the University of California, Berkeley (he would later return to finish his B.S. degree in E.E.C.S., which he received in 1986 enrolled under the alias Rocky Clark) 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.
In 1970 Wozniak had become friends with Steve Jobs, 4? years his junior, when Jobs had a summer job at the same business where Wozniak was working on a mainframe computer. Jobs had the idea to sell the computer as a fully assembled P.C. board. Wozniak, at first skeptical, was later convinced by Jobs that even if they were not successful they could at least say to their grandkids they had their own company. Together they sold some of their prized possessions (such as Wozniak’s H.P. scientific calculator and Jobs’ Volkswagen van), raised USD $1,300, and assembled the first prototypes in Jobs’ bedroom and later (when there was no space left) in Jobs’ garage. 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 considered a feature, but it was not suitable for the wider public. Wozniak’s computer, on the other hand, which he named Apple I, was a fully assembled and functional unit that contained a $20 microprocessor (M.O.S. 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. (The Apple is not necessarily the first microcomputer to use monitors and cassette storage. There were several projects and experiments around the same time which could claim the first.)
On April 1, 1976, Jobs and Wozniak formed Apple Computer. Wozniak quit his job at H.P. 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 100 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. Wozniak 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 and file system. Shepardson Microsystems was contracted to build a simple command line interface for the disk operating system.
In addition to designing the hardware, Wozniak wrote most of the software initially provided with the Apple. He wrote a programming language interpreter, a set of virtual 16-bit processor instructions known as SWEET 16, 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, Apple went public and made Jobs and Wozniak multimillionaires.
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 grandfather of the Mac.
Aircraft accident
In February 1981, Steve Wozniak crashed his Beech Bonanza while taking off from Santa Cruz Sky Park. The NTSB investigation revealed that Wozniak was not rated in the type of airplane, did not have a “high performance” endorsement on his pilot’s license (making him unqualified to operate the airplane), and had a “lack of familiarity with [the] aircraft.” The cause of the crash was determined to be a premature liftoff, followed by a stall and “mush” into a 12 foot embankment. As a result of the accident, he had retrograde amnesia and temporary anterograde amnesia. He had no recollection of the accident and, for a while, did not even know he had been involved in a crash. He also did not remember his hospital stays or the things he did after he was released: he followed his previous routine (except for flying), but could not recall what had happened. He would walk into rooms and forget why he was there and couldn’t even remember the current day of the week. For example, he would go to work on Sunday, or stay home on a Wednesday, thinking it was the weekend. He began to piece together clues from what people told him. He asked his girlfriend, Candi 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 about the event, his short-term memory was restored.
Wozniak and Clark got engaged later that year, ordered their wedding rings from a San Diego jeweler, and flew to San Diego to pick them up. Wozniak also credits Apple II computer games for aiding him in restoring those “lost” memories.
Beyond Apple
Wozniak did not return to Apple after recovering from the plane crash. Instead, he married Clark (he called her “Superwoman”, possibly because of her accomplishments as an Olympic kayaker in 1976) and returned to U.C. Berkeley under the name “Rocky Raccoon Clark” (Rocky was his dog’s name and Clark his wife’s maiden name), finally earning his undergraduate degree in 1986. 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 two US Festivals to celebrate evolving technologies; they ended up as a technology exposition and a rock festival as a combination music, computers, television and people. They differed from previous rock festivals, notably Woodstock, by shorter lines for the Portable toilets: Wozniak is an engineer, and simply computed the number of Port-a-Potties that would be needed, using less optimistic assumptions than previous concert organizers. (This experience would help him when the time came to build Shoreline Amphitheatre).
Wozniak and Candi divorced in 1987. They had three children together: two boys and a girl. At his high school reunion, he reconnected with Suzanne Mulkern, former head cheerleader and homecoming queen, and the two were married in 1990 and divorced in 2004.
Wozniak is currently dating comedian and actress Kathy Griffin.
Post-Apple career
Wozniak ended his full time employment with Apple for good on February 6, 1987, twelve years after setting up the company. However he still remains an employee (and receives a paycheck) and a shareholder. He also maintains connections with Steve Jobs.
