Sam Varghese
Friday, 24 November 2006 04:14
Opinion and Analysis
Page 1 of 2
In the midst of all the noise generated by patent trolls, I can't help but think that the tech industry would be a much better place if it had more people like Steve Wozniak.
Many people may well ask Steve who? When one talks about Apple Computer these days, the only Steve who is mentioned is Jobs. The other Steve isn't on the screen as it were.
Had there been no Wozniak, there would have been no Apple I. No Apple II. No company to put out all the nifty gadgets that people drool over. Ponder that.
Which is why, even though this column is predominantly devoted to FOSS issues, I decided to make an exception for Woz. After reading his autobiography - which has been published to correct many of the public perceptions of Apple and to give people their rightful place in history - one can't help but wonder how things would have been had Apple been the dominant player in the desktop space. As it well deserved to be.
In the book, co-written with journalist Gina Smith, Wozniak's own simple style is used to describe his life and times, his days as an enthusiastic and nerdy kid whose intelligence bordered on that of a genius. That he goes into intricate detail about technical issues and often mixes up his metaphors only serves to emphasise his nerdiness.
From winning school science competitions to joining HP, Wozniak kept his focus on technology all the way through. Long before he had a chance to actually experiment with designing computers, he drew up circuitry diagrams in his room at home and had virtually built many PCs before he actually got to wrestling with components.
Apart from all the anecdotes about his childhood and the start of the computer revolution - which he says began in March 1975 at the Homebrew Computer Club - one thing stands out. No business leader today would provide the advice Wozniak does. You won't find words like synergy, incentivisation and strategic cluttering up the pages of this book.
