Woz deserves more love and respect -- he was never a manager or a businessperson, but he's a good person and there's something to say for that in a world obsessed by money. If you're looking for a role model of a technical founder he'd be my pick.
He seems like one of the most lovable guys around. I've heard tales of students running into him buying hotdogs on campus at Berkeley. That's enough to make any engineering student's semester.
> If you're looking for a role model of a technical founder he'd be my pick.
That's a good choice. Still, you might want to avoid some of the PR choices he has made.
I think it's kind of shame that Woz gets as much mainstream media attention as he does, especially surrounding his relationship with Kathy Griffin. In many people's eyes he's just grabbing fame by latching himself onto Steve Jobs. I think he would have gained less publicity but more respect if he stepped out of the limelight a little more often.
I don't mean to be overly critical, because there are advantages to the choices he's made, but it's worth understanding why Woz doesn't get all the respect he deserves.
>In many people's eyes he's just grabbing fame by latching himself onto Steve Jobs.
Interesting. This is exactly the opposite of how most technical people I know would describe the situation.
>I think he would have gained less publicity but more respect if he stepped out of the limelight a little more often.
I don't see why a technical person should avoid publicity any more than a business person. I mean, sure, it's better to have publicity for your technical achievements, but let's face facts. Few in the mainstream media care about your technical achievements.
As for the Kathy Griffin thing, eh, so he's seeing someone famous. Who cares? I mean, it's not something that'd make me respect him more, but I guess I don't really see why it'd make anyone respect him less.
I had never heard of this Kathy Griffin before you mentioned her, and never heard nor read of any connection between her and Woz until now. Wozniak is almost completely absent from almost all the the media[1] I consume - I don't think he has much mainstream fame and attention except as colour commentary when Apple is doing or has done something.
Are you sure that you aren't actively looking for Woz stories, that there isn't a bias at work?
[1] Mainstream media for me is a range of UK Guardian, Telegraph and BBC website, Economist, NYT and occasional WaPo, WSJ and FT.
I'm not actively searching for Woz stories, but wouldn't you perk up if heard Steve Wozniak's name on the promo for Entertainment Tonight? It was extremely out of place, but sadly that kind of thing is all some people know about him.
All I'm saying is that, even though Woz deserves a lot of respect, his reputation has been distorted by the American media behemoth. In the end that doesn't really matter, but it is something that happened.
In many people's eyes he's just grabbing fame by latching himself onto Steve Jobs.
Those people's eyes need clearing. If anything it was Jobs who, with his eye for talent, "latched himself onto" Wozniak, not the other way around. Woz is not only the prototypical engineering genius, he practically defines the term ingenuous.
I don't agree, and then the image of them together is what sticked with me as Apple ][ user. He had fun doing some dancing and that's all - if nothing else shows that a geek can have some fun.
There is no mention of him on the EFF's history page [1], but their initial press release [2] suggests that he contributed funds at the foundation's inception.
It is sort of strange that Woz claims that "he founded the EFF" and not that he was a founding sponsor, like some of the other organizations on his About page.
This is a random story, but I'm curious if anyone else remembers: A few years ago, I landed on Woz's personal website, and noticed a small blurb about a public AFP connection for his personal machine (I think, afp://steve.woz.org) I connected and was greeted by a bunch of software (a lot of commercial) that he made available for download. Even more amazing was just how fast downloading the files were.
A quick google brings up this thread (from 2001!!! which sounds about right, actually, for when I first connected...I'm fairly certain I was still on OS9 -- my my, how time flies!)
Glad to hear that they were still friends - some stories were weird, like the one where Jobs threatened to fire their design company (was it frog design) if they continued to work with Woz's new company.
Lots of weird stories, I posted this in another thread: "I was a little disappointed — Steve Jobs had indicated he'd write a foreword. But he'd never written a foreword before and I said, "Just write what we were like back then."
"We sent him the book and he said, "Oh, I saw some excerpts, and I'm going to decline writing the foreword." I don't know why because I'm nice to him, so there must have been something he didn't like."