Wozniak founded a new venture called C.L. 9, which developed and brought the first universal TV remote control to market in 1987.
About this time, Wozniak became a member of the Freemasons in order to spend more time with his first wife, Alice, who was a member of the equivalent women’s group, the Order of the Eastern Star.
Wozniak went into teaching (he taught fifth grade students) and charitable activities in the field of education. Since leaving Apple Computer, Wozniak has provided all the money, as well as a good amount of on-site technical support, for the technology program for his local school district Un.U.Son. (Unite Us In Song), an organization Wozniak formed to organize the two U.S. 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 U.S.
In December 1989, he received an honorary Doctor of Engineering from the University of Colorado.
In 1997, he was named a Fellow of the Computer History Museum. Wozniak was a key contributor and benefactor to the Children’s Discovery Museum of San Jose (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 2001, Wozniak co-founded Wheels of Zeus (note the acronym, “WoZ”), to create wireless GPS technology to “help everyday people find everyday things”. In 2002, he joined the Board of Directors of Ripcord Networks, Inc., joining Ellen Hancock, Gil Amelio, Mike Connor, and Wheels of Zeus co-founder Alex Fielding, all Apple alumni, in a new telecommunications venture. Later the same year he joined the Board of Directors of Danger, Inc., the maker of the Hip Top (a.k.a. Side Kick from T-Mobile). In May of 2004, upon nomination by Dr. Tom Miller, Wozniak received an honorary S.D. degree from North Carolina State University for his contribution to the field of personal computing.
In May 2004, Wozniak was awarded an honorary Doctor of Engineering degree from Kettering University, in Flint, Michigan. He also received an honorary S.D. from Nova Southeastern University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and the Telluride Tech Festival Award of Technology.
In 2006 Wheels of Zeus was closed, and Wozniak co-founded Acquicor Technology, a shell company for acquiring technology companies and developing them, with Apple alumni, Ellen Hancock and Gil Amelio.
In September 2006, Wozniak published his autobiography, iWoz: From Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer, Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It. It was co-authored by writer Gina Smith.
Popular culture
An aphorism attributed to Wozniak, “Never trust a computer you can’t throw out a window”, is quoted in the game, Civ. IV, when players discover the “Computers” 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 Dennis Wozniak.
Wozniak stars as a parody of himself in the first episode of the TV series Code Monkeys when he is the owner of Gameavision before selling it to help fund Apple. He later appears again in the 12th episode when he is in Las Vegas at the annual Video Game Convention and sees Dave and Jerry.
Current activities
Wozniak is a member of a Segway Polo team, the Silicon Valley Aftershocks. They 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.
Recently, he attended the FIRST National Competition in Atlanta to show off LEGO robots.
Wozniak, after hearing a podcast of an interview on the Larry King Show, began dating Emmy-winning comedienne Kathy Griffin. Together, they attended the 2007 Emmy Awards.
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, founders of Apple Computers, are both hackers. Some of their early exploits even resemble the questionable activities of some malicious hackers. However, both Jobs and Wozniak outgrew their malicious behavior and began concentrating on creating computer hardware and software. Their efforts helped usher in the age of the personal computer — before Apple, computer systems remained the property of large corporations, too expensive and cumbersome for average consumers.
Who is Kevin Mitnick? The picture that emerged after his arrest in Raleigh, N.C. last February was of a 31-year old computer programmer, who had been given a number of chances to get his life together but each time was seduced back to the dark side of the computer world. Kevin David Mitnick reached adolescence in suburban Los Angeles in the late 1970s, the same time the personal computer industry was exploding beyond its hobbyist roots. His parents were divorced, and in a lower-middle-class environment that lacked adventure and in which he was largely a loner and an underachiever, he was seduced by the power he could gain over the telephone network. The underground culture of phone phreaks had already flourished for more than a decade, but it was now in the middle of a transition from the analog to the digital world. Using a personal computer and modem it became possible to commandeer a phone companys digital central office switch by dialing in remotely, and Kevin became adept at doing so. Mastery of a local telephone company switch offered more than just free calls: It opened a window into the lives of other people to eavesdrop on the rich and powerful, or on his own enemies.